The Light
“Then God said: Let there be light, and
there was light.”
Genesis 1:3
I would guess that while most of you do not know who
is in the picture that accompanies this essay, the “what” of the picture is obvious
enough. It is two children at play. Now these particular children also happen to
be dear to my heart. Allow me to introduce
you to Astronaut Molly, and Giraffe Alien Danny – my two youngest grandchildren. They are engaging in play in one of its
purest forms – there are no pre-determined rules or directions, there is no
particular purpose other than to play – no winners; no losers. The game does not have to make sense to anyone
outside the game as explanation would merely bog down the fun. For example, where exactly does a space alien
giraffe comes from, and why doesn’t he need a spacesuit to survive are unimportant
details. And, should they become
important at some point, the answer can always be made up. Reality is whatever makes you laugh loudest.
The only infinite
wilderness within the human realm is the wilderness of the thought. Imagination is the heart of creation, where the new becomes possible and the existing is deepened. There is only one other characteristic
innate to humans more reflective of the image of our Creator than the ability
to imagine, and that is the capacity to love.
Eons ago, when our most ancient of ancestors gazed up
into the night sky, what did they see?
Of course, they observed the detail of the natural scene. They saw a reality of the night sky. The lights shone in the darkness. And the darkness spanned from as far as they
could see to as far as they could see.
But, how many nights came and went before the reality gave way to
wonder? I suspect that it was not many;
possibly not any. In a sensual world,
where objects could be touched, smelled, and even tasted, it could not have
taken long to consider what the lights were and what would it be like if they
were within reach? If a rock thrown into
the air always fell back down to earth, how did the lights stay up in the sky?
Imagination always leads to the question. The seed of true knowledge lies not within the answer,
but in asking the right question. The
right question always give birth to an idea.
Ideas, in turn, birth the desire to achieve them. And achievement always births a bouquet of
more questions, with the centerpiece always being the question, “What else?” Because there is always more.
This is the way that our God leads us to Him. He teaches us the questions, knowing that He
is the answer to all of them.
“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through
him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:1-5
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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