What fires your imagination?!
Part of who we are as humans made in the image of God is our ability to apply our sense of wonder to life and to our life-pursuits. Some have this beat out of us by our experiences or the people around us, yet others find their sense of wonder unlocked and multiplied by science, philosophy, and/or faith pursuits. Much is spoken about the value of expanding the mind, but what about the expanding of the heart and soul?
I cannot overstate the deep respect and enthusiasm I have for the amount of significant scientific discovery during my lifetime. Tech. Medicine. Space. Biology. Knowledge. It is breathtaking. To contemplate the sheer breadth of the known universe is mind boggling.
How does a person grasp the reality of a light year? Or the nature of planets in our solar system – that our own sun is 93,000,000 million miles from earth – and that this is a blip on the measurement scale. Our nearest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda (only one of 100 to 200 billion estimated galaxies) is 2.537 light years away. Using current travel technology, which can travel five miles per second, it would take us about 37,200 years to go one light year. We get so used to throwing around big numbers when it comes to the cosmos, they cease to have reasoning relevance.
Immensity is just one aspect of contemplating God. We have no frame of reference for relating to such vastness. This is exactly the point. Since we are surrounded by infinite design and are trying our best to interpret it, all we can do is attempt to grasp it. And as we pursue this scientifically, why shouldn’t we contemplate immensity in the arenas of philosophy and faith as well?
In Curious Journey I wrote this about my sense of wonder: “Now really – be honest with me. Don’t you get just a little freaked out when you get one of those emails comparing the size of the earth with the sun, and the sun with other stars, and stars with the galaxy that is our neighborhood?! For crying out loud, the probe Voyager that was launched in 1977 is just reaching the end of OUR solar system. My God, how immense it must all be!
I have been watching the debate about the absolute separation between science and spirituality for five decades now, and I quite frankly think it is a crock (crock: a large container of crap). Why anyone would want to castrate the sense of wonder from the human race in order to explain our lack of accountability for our lives is all too understandable to me – but why would we want to obscure the Image so clearly stamped upon this massive outpouring of intelligent, caring design?
I tell you the truth – the stars take my breath away. We have a cabin in southern Iowa where we go to retreat, hold summer camp, and hunt in the fall – so I am pretty much there off and on throughout all four seasons. Some nights I will walk out onto the deck in the evening or the middle of the night and the spectacle will bring me to tears. First of all, I cry because I wake up two times every night to pee, but mostly because of the breathtaking sight as the heavens sing to my earthbound soul. If I am so small and the heavens so immense – who am I – that such a Designer would take notice of me?!”
Another twenty years have flown by. I am still writing my thoughts in our cabin, contemplating my growing sense of wonder and awe at the Greatness of the King of the earth – and ever closer to the One Who is everything.
So whether you are a student of the macro or the micro, use the things which fire your imagination to draw you closer to an understanding of both Creator and ultimate meaning. You won’t regret it!
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” – Acts 17:24-31
√ What is it that fires your imagination?
√ What about your personal faith is dynamic? Stale?
√ Which aspects of beauty and design are prone to move your heart?
√ What things move you from static to dynamic?
Amazing – keep your sense of wonder alive and expanding friend!
Dave and Burnadette