Feeding Our Imagination

Imagination--what an amazing gift from God!

With it we can zip through the universe on a spaceship, conquer armies, plod across the prairies with the wagon trains, and meet people long dead. We can visit the past, explore the present, and peek into the future. We can dive into the human heart or fly to a galaxy far, far away. All from the security of our backyard.

But because the imagination can roam to the limits of human experience, it too has been corrupted by sin. Just as the imagination can give wings to the good, it can also feed the voracious evil inside every human heart until that evil consumes every part of our imagination. And since the imagination is contained within the mind, the growth of evil is invisible to those on the outside.

Or at least at first, for input does equal output: "But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man 'unclean.'" (Matthew 15:18) Therefore, we must be cautious with what we feed our imaginations, because the imagination, being internal, feeds the heart.

What then should we "eat" to have a healthy imagination? How much influence do things like books and television have on our minds? Where should we draw the line? When do we cross those lines, if ever?

It is these types of questions I wish to explore on this blog through posts on how I set my guidelines; discussions on faith, fiction, and fantasy; interviews with other imagination experts; and practical application to books and films I encounter along the way. And who knows? Maybe you'll learn a thing or two anyway. I know I will.

Feet on the ground, head in the clouds,
Chawna Schroeder