Say Something Serious

While creating delicious treats over Spring/Easter Break, the boys began to interview each other between sneaking sugary bites of white chocolate and sprinkles.

Michael holding an imaginary microphone out to his older brother. . .

Michael: “Ben-a-min. (which is his pronunciation when speaking quickly) Say something serious.”

Benjamin: “Jesus died on a cross for our sins and he rose three days later.”

Michael: “No. Say something more serious.”

Benjamin: “That’s the most serious.”

 

 

And since it’s serious, shouldn’t we tell everyone around us?

Imagine That

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”*

The cat in the hat escaped and was spotted at school. Perhaps a little imagination was needed to view this cat roaming the campus but with Dr. Seuss Week upon us yet again, it was not hard to do. The boys came home each day with tales of wackiness and wobble-wubble-woo. One might have thought that they’d turned the school into a zoo. Classrooms turned upside down and laughter took flight and flew. Fostering imagination with eating green eggs and ham, that’s what they do.

I once saw a kid show called Imagination Movers. I’m not sure whether or not it reminded me of my brother and something he might be involved in or if it just had catchy songs. In any event the show always seemed to have the premise of solving a problem using some form of your imagination. Now I have lived in societies where the use of ones imagination was highly frowned upon as well as societies where the imagination is greatly accepted. In our home we generally encourage the use of the imagination to solve problems as well as to view the world. In fact just yesterday Benjamin was needed to watch Joshua who was strapped to a chair at our table outside finishing his juice. While Benjamin sat on the chair next to Joshua I ran off to assist Michael in whatever difficulties were weighing him down in our garden. Upon my return, and with much relief, Joshua was still where I left him but on the chair next to him sat one of our cats. Benjamin was nowhere in sight. Standing there perplexed Benjamin eventually returned, removed the cat back to her spot on the ground, and sat back in his chair. Apparently he used a surrogate while he made a trip to the bathroom. Problem solved.

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.”*

Or perhaps the day when the boys got together and created a movie theater in our dormant garden. One boy used a bucket as a light so shine the movie onto the bushes while another drank “coffee” out of a flower pot. My first thought was the riduculousness of it all but then I smiled. Shame should not be welcomed in our imaginations.

For many, it seems, there is a belief that the imagination is needed when viewing Jesus or Christianity. Personally it seems to me that logic and reasoning are primary components necessary when viewing these topics.*** Imagination, however, allows the ability to empathize, sympathize, and to see beyond yourself which in turn leads us to compassion. Without these abilities how else would concepts like the Golden Rule* or unconditional love make any sense? Still other concepts, such as servant leadership, would be misunderstood, misapplied, and truly baffle the mind. The imagination. in all its God gifted glory, is potentially the closest thing we have to comprehending how order arrived from chaos. Imagination is not merely something to kill boredom. It helps us analyze, comprehend and potentially the most complex of all, see beauty.

To many, Dr. Seuss week is a once a year glorified trip down imagination lane allowing us fun in a unique way. Yet I believe if we think about it for a bit we can see into our universal gift our Creator has given. And gifts are to be continuously developed, not only to solve problems, but to see and live deeper.

“Can you imagine that?

When the sun stood still.

Can you imagine that?

Or a cross on a hill.

Imagine that.”

—Imagine That by Lost Dog

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* Quotes by Dr. Seuss

**Golden Rule: “So whatever you wish that others would to do you, do also to them, for this is the Law of the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 ESV

***Side note: God is the ultimate imagination mover. To have free will means we have to allow for the capacity of sin to enter the picture. The problem of sin is that it seeped into the blood of humanity . . . literally. Hence humanity’s worldwide need for sacrifice. To eradicate this problem it really is most logical to have a one time cleansing, is it not? If it began in the blood then by blood it ended and was completely cleansed. Problem solved.