A Failure of Imagination

By Mike Glenn

As a grandfather, I’m committed to making my house the place that my grandchildren want to visit most. If there’s a toy or snack they want, then I’ll make sure it’s at my house. Right now, the toy of choice is a shopping cart loved first by my granddaughter, Rowen. Whenever she comes over, she’ll put her iPad in the child's seat and angle it so she can continue to watch her favorite cartoon and shop with her cart. 

And shop she does. She’ll push the cart all over my house and fill the buggy full of things she wants. She’ll have books, apples, yogurt, dolls, and scented candles – basically anything in her reach – in her shopping cart. When she’s finished, she’ll want to show you everything she has picked up and tell you a story about every piece she’s put in her shopping cart. 

So far, so good. She treats a shopping cart like a shopping cart. 

Now, my two-year-old grandson Walker doesn’t see things that way. He loves the shopping cart too but for different reasons. For him, the shopping cart isn’t just a shopping cart. It’s whatever he wants it to be. Some days, the cart is a lawn mower and I’ll watch him in the front yard walking in perfect lines just like he is cutting the grass. The next moment, the cart is a dump truck with a huge diesel engine (he supplies the sound effects) and he carries dirt, rocks, grass, and tree limbs from my yard. I’ve seen the same shopping cart turn into a golf bag and a race car. For Walker, the shopping cart can be whatever he wants it to be. All it takes is a little imagination. 

Somewhere across the span of our lives, somewhere in our growing up, we lose our imagination. There are all kinds of studies that show how our modern education system gradually robs our children of their imagination. More and more people are suggesting that we skip the formal educational system altogether. College is now seen as an expensive postponement of adulthood. We go to class, we listen to lectures, and regurgitate the right answers on a test. For this we’re given good grades, proving that we’ve learned a lot of information.

What we haven’t learned is how to think, how to solve problems, and how to get along with others. Seminaries are much the same. Those that prepare for ministry attend lectures, learn Greek and Hebrew verb tenses, debate Christian theology, and interpretations of Old and New Testament passages. What they don’t learn is how to deal with the finances of a local church. They aren’t taught how to lead people or how to respond to the constant challenge of the surrounding culture. While a lot of our seminary training is necessary, not all of it is useful. Gradually, we’re trained in the processes and programs that rob us of an inspired imagination. The ability, through the Holy Spirit, to see the potential of our situations, to recognize what could happen if space was opened for God to work.  

The rule of nature is simple: if you don’t use it, you lose it, and most of us have lost our spiritual imagination. 

Okay, so you have a rundown church building that needs a lot of work and it may be impossible to start a church there. But could you start a daycare? A community center? A tutoring center? A place for counseling and family support? And, if you started any one of these, could they end up starting a church?

All it would take is a little imagination. 

Could a failing Anglo church become a thriving Kurdish congregation? Could an aging African American church become a young Hispanic church? Could a kitchen table become the gathering place of neighbors that become the group that starts the church? 

Sure. All it would take is a little imagination.

Yes, our world is in trouble. Yes, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome and opposition to encounter, but we have to be careful that we don’t spend all of our time focusing on what’s going wrong. This is still our Father’s world, and He is still working in it. 

In His world, Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, Simon becomes Peter, and Saul becomes Paul. Empty nets become full to the point of tearing and a little boy’s lunch becomes a feast in the middle of the wilderness.  

Our God is still able to do “more than we can imagine.” So, what is it in our lives that we think is impossible for God to do? What area of our world is beyond repair? What would you do if you had the resources? If you knew you wouldn’t fail? 

What are you thinking about? What are you dreaming about? What is possible if we could just see it?

What would happen if we could just use our imagination, anointed by the Spirit, to see the world as the Father does? What I imagine is over the top. Just imagine what our world, our own lives, could be if we allow God to do more than we can imagine.

All it would take is a little imagination.