Imagine That!

Hello, Creator people!

Let’s take a moment to live into our Name. Hold out your hand, palm up, and then imagine a large, beautiful pearl resting in it.

Now imagine a small treasure chest.

An orange carnation, the color of sunset.

How about a majestic cedar tree outside, or the sound of the ocean, the expanding cosmos!

Imagine that.

Our imagination is a miraculous gift, it is a place of manifestation, a portal through which we may encounter God. Have you ever imagined God? Jesus? The Holy Spirit? Have you ever thought about God imagining all things--before they were created? God imagined (designed) everything, including you, at the very beginning; no—before the beginning (which was also imagined).

Miriam-Webster tells us that Imagine means to form a mental image or concept of something not present.

          In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.      Genesis 1:1-5

And so, God continued imagining and speaking and

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.                      Genesis 1:26-27

Miracle of miracles! On the sixth day God created humans and spoke your name into existence! You were created in the mind of God bearing God’s own image and likeness, and you could imagine!

You are the blessing of the likeness of God, endowed with abilities and the potential of abilities in God’s own image. Imago Dei. Imagine that! You have the ability to see with your mind things known, yet not present, and to speak them into reality as images for others to receive. As you exist in the likeness of God, your abilities are derivative—an imitation of God’s perfect self.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:24-25

The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world.                   Psalm 19:1-4

All creation exists as a silent testimony to God’s glory, God’s majesty, God’s eternal Being. From the duckbill platypus to the Aurora Borealis; the Milky Way galaxy to hammerhead sharks; the monarch butterfly to the double helix; God’s imagination made real is the reality of your imagination! To truly comprehend the amazing glory of God, God’s infinite and eternal being, you must use your imagination to experience creation in the image of God.

Jesus spoke boldly to you, calling you through portals of imagination. Look! In your palm, a beautiful pearl—of great price! (see Matthew13:45-46). Look more closely, deep in the reflection, it is the Kingdom of God! Now, down there, on the floor next to your foot, a mustard seed! How it grows and twines and fills all you see! Over there, on the table; bread and wine—body and blood,                   
                                               look up now and see the face Christ.

Imagine that.
 
In His Image,
Fr. Bill+