Imagination is an incredible gift from God. The astonishing progress we’ve seen in our world over the last century came about because people imagined great things and took action.
Imagination has a down side. It’s called fear. The body doesn’t know the difference between what is imagined and what is real. So when we allow our imagination to focus on negative thoughts, our emotions activate fear, often derailing our goals and sending us into a downward spiral.
I observed this when I was back east a few weeks ago visiting my family. My Dad was completely distraught after watching the news. Even though the distressing events had not occurred, he was feeling fear for the future. My attempt to explain that the news people were projecting what might happen were futile. My proposal to watch a movie instead of the news was scoffed at. My suggestion to pray instead of worry, well, that just wasn’t practical at all.
It’s really a shame. My Dad’s not alone. We all get caught up in the cycle of replaying negative projections over and over again. It can be hazardous to our health, both individually and collectively.
Instead of focusing on the fear of the future we can take personal actions to lift us out of the fear. Instead of allowing the imagination to dwell on all the catastrophic things that could happen, we can visualize postive outcomes. Instead of repeating all the doom and gloom we hear on the news, we could say a prayer.
God gave us an incredible gift by giving us imaginations. As we use our imaginations for good, amazing results show up in our lives.
Question is, what are you imagining?