Jake playing make believe with a toy boat in water
I love to watch my children play pretend, when they don’t know I am watching. It is especially entertaining when they are talking out loud in another character’s voice. My friend and I were talking about how when you have kids there is no need for entertainment. Just put them in a room and watch them play. They say and do the cutest things of course depending on the age. One of the best ages to watch them play pretend I think is from about 3 – 7. My children’s imagination floors me sometimes and other times it makes me remember how I played as a kid. I was raised with 2 brothers and a sister all older than me and I vividly remember playing shark in the basement. We could not touch the carpet or the sharks in the ocean would eat us. So we ran around on the furniture, of course. My children play the same game and they have never even seen the movie Jaws.
Imagination is a wonderful gift that God has given to each one of us. It seems that in our world as adults we are not suppose to use it very often. When you are growing a little “too old” to play pretend you are told that by parents or teachers. Are we ever too old to get our head out of the clouds really? I truly believe our imagination was given to us by God so why should we cease to use it as we age. Of course we can’t do it as much as when we were children, we don’t have the time. We have to work, raise a family, pay the bills, do all the things parents have to get done. When or why would we ever use our imagination? It doesn’t fit in with thinking realistically about our future and our needs! Maybe that is part of what’s missing from adulthood, you know what is actually lacking. As adults many of us long for the days of carefree play, lack of responsibilities and stress that weighs us down daily. That’s why vacations are so good, you get to retreat from everyday life wind down and relax. But we can’t go on vacation daily can we? Some of us don’t even get to do it yearly.
Maybe just maybe, we as adults especially parents should use our imaginations more often. How often do you play shark with the kids? Our kids love to play monster and it is a good excuse to just run around the basement tickling our kids and making them laugh uncontrollably. It is fun to use our imagination like that.
Aren’t we using our imagination when we dream of a future goal being met? Like retiring and traveling with your spouse. Like picturing your children grown and having grand kids. Those are wonderful pictures in our minds that we create and imagine, so I guess we are not too old to do that.
John Lennon sang it in one of the most wonderful songs ever, Imagine. The following is a line from it:
Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people, sharing all the world, You may say that I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one, I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one.
Maybe just maybe, our imagination was given to us by God not just to enjoy life as a child. Maybe it was to imagine how much better our world can be. To be able to dream outside of our little box and to see what God wants us to be in this life. Maybe just maybe, our imagination was given to us by God to be able to connect more clearly with His image of how our existence should be.
So try it today. Find a quiet place and clear your mind. Then let your mind wonder to wherever God wants it to go and imagine. Imagine an existence living within the love of God where all your needs are met, life is not a struggle and you and your loved ones live in complete happiness and never ending warmth of God’s embrace, that’s how I personally IMAGINE Heaven. Then give yourself permission to use your imagination as an adult for good, for all that God has given you is good.
