Nurturing Creativity, Imagination, and Rest

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Have you ever just sat back and watched as your child (or someone else’s child) plays when they are in deep imagination? It’s interesting to witness. You’ll hear names of people you’ve never met, places that seem magical, time travel, past life experiences, and so much more.

Imaginary Meals Aren’t Cheap Either

Each of my children has had varying degrees of imaginative play over the years, but my daughter has taken it to a new level this week. Her play yesterday lasted over two hours. She built a restaurant out of pillows and blankets, kitchen dishes, and some of her dolls. Once everything was in place, she began to create this restaurant scene in which she was the boss. New menu items, service behaviors, operations, and one-way conversations (or at least I only heard one side of the conversations) filled the room. At one point, I thought she might be playing with one or both of her brothers. When I looked, they were both playing Minecraft and being creative in their own way.

It was getting close to dinner, so I walked over to her and asked if her restaurant was open and if I might be able to place an order because I was hungry. She gave me this look like I’m sure I’ve given guests in the past but said, “Sure, but we only have pasta, and that will be forty dollars.” Surprisingly, supply chain issues and inflation have even hit our children’s imaginations. Being the loving and supportive dad, I bought the imaginary over-priced pasta from my little entrepreneur.

Where Have Our Imaginations Gone?

As I think back on that encounter, I’m confident that as we get older, we push our imaginations to the side for thoughts and ideas that are more concrete and safe.

Our lives are so filled with tasks and to-do lists that we rarely take time to stop and enjoy. This has been true in my life and I’m certain it’s probably true for you too. We have forgotten what boredom feels like because everything in our society says, “go, go, go.” Think about it! When was the last time you put the phone down and turned it off, or had to respond to just one more email, or you fill in the blank. I’ve done it too.

I think the point I’m trying to make here is we just aren’t really good at turning our minds off–because there is always just one more phone call, text message, and email away from finishing our work so we never really stop. This is why I have come to believe children have the advantage of stopping and enjoying over adults and I would argue that Jesus agrees.

Child-like Faith

Scripture tells us that unless we become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? To Jesus’ audience, his statement is shocking! Children had no authority, no status. They were loved and cared for but had no power or choices to make that impacted their lives. Compared to adults of any age, children were powerless. So, why did Jesus make this statement?

The disciples here are debating who is the greatest among them, and Jesus confronts them with a rebuke in Matthew 18:1-5. Jesus said, if you turn and become like little children you can never enter the kingdom of heaven and you must humble yourself.

Speaking from an adult perspective, it’s hard to be like a child–full of wonder, curiosity, and awe with God when I fill my heart and mind with the glory of my own achievements. That’s why I think children have the advantage of adults. They haven’t lived as long as each of us or achieved employee of the month, or a promotion. It’s hard to humble ourselves when we feel like we have earned something on our own merit; because we did the work.

Create and Cultivate

In the beginning, God created us in His image. And because He is an artist, we each have that creative gene within us. However, unlike God, we have limitations. “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” Mark 2:27. We need rest–body, mind, and soul. God created the Sabbath for us to stop and enjoy Him, creation, and trust Him to provide for needs. One seventh of our week reserved for rest. So, if we do the math; six-sevenths of our week should be creating and cultivating. The problem is we never really rest from our work and rely on Jesus to restore not just our mind, body, and soul, but also our work itself. I’m confident that when we truly Sabbath and do it with our families are lives will change.

It is going to look different in each home, and you get the opportunity to ask God to help you have child-like faith and turn to Jesus to restore every aspect of your life this week.

Read, Pray, and Sing

Here are a few suggestions for Family Worship in your home:

Keep it brief (10-15 minutes), Do it regularly, and Be flexible.

It takes time to get into a rhythm of family discipleship, but our God deserves our worship. It’s doable because God makes it possible: read, pray, and sing. I know you can do it.

Read a passage of Scripture together,

Pray WITH God (Wow. I’m Sorry, Thank You, Help…)

Sing a song or two together (YouTube-Kids Worship Songs; or even Hymns)

On your Sabbath day, take something that represents your work and place it in a box or drawer. Have everyone in the family participate. Once all “work” is put away; pray and ask God to help you stop and enjoy Him, creation and your family. Do something fun together to make this a reality.

I know you can do this! Also, having child-like faith in Jesus does not mean that Christianity is imaginary. When we demonstrate child-like faith, it shows the rest of the world that we serve a God who is still resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.