Imagination

I remember an old song with that title, by songwriters Van Heusen and Burke.. In part, the lyric stated:

"Imagination is funny, it makes a cloudy day sunny
It makes a bee think of honey, just as I think of you"

At my first broadcasting job, my boss was the father of a boy of about seven or eight years. That boy loved to talk, and if you engaged him in a conversation he would launch into an amazing tale of imaginary monsters and battles and victories, in the greatest and most colorful detail. His Dad was concerned about the boy's tall tales, but I thought he had an interesting mind.

Like him, I love to engage in imagination. Sometimes I awake in the middle of the night. I don't want to get out of bed, knowing I should, and would (sooner or later) go back to sleep. So, I imagine things. Deep things, like the origin of man. Understand, I am not so arrogant as to think I know anything about the subject. Was it Creation? Was it evolution? Was it a combination of the two. Don't know. Don't really care. We only know, to some degree, what is now. Let's imagine how it happened.

Genesis 2:27 says God created man and woman in his own image. Let's imagine it happening. He created man with muscular arms and legs, a hairy chest and face. Satisfied with this 'self portrait', he gave man life, reason, courage, integrity, all the things we hope to discover in a 'real' man.

Then, God decided to make a companion for man. But, He thought, let's make this one beautiful. I'll give her more delicate arms and hands, a nicely curved body, long shapely legs. I'll give her a gentle touch and a loving kiss, a companion man can cherish, will protect and provide for all the days of her life. 

When satisfied with this ultimate work of art, He gave woman life, intelligence, grace. He made her enjoy makeup to enhance her natural beauty. He made her to love perfume so man would sense her presence even before she came into view.

Pleased with this creation, He said, I will create no more. I will endow woman the exclusive ability to create more humans in my image. Man may participate only to contribute his genes, but it is woman who will carry and deliver each child. I will give her the exclusive ability to produce milk to nourish her newborn. I will give her compassion and tenderness to nurture her child.

Sometimes my imagination goes on, wondering how He will judge men who may mistreat his special gift. How He will judge women who mishandle the gift of beauty through gluttony, slovenliness, or whatever.

Depends on how quickly I go back to sleep.