I Hope You Never Let Your Imagination Die

I hope you never let your imagination die.

When we’re little, we play. We make cities, and rocket ships, and cars out of cardboard boxes. We make friends out of thin air. We put on costumes and pretend like we’re fairies, or wizards, or something magical. We see animals in clouds, we wish on stars, we believe in Santa, and The Tooth Fairy, and the magic of Disney.

And then something happens.

We’re told we’re a big kid. And then there are expectations. We’re told we’re a young adult. And then there are more expectations. We cross the threshold into adulthood. And then expectations become currency, and imagination fades from view.

I hope you never let your imagination die.

I hope you let it bubble, and I hope you let it brew. I hope you let it rise to the surface of your mind, your soul, your heart.

Imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

New ideas. New images. New concepts.

Isn’t that part of the beauty of this life? To create something new? To see the extraordinary in the ordinary? To see potential when others turn their heads? Imagination courses through the things that give us delight, and comfort, and pleasure, and joy. It’s what makes us believe in the things we cannot hold with our hands, only our hearts. Things like hope, like faith, like happiness, like joy, like pleasure, like excitement, like love…these are born out of the spark of imagination.

What a tragedy it would be to you let your imagination die.

I hope you see the beauty in the ordinary. I hope you remember how to play. I hope you build out of the unexpected and make magic, too. I hope you never let yourself think that you’re too old to wish on a star.

I hope you let your imagination live.