Bear with me, this is long but I’d ask that you please read to the end.
Today is January 3rd, the birthday of one of my favorite authors and arguably one of the most influential writers to ever set pen to paper. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 – 1973) was an English author, philologist and poet. Tolkien was best known for his fantasy creations of Middle-Earth – he wrote The Hobbit, and the epic trilogy ‘The Lord of the Rings’, giving birth to a new genre of fantasy.
“Fantasy.” Did you balk when you first read that word just now? Does it bring to mind childish things? Or perhaps even the stigma of “nerd” or “geek”? Does the thought of using imagination - a skill and delight becoming quite extinct in the technological age - seem something left to undignified or immature folk?
Do not disregard the importance of fantasy. Particularly to the Christian.
“Although now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed. Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned: Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind. Though all the crannies of the world we filled with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build Gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sowed the seed of dragons- 'twas our right (used or misused). That right has not decayed: we make still by the law in which we're made.
Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories
Using our imaginations and acting as “sub-creators” is a part of being human, of being made in the likeness of our Creator. “We make still by the law in which we're made,” meaning that you and I are called, just as J.R.R. Tolkien expressed in his writings, to give life to those things within us that seek to bring beauty or truth to the world around us (the Primary World). Recombining elements of reality in new ways (“art”) create a sort of Secondary World. Yes, it is a dim reflection, but it still acts as an apologetic in itself, pointing us to the realities and truths of OUR Creator, OUR world.
So on today, January 3rd I’d like to celebrate the man who, for me, taught that the use of imagination is not for children alone, nor is it for nerds, geeks or fans of “fantasy.” Imagination is what gives the Christian the ability to envision an eternal future with our Creator, with Jesus. Imagination feeds our hearts the fuel of God’s promises, empowering us to live hope-filled lives. It gives us the ability to see a life free from the stronghold of sin that entangles. What we cannot see with our eyes, we can see with our imaginations, and this is infinitely more valuable than physical sight.
Imagination, like most things, is like a muscle that grows wimpish with lack of use. So in 2022, along with your holy habits, I’d encourage you to give your imaginations a daily injection. Pick up a book, listen to good music, grab a pencil and sketch, learn to play an instrument. Let your imagination take you somewhere new. Let it CREATE something new and in doing so embrace your call as image-bearer!
Great read! Thanks for sharing!