"...postimagining is reimagining the past after it happens!"

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Win the Day (p. 55). The Crown Publishers Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

There is an important part of imagining the past.

Mark says, "We generally think of imagination in future-tense terms, but all parents of preschoolers know that kids have imaginative memories too. Especially when it comes to the proverbial cookie jar! True or false, postimagining is reimagining the past after it happens! This is when many of us make excuses or provide alibis for the hand that got caught in that cookie jar. But let me flip the script. This is also how we acknowledge the hand of God. Isn’t that what David did with the lions and the bears? He postimagined his past from a providential point of view."

He goes on, "When I started preaching, I was frustrated by the fact that I wasn’t good at speaking extemporaneously. I had to script every word, every time. Speaking from an outline would have been much easier, but it wasn’t in my wheelhouse. I had no idea at the time, but God was honing my writing. What I perceived to be a speaking weakness turned into a writing strength."

He continues, "Alfred Adler would call it a compensatory skill. Perceived disadvantages, like David’s size, often prove to be well-disguised advantages. How? They force us to develop attitudes and abilities that would have gone undiscovered otherwise. Once again, the obstacle is the way! It’s as we compensate for our weak hands that we discover some of our greatest ambidextrous gifts.

"The way we interpret history is a function of personality, theology, and even genealogy. Sometimes we romanticize the past, looking at it through rose-colored glasses. Can I make a confession as a former college athlete? The older I get, the better I was! I know I’m not alone! Of course, we also catastrophize the past, magnifying the hardships we’ve faced."

He then says, "My grandparents may have gone to school the old-fashioned way—walking. But it definitely wasn’t uphill both ways! My point? Our recollections are not objective. They’re as subjective as our favorite foods, our favorite songs, and our favorite colors. Each of us connects the dots in our own unique way. Then we paint that picture of the past like an impressionist. That impressionist painting is the backdrop against which we view the present and the future."

That is so very good, isn't it?

Yes, yes!

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