Such is the Kingdom

Recently I had the great pleasure of watching, engaging in, and contemplating what a three year old can reveal to us about the interplay of imagination in the reality of our spiritual experiences.

My second youngest grandchild is gifted with a highly active imagination. When he dawns his superhero costume he enters a space where he becomes Spiderman or the Flash. His backyard is transformed to landscape for important missions to find missing toys or to provide assistance to needy persons that are present in his mind and are able to communicate with him through thoughts generated like dreams. Other people in his life, mostly adults on this day, may join the imaginative play with the caution that they need to attend to the details of the place and purpose that is generated in his mind. The interaction of reality that we can analyse with our senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell with that more encompassing reality of fable, mission, adventure, and fullness of life may remind adults that our gifts of openness to audacious action, generous acceptance, and incredible outcomes have likely diminished. In the play from a three year old imagination we are nudged to be more open, less cynical, and happily involved with our mission in life.