February 1st, 2012

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Imagination

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

First, let me start with a challenge (at least for some of us) and then a question or two:

THINK BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOOD. (See why I said this would be a challenge for some of us?)

WERE YOU AN IMAGINATIVE CHILD? 

WHERE DID YOUR IMAGINATION TAKE YOU?

This past Monday, my wife, Jo, celebrated her (here-is-where-I-am-not-supposed-to-insert-her-age)st birthday.  🙂   Last Friday evening, Janna (our youngest) and Braden, our grandson, surprised Jo by visiting.  We had just arrived home from a ballgame that pitted half brothers from different school against each other.  We were supposed to be home earlier but it went into overtime.  (Q: How come a 4 minute overtime ends up being 15 minutes long?)  Anyway, Janna pulled into the driveway behind me less than a minute after we got home.  Jo says,  “That looks like Janna’s car.  I wonder why she pulled in behind you?”  Then it dawned on her.  😀

BUT THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT HER LATE REACTION TO THE SURPRISE.  IT IS ABOUT THE SURPRISE…BRADEN (and his mom).

They stayed until Wednesday.  Friday night he was wiped out and went right to bed after letting Grandpa hold him.  But from the time he got up Saturday morning to the time they left, that boy was non-stop action.  AND. THE. IMAGINATION. IS. INCREDIBLE!! After lunch out on Saturday, he made sure I remembered that I told him we would watch a movie together Saturday.  He had heard that I got Captain America, Iron Man, and all 3 Transformers with Christmas money.  Saturday night it was T#3; Sunday is was T#1; and Monday it was T#2.  Can you tell what are his favorite movies?   But, that was just the beginning!

His imagination took over the rest of the time.   In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge, talks about the difference between girls and boys.  Little girls want to know “Am I lovely?”  Boys have all the sounds down: trucks, cars, guns, planes.  Not Braden.  He sounded like a Transformer for 4 days!!  Run through the house and then all of a sudden stop and make sounds like he is transforming.  Jo has some magnetic letters and numbers on the frig.  He sat on the floor and formed them into Optimus Prime.  Then he proceeded to “do a story” with the letters.  Several times during the weekend I looked at Janna and she smirked.  I bust out laughing.

I couldn’t help but laugh and marvel at his wild-n-crazy unstoppable imagination.  I went home after a bike ride Wednesday, and man, the house was quiet.  No running.  No jumping.  No mouth noises.  No Transformers…aahh… transforming.

But I just gotta wonder: when did I lose my imagination mechanism?  When did I become so “adult” that my imagination took a permanent vacation?  I pray I rub off on him when we are together.  This is one time I can pray that he rubs off on me.  Let me ask you: do you still have your imagination?  Can you pinpoint when you lost it?  What can you do to bring it back?  Do you have any stories of imagination you can tell?