Scripture

Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

~Luke 5:26, NLT

Quote

On The Fine Line Between Reason and Imagination: Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.

~C.S. Lewis

How did you learn to speak English? You didn’t learn English at school from a teacher? No, you could speak English long before you started to school. We learn by imagination or through images. When you hear the word water, what comes to mind? Images right: A stream like a creek or river, a glass of water, a bath or shower. Our great grand boys are learning through images. They will probably learn to associate milk with their hunger and mama with who they want to be near when they are upset or afraid. They will be speaking English in two years and from that point on, their vocabulary will increase each year. If their parents were Spanish, they would learn to speak Spanish. My parents taught me English and neither of my parents were teachers. My daddy couldn’t spell cat and could barely read. It doesn’t matter because we learn through our imagination.

Here is the problem: the older we get, the less we rely on imagination and the more we give in to reason and raw reality. The result is we become hard, callous, indifferent, bland and unimaginative. When that happens, we lose our sense of wonder. Children are filled with wonder. They have a desire to investigate, to discover, to find out how something feels or works. They love adventure and they are not afraid. This is why they have to have adult supervision–they are not afraid. They don’t see danger; they see adventure. They are driven by wonder. We adults are so caught up in the things we have created that we are ignoring what God created. Instead of taking a walk in the woods, we had rather be watching TV or playing some silly game on our phone. What we are missing is the natural world around us; the one God created and the one that is filled with wonder, awe and truth. This is why Jesus taught by parables. People are attracted to images, and they remember them. They can remember a story better than they can a sermon.

So, if we really want to teach or to communicate truth, we need use images. We need to create a little wonder. I may have you wondering today but I cannot create awe. God can and has–it’s in His creation, not ours. Solomon said, “How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness.” Without imagination, life is harsh. I get angry with adults who impose the harshness of raw reality on children. Don’t stifle their imagination. Is Superman and Santa real? Yes, they are! They are real images that convey man’s deep need for outside intervention from a greater than life hero who overcomes all obstacles and can give them what their heart desires. Of course, the truth is: the world is longing for Jesus {the real Super man and don’t know it. In C.S. Lewis fiction, Jesus is a huge Lion, dangerous to some and loving to others. We need a revival of WONDER! This may be what Jesus meant when He said, “Unless you become like little children, you will not see the kingdom of God.” When your child-like nature dies, you are just an old fuddy duddy.

Extra

I was going to DG last night and the radio was on 105.7 and I heard some cat singing that doesn’t have much more talent than I do. I don’t ever remember hearing this song, but he said something I like, “I’m just an old lump of coal but I am going to be a diamond someday.” That will preach!

We want be able to do any visiting this week due to our own health issues which we hope are temporary. We will be at the Doctor all evening getting our allergy test. I say we because June goes with me. That is because I am a big, spoiled baby and I don’t like filling out paperwork, answering all the dumb questions and I have no idea what medicine I take. I take what she tells me to take. So, if she ever decides to get rid of me it will be easy: she can just hand me strychnine and say, “take this!” Don’t worry, she would never do that: she worshipped the ground I walk on.

June and I have decided that our Great Pyrenees is a democrat. She is worthless; will not do her job {chase coons from the garden}, lays around all day and barks all night. She depends on someone else to feed her and she stinks. Sounds like a dem to me.