Imagination can be one of our greatest gifts, but it can also be used to hurt us.
The storms of life can grip us with fear. They can cause us to freeze. They can pull us in so all of our focus is on the storm. The result can be anxiety, stress and worry. Like the apostles, we tend to focus on the storm, not on who is in the boat with us.
God is a God of peace. Yet we seem to act as if he is the God of upheaval and chaos when we focus all our attention on the storm and not Him. The storms come in many different ways. The one I am focusing on here is the storms from our imaginations that fill our heads with negativity. We are all set. We’ve worked hard and have carefully thought out our plans. We are excited. We are filled with hope and willingness to move forward. We know we are in God’s will. We have prayed and discerned. We see the good that our decision will bring. Then our imagination kicks in with thoughts that seem like facts. Suddenly out of left field we are certain we can’t carry out our plan because it would be too hard. We suddenly believe nobody would care and we would just be wasting time. We entertain the possibility of being laughed at or ridiculed. We become certain only bad will come from it even though we can’t even identify what that bad may be. It’s at those times we can rest assured that it is not God leading us with thoughts such as these. He leads lovingly and in a calm manner.
This can happen with large scale events and even with common daily circumstances. The moment we realize this is not the voice of God, we need to shut it down. We must not entertain it. More often than not, the voice is stopping us from doing good or trying to entice us to do bad. We must, as Saint Ignatius says, act like a strong woman and say no so that the enemy will flee. When we make this a practice with the small situations we find ourselves in, it will become a developed skill in the larger ones.
I had to pull in the reigns of my own imagination this week. I begin focusing my attention on the storm that was over powering the positivity, love and hope from God. It was causing me to doubt what I knew was of God. It was my own imagination bullying me. I had to choose to stop the imagination, turn my back on the “what if’s” and turned to God. I turned my attention to Him and not the storm. I let Him calm my storm.
I looked for God in all they ways that were around me, trusting that within my life, He had already supplied me with the tools to fight a battle He knew was coming well before it came. The tools I had been supplied with were:
- The determination to refuse to entertain the negative and demeaning thoughts.
God‘s love for us is so intense. We need to embrace it and pay no attention to the bullying that is the voice of the enemy. If God wants us to go on a different path, He will not lead us by fear or demeaning ways. He will lead gently and lovingly. When the loud voice of the stranger tries to grab our attention, we must not engage it. We must silence it by focusing on God’s whispers and all He is offering us to weather the storm.
- Observing Others
I recalled the actions of solid people in faith that I had observed over time and how they handled the attempts presented to them in hopes they would abandon God’s will. Being in a state of heightened awareness, I also noticed people who were currently staying the course on a path they believed God called them to. In all these people I made the following observations.
- They refused to listen to anyone who spoke negatively as an attempt to let their imagination entertain any negative thoughts and discourage them from what they knew they were being called to do. They were already on the steady course and God was their focus.
- Their path gave them purpose with passion regardless of what the naysayers said because they had already discerned they were doing God’s will. Love for God energized them. It was their driving force. After much hard work, they were ready to share what they had done with their gift. Letting their imagination entertain negativity and get discouraged was not a door they would open. They knew the road they were on was other oriented.
- They fought with their faith in order to stop the sudden negativity. They trusted that God wouldn’t suddenly shift gears on them before the task given them by Him was complete. They trusted that if God gave them something, they needed to use it and let Him worry about the results. They trusted that if, however, God did want them to go down a different path, He would lead gently and with love. They knew they could recognize Him in love, not the negativity their imagination was tempted to entertain and the discouragement it would offer.
It is true that we can fall off the right path and we should not instantly shut out people as they could be helping us, but discernment in knowing God’s voice can help us to know when it looks more like bullying from others or even ourselves. Sometimes we have to ignore the delivery. Discernment can help us to follow hope and the love of self giving and not follow despair or a turning inward towards self love. We can discern when they are trying to get us back on the path we originally set out on and may have fallen off of or if they are trying to pull us off the path that is good and right. In times that it may seem confusing, it is always good to talk to a trusted friend, pastor, mentor or spiritual companion that can help you discern.
- Talking to God about it.
We must pray and make God the focus in whatever way we know builds up the special relationship we have built with Him. It is in that special relationship, that communication of love, that we recognize our Advocate and can clearly see that the other voice does not have our best interests at heart. This is why regularly praying is essential. We can’t wait until an imaginative storm comes to think we can know how to recognize God’s voice.
- Scripture
I turned to scripture that I had used in the past that always gave me strength. It is always good to have a list of go-to-scriptures that touch our heart and seem to have a way of giving us peace when the storms of life come.
These methods quickly helped me find my grounding again. Instead of embracing despair, I found hope. Instead of fear, I found faith. Instead of allowing my imagination to hurt me, I reminded myself that imagination is a gift to glorify God with for creative purposes, not hurting me with thoughts that are contrary to God’s loving and merciful nature. God never brings about His will by acting contrary to His goodness. It is in my relationship with God and paying attention to Him in the many ways He presented Himself to me that I found my heart stirred up for God. It is a gift available to all of us and one that greatly helps when the storms come.
I hope this reflection and these points to ponder help you as much as they helped me in knowing God more personally.
Reflections for Sitting in Prayer with God.
Read and reflect on Lamentations 3. Notice the negative imagination in verses 1-20. I seriously doubt his flesh was torn into pieces. Notice the contrast in verses 21-40. Notice the contrast started with the power of hope.
How do things change in your own life when you put your hope on God and not the storm of your imagination?
Is there something on your mind that has been stirred up negatively through your imagination? Do the thoughts seem like the nature of God or His enemy?
What has been the result of it? Talk to God about that.
Practice not entertaining the bully that takes up residency in your head.
If you know you are walking in God’s will and people seem to be trying to pull you off the path, but you are still feeling confused, talk to a trusted friend to make sure you haven’t gone astray.