Imagine!

When I was small, I did not know the word, imagine. For me the word was “play-like”. That was all one word to me – pronounced “pl’like”. My parents were astonished when I brought home a report card that said, “She daydreams…” How else would I, could I, imagine unless I daydreamed?

One day, while walking, I looked at the blue sky and imagined it to be green, and the green grass along the way to be blue? Why did God choose those colors? Therein is the secret of creativity or imagining. The day I saw a grove of trees and identified 4 different shades of green, I was awed by the ability of God through his creation of light and shadow to cause such glorious colors.

What color is imagination? What is its texture or shape? Where does it come from? How can a person stimulate imagination? One way is by asking questions such as “How can I….” “What can I

do to…” “What if…” “What is another way to look at this….” “How can I learn….” “Where can I find the information I need…” The foremost question is searching for God’s will in my life.

During the 1930’s, chicken feed was a necessity and so were dresses for little girls. Soon the chicken feed sacks took on a field of daisies, bright checks, and many other bright colors. This is what my Mom used to make my dresses. One day Mom completed a dress and noticed a hole in the skirt of the dress. She exclaimed, “I know, that dress needs a pocket right there!”

Mom was creative and could picture a project completed just as she wanted it. She was equally adept at using wood to build my bed, a dresser, a desk, bookshelves and even bunk beds for m

y brothers. Then she learned that words were tools to paint verbal-pictures. Her writing inspired others and testified of her faith in the Lord. Her ability to substitute and create in the kitchen was tasty to say the least. She made each recipe HERS and always gave thanks. She was 81 years old when she took classes in art, a life-time dream. She learned calligraphy at that age, too.

When I look at a painting that captures my attention because of its shapes and colors, I realize that the artist chooses from the colors that are available on his palette. When a sculpture chooses shapes, he chooses from the shapes that he knows exist. When a new fabric is made, it is from the fabric materials that exist.

When God created He imagined with no pattern – no substance that existed – for God created heaven and earth in all its complexity from nothing. An interdependency exists between His creations. Can you imagine the ocean’s tide being controlled by the moon?

In reading Exodus, my mind is overwhelmed with God’s detailed instructions to His people in the preparation of the Tabernacle in which He would be worshipped. The colors, the metals, fabric and wood, the length and the width were all specified. How could this be? There was no pattern but God’s spoken word. And then I learn the secret – from Exodus 31:1-5 – Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skill to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts

As I read these words, I am reminded of the details of our God’s work. He leaves nothing undone in His creation and in the lives of those He ‘knit together’. The complexity of His reasoning knows no bounds. For this reason, I can trust my Lord with my life every day. My faith grows daily as I see

Yesterday evening I looked through the west window and caught my breath. The riot of clouds traced in the western sky by a brilliant red/orange/gold. Each time I looked out, the intensity of the beauty increased. I reached for the camera and saw the message – memory card full. I continued to watch and memorize the darkening sky and realized that without the clouds – without the sun, the sky would be its usual blue. God loves color. It gives Him pleasure. Each time I see his glorious display of the wonders of creation, I give Him Thanks.

Psalm 65:7-9 – who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. 
The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.

Many books have been written about the art of creativity and the joy of imagining. Can you imagine every aspect of a day, a night, a place, a dream, a world? Only in Him can our world be filled with the imagination that gives hope and wonder.

Ephesians 3;19-21-– and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The writer of these lyrics touches my heart – for I can only imagine!

I can only imagine What my eyes will see

When your face Is before me

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence

or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

Mercy Me – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwzItqYmII