Best Within Us

Ever since the homeowners hung this swing in their majestic oak, I have had a small degree of regret that my walks are always much too early to allow me to catch the parents playing with the little one who inspired the swing. I imagine the loving smiles of mom or dad. I can almost hear the innocent giggles of the little one as they feel both the freedom of flying and the total adoration of their parents. I can’t imagine anything but happiness at this spot as I pass every day. It makes me smile.

If only life could remain so basic and simple. If only we could imagine life to be so kind and safe. If only everyone grew up surrounded by such love as I imagine to live in that little house and between that little family. If only. If only.

But I think that sometimes we fail to appreciate the power of our imagining. We can’t keep life simple and basic in a complex, changing world by imagining, but we can imagine how we might live simply and remain free from the materialism that seeks to own us. We cannot, with imagination alone, turn the world toward kindness and safety, but we can imagine how we will treat those God brings into our lives, whether friend or stranger. All the imagining in the world cannot create love where it is not, or where it is unwelcome. But we can imagine how to be love wherever we are, everywhere we go, for everyone we meet.

We need to imagine such things. If we fail to do so, we leave the world to those who think only of themselves instead of the needs of others, to those who divide instead of unite, to those who use and manipulate instead of serve. Worst of all, without our imagining, that is who we become. Let us imagine, and become, a world that reflects the best within us.

Peace.