King of the Clouds

Never ever get into an imagination contest with a 5-year old.  You will lose. I sure did.

Brock and I had a “Daddy & Brock Day” this week.  It was one of those special days were Jodi took the 2 other yahoos into town, allowing Brock and I to have some long overdue one on one time.  The day became way too hot for our original plan of hiking, so we spent about an hour swimming in the pool, had a fun picnic lunch under the trees… then the mind-blowing began.

Still under the shade of our trees, we sat on our 2-person swing looking up at the clouds.  All I had to say was “Those clouds look pretty cool, don’t they.”  Then the fun started.

Brock: That one looks like a rat.  Splinter from the mutant ninja turtles.  Your turn, Daddy.

Me: That one looks like a dog.

Brock: There’s a man with a funny face.  And a lion getting ready to pounce.  Your turn, Daddy.

Me:  Um… well… let me see… I think I see a…

Brock: There’s a cat, and a woman reaching over a wall to pick up her baby.  There’s a castle with a moat and towers.  Your turn Daddy.

And on and on it went for thirty minutes.

Brock’s imagination flew at warp speed while I struggled to find clouds that looked like anything but marshmallows and cotton balls.  I simply could not keep up.  While I strived to see something cool, he just said what he saw without regard to it’s cool factor… which made his sightings profound and incredible.

I like to think that I’m a creative person… but my creativity and imagination fails in comparison to that of my children.  Isn’t that true for all of us.  We adults have let life and responsibility and maturity and vocations and stressors and technology… the list could go on for a long time… dull our imagination and creativity.  We become so consumed in producing or thinking or feeling something good or cool or productive that we don’t know how to imagine like we did as children.

My challenge to you is to take a few moments of purely un-productive time and go outside and look up.  Gaze at the clouds, or the stars, or the unending blue of the summer sky.  Lay down so you don’t stress your neck.  Let your imagine go.  What would the 5-year old inside you see?  What adventures would he have racing through the clouds or riding the stars?

God gave you imagination.  Take a few minutes today to let that imagination run.