Imagination

by Kelly Knowlden

“They are darkened in their understanding…” 

What a horrible thing for mankind to experience when in fact we were created to  be image bearers of God!  Futile thinking, Paul writes, is the result of living in this world with regard to only that which our senses tell us is real.  He goes on to say, that we have need “to be made new in the attitude of our minds.”

Let me suggest, along with many others, that training  children to live as new creatures is done in a many-pronged plan.  Obviously, we will read to them from the Word of God.  Surely we will take them to church and teach them to pray.  But I would like to suggest that we also “fire their imagination!”

In a book entitled Subversive Spirituality, Eugene Peterson says that people generally want a detailed “why,”  (Why did this happen to me?) and a specific “how,” (How do I get out of this mess?) to life’s circumstances.  But what they need is imagination.  “Imagination is the ability to make the connection between the visible and the invisible… It is indispensable to see reality as real…”  So when the child spills milk again, we need to see the connection between the visible and the invisible.  Our imagination, our spiritual thinking about what is real, and our ability to find what is real beyond that which is immediately apparent will win the day!  Our ability to do that is one of the ways our children will learn to live beyond the immediate.

Another way to inspire our children's imagination is to read good literature to them, regardless of their age.  Family times where good stories are enjoyed, inspire thinking beyond the living room
and beyond the immediate circumstances.  It enlarges possibilities.  It opens doors to worlds we do not know.  And it does it through the ear gate!  That means that the mind must actively picture the world being read about.  That is inspiring imagination.  

Ultimately, we encourage our children to be people of faith, because we have taught them the truth of Heb. 11:1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”