This morning I was able to sit outside again while reading my Bible. Again, I drank a lot of coffee (the pot is almost empty now -- though Shannon had a large cup of it before he left). I read in Habakkuk. There are some great passages in this very short book. Habakkuk 3:4 says, 'His radiance is likee the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power."
Another one the writer in me loves is Habakkuk 2:2. It says, "Then the LORD answered me and said, 'Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run.'"
As I read I thought of Jesus sitting beside me, His arm around my shoulders. I stopped reading and just pictured that. I pictured me leaning my head against His shoulder. I pictured Him smiling. I thought of the peace that would bring.
And you know what -- it did. It brought peace. It brought joyful tears. It brought a sense of presence.
The first commandment is to "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, your mind and your strength."
Loving God with all our minds means we need to love Him with our imaginations. Our imaginations are gifts from God to enhance this life He's given us. What better way than to think of Him? To picture Him? To imagine being with Him?
Often, people use their imaginations to worry, to fear, to stress. I do this too. But we don't have to! We can choose not to use this incredible gift in a negative way.
Oxford Dictionaries says Imagination is "the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses."
That is a glorious capability God has given each of us. Oh, let's choose to use it well!!