Long overdue, I’ve started reading Imagination Redeemed by Gene Veith. Now that I’m homeschooling three kiddos, with three younger underfoot, -desk, and -sight, I suspect this will take awhile! But I hope you can be encouraged to write while I blog little bits of it here and there. To begin with, let us consider this thought: “We cannot help but use our imaginations” (p. 15).
When we understand imagination to be the ability to conjure an image, mental or material, imagination is suddenly pervasive. “But,” you might think, “I’m not one to think in pictures. I think it concepts and words.” Exactly what, pray tell, is your definition of an image that excludes such visual and audial clues as words?
There is a temptation to think of thoughts as absolutely unique, but are they? Aren’t they, too, grounded in creation and our own flesh and blood?
When we consider imagination to be a function of the mind rather than a mystical experience or lofty goal, then suddenly we all have imagination! We practice it all the time. It is part of our daily life, our occupations and diversions, already!
I’ve been struggling, unable to make time to write. This bums me out. But I am encouraged to think that God is still using my imagination to His glory in my other vocations. God is still shaping my imagination through my thoughts and surroundings. And, imagination is not a mountain to climb or talent to crave: it is a gift, grounded in creation, and also affected by redemption and sanctification.
We cannot help but use our imaginations, and maybe that is enough of a comforting thought to have. When time passes and the thoughts and scenes we had hoped to capture pass, our imagination will still be ours, even at the resurrection of the dead! Thanks be to God!
The functions of the mind are an incredible thing!