My 9-year-old, Jax, has a wild imagination (what kid doesn’t?) Lately, he’s been envisioning his future in detail. He will live with his best friend, their house will be several stories high, there will be slides everywhere, and a rollercoaster in the backyard. I listen closely as he carefully sketches it out in a notebook entitled, “Jax in the Future.” I don’t want the day to come when he stops imagining. I don’t know what happens as most of us grow – why we leave behind that ability to dream – that desire to paint vibrant pictures in our minds. It’s true that we grown-up humans have no trouble envisioning things to come, but those things tend to be our worries and our fears. So often, our mind pictures aren’t colorful – they’re dark and foreboding – they’re the what-ifs that can weigh us down daily and cast shadows on the future. Our good and creative God invites us into a different way of imagining – He offers us a holy imagination, to be used to envision all the goodness to come in this life and the next. Sure, not every day is glorious, but our hopeful expectations will help to shape our experience of whatever we’re facing. As we look for the blessings, even in the hardest times, we will find them even in the most unlikely places. Don’t be afraid to imagine a beautiful outcome to something, to dream something in detail that seems impossible, or even just envisioning Jesus with His arms open as you step into eternity. Invite God into those pictures you’re paining. Even if those things in our holy imaginations never become our reality, they still point us toward hope. They still help us to believe in God’s goodness, and we can trust that whatever He has for us is better than we could ever dream. Paul reminds us in Philippians to lift our minds: “Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” We can’t out-imagine God. Let yourself be like a kid once in awhile; paint pictures of goodness; dare to believe that He will bless you in ways beyond what your mind and heart can see.