IMAGINE THAT!?!
A young boy, considered none too bright by his village elders, was walking through the square holding two tomato worms in his hands. One of the elders asked, “Watcha got there?” To which the boy replied, “Tomato worms. I’m imagining that tomorrow I’m going to have some fine tomatoes.” The elder laughed him to scorn but imagine his surprise when, the next day, he saw the boy walking through the square carrying to huge ripe red tomatoes. A few days later he saw the same boy walking through the square with something squeezed between his hands. He asked, “Watcha got there?” To which the boy replied, “Two horse flies. I’m imagining that tomorrow I’ll get two horses.” “Preposterous” the elder said, so you can imagine his surprise when, the very next day, he saw the boy leading two beautiful Arabian horses through the square. A few more days passed and he saw the boy holding something in his hands. He asked, “Watcha got there?” The boy replied, “Two lady bugs and I’m imagining…” The elder interrupted him saying, “Stop right there—wherever you’re going I’m with you!” There’s power in imagination.
I’m imagining.
Not of ladybugs—I’ve got a perfectly fine ladybug. Not of horse—I can ride, and actually like to ride, but I don’t want the responsibility of caring for a horse. I am imagining some really nice, ripe, red tomatoes—but that’s because I just planted a cherry tomato plant in a large planter on the deck. No—what I’m imagining is the future.
I discovered long ago the power of imagination. I imagined a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker DeLuxe and a pristine battleship grey and blue, tutone, with power everything manifested a few weeks later. I paid eighty dollars for it. It was my first “evangelistic vehicle.” Later I imagined a Ford Thunderbird. You might imagine that I was surprised when I received an early morning call saying, “I know you need a better car and I’m over here in east Dallas looking at a ’63 Thunderbird. I’ll buy it for you if you want it.” I wasn’t surprised—I was beginning to learn the power of imagination. Henry David Thoreau aptly said—
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
But to advance confidently in the direction of your dreams you must first have a dream. To live the life that you have imagined you have to first imagine that life. And most folk don’t have a lot of imagination.
I often think of the principle when I sit down in some new fine dining restaurant anticipating the upcoming meal. (It’s a wonder I keep my weight where it should be! Maybe I’m imagining myself height-weight proportional.) As a kid I read Swiss Family Robinson over a hundred and twenty-five times. There’s a lot of good eating in that book. Unlike Robinson Crusoe, the family Robinson knew how to live the good life! And I read Bond, James Bond. So I know that if you order caviar that it should be with buttered toast cut in varying thicknesses. (Not a
caviar fan! I like the cheap stuff but it’s too salty. Tried the good stuff and was not impressed!) The point is that I imagined myself eating great food in great restaurants and your imagination has a way of working itself out.
The same is true in reverse. If you imagine a life of poverty and deprivation, poverty and deprivation you will have. You’ll become your own worst enemy. You’ll make bad choices. You’ll never catch a break. And if you catch a break you’ll let it go.
There are half a dozen reasons that I believe the story of The Tower of Babel in the Bible to be allegory. But allegory is given to establish spiritual truth and at the heart of the story you read—“And now nothing shall be withheld from them that they have imagined to do.”
So I’m imagining.
Having just turned sixty-five and having started preaching at the age of fifteen (not very coherently but preaching none-the-less), I’m entering my fiftieth year in ministry. I’m not old—just experienced and it seems that experience is something that this world needs. So I’m imagining what the future holds. Because I know that life, and success, are created in the womb of imagination.
What do you imagine?
When you join me “Behind The Door” I’m going to show you how to use your imagination to create the world that you want to live in. It’s powerful stuff, and quite frankly, not for everyone. But if you’re looking for more out of life join me there. You’ll need this month’s password and if you have it you can go there right now. If you don’t have this month’s password hit the “Sowing” button and sow a seed of any amount into this ministry. The default setting is twenty dollars but you can lower the amount (right now no is!) or do as some do and raise the amount. The password is good for the entire month so write it down. I’ll meet you “Behind The Door.”
