Dear God
I want to thank you for the gift of imagination. It comes in handy when I face a situation that is not working or not working as well as I would like it to. It is at those moments that I remember my former supervisor telling me “if you come to me with a problem, then also come to me with a solution.” Identifying the problem did not call on me to have an imagination, but coming up with a solution often times did. It meant I thought through all the logical responses and solutions to the problem and then it meant that I thought outside the box and came up with innovative ways to make something work.
My friend Eileen tells me this is one of my gifts, the ability to think outside the box. I am not sure I even realize when I am doing this, the ideas just flow out. Sometimes it is something simple. For example, a few weeks ago we were invited to do a vending event where the organizer was trying to raise money to help them bring an infant here from China. So we were talking about what to bring and I said why don’t we build on this kid’s theme and do a kid/adult friendly table and have interactive things for the kids to do. Then the ideas started flowing and we identified equipment and activities that the kids could do using products the adults could also use. Problem solved.
Sometimes I find myself seeing layers of meaning in something simple. For example, I love looking outside my bathroom window at the trees and how their branches seem as if they are reaching out to you and when there are leaves on their branches it makes it seem as if they are lifting themselves up in prayer and I can see myself putting my prayers on their leaves for them to carry to you. Then in the fall when the leaves fall, I would look at them and give thanks for all the times they lifted up my prayers to you. Then we gather them, use them to mulch the ground around the tree, knowing they will make the ground richer and in the spring, they will begin their hard work of lifting my prayers up to you one more time.
So thank you for the trees that carry my prayers, for the ideas that flow out of me like water in a river, and for the gift of imagination in general.
Love,
Sharon