I grew up with an active imagination, and a big imagination as well. While no artist, I would doodle my way through classes or imagine up stories whenever bored. There's little I enjoy more than a good story, whether it be in the form of book or movie or play. I always imagine things on the world scale as well. As a child, my dreams were mostly about me saving the world, or at least having the opportunity to save the world.
Imagination is a God-given thing, I think. Imagination is necessary to have a relationship with an invisible God, just like imagination is necessary to have a long-distance relationship. But God nurtures our imaginations and encourages imagining all throughout the Bible. What are prophets but people enraptured by a hopeful imagination?
We have done some hopeful imagining this past year. One place I see that is in the Ridder Leadership Initiative, where a small group of us is actively pursuing personal transformation and imagining ways in which the lessons we have learned can permeate our congregation and mission. Another place is in the HelpLink work, as it has offered us a chance to imagine what a county without poverty would look like.
Of course, a conversation about imagination would not be complete without a discussion of youth. From lock-ins to VBS, it has been a very active year for our children and youth. We had the biggest VBS in recent memory in terms of numbers of kids, and we had a great time with our middle school youth (who have very active imaginations as well) with weekly lunches and monthly events. For the youth, our Christmas party provided plenty of good memories that will last a lifetime (although I still contend that I got the short end of the stick with our white elephant gift exchange- I got a rock). I imagine that this year will see a lot of spiritual growth in our youngest generation.
What do you imagine for 2012?
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