Imagination

'There was an evening, not that long ago, when I came to the Lord with a heavy heart… I was exhausted… Sammy seemed worried. ‘Pete, how are you going to keep this up?’ she asked. ‘You’ve got nothing left to give…’

I escaped to my study, collapsed into my old leather armchair and opened my Bible. Rarely had I felt such a need for a word from my Father in heaven. Before beginning to read, I paused, but it was little more than a series of heavy sighs... I found the day’s set passage. Deuteronomy 33. Moses on his deathbed, blessed the tribes of Israel. Not particularly promising… And then these words unexpectedly wrapped themselves around me like a hug:

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,

for he shields him all day long,

and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

(v. 12)

…It was a beautiful reassurance for a troubled soul like mine. I loved that image of ‘the one the Lord loves [resting] between his shoulders’, and began to imagine myself into the scene. There’s an old, faded photograph somewhere of me as a baby, maybe eighteen months old, in a carrier on my father’s back. That’s how I imagined myself now. Held tight on my dad’s back, safe and secure between his shoulder blades. I liked the solidity of that position. Could smell his thick holiday sweater. Felt his strength and the warmth of his back. Knew simply that I was loved. It was the physical sensation of trust. Of being carried. Nothing needed. Nothing required…

‘Thank you, Father,’ I whispered, leaning into the embrace of my old leather chair, feeling the strain lifting from my shoulders. ‘I love you, Lord.’

It was by lingering to imagine the scene in this highly subjective way, not worrying too much about its original context and meaning, that this ancient blessing had become my blessing too.'

Notice how Pete imagined himself into the passage with his physical senses. By pausing, allowing a phrase to interrupt his reading, and using his imagination, Pete opened himself to hearing God’s voice. In sharing this beautiful example from his own prayer life, Pete shows us how the reading and meditating parts of lectio divina God’s word can lead us into rich encounters with God’s love.

Lord, as I read the Bible today, would you bless my imagination? I choose a Biblical story and use my five senses to imagine myself in the scene.

Amen.