I can only imagine...

I can only imagine...
Four powerful words, often followed by the great cause of woe to another. "I can only imagine what it is like to lose a child." "I can only imagine what it would feel like to lose a spouse."
And then we do. Our imaginations allow our minds and hearts open, to feel, if even minutely, what is would be like to carry that grief. And it is that spiritual trait we humans all share that allow us to empathise...to open our hearts that we may carry a portion of that burden for our friends and loved ones. The blossoming thoughts of "what if" that allow us to forge the most powerful relationships of love and trust.
It is a powerful thing, imagination. It pushes our minds from the reality we all face each day in our lives, to think beyond our selves. To conceive of something we know nothing about and perhaps begin to understand. It makes us all better. I often hear people think they have no imagination. But if that were true, they would have no love in their lives. Be it for an art, sport, or another person. Without it we would never find a mate...never take the plunge into the unknown. It takes the imagination to wonder, to visualize a future with someone, to move beyond that first initial feeling of attraction into something more. From picturing that first kiss, to seeing yourselves old and gray whiling away a summer night. To imagine the children you may someday have and the long line of love you can create.
To Imagine is to create.
If necessity is the mother of all invention, Imagination is her productive sister. Proof that our minds are the driving force behind our bodies, that we think into being, either by idea or guiding our hands to create that which is tangible. Everything in this world, great or small, started with a single thought. Every word we speak, every choice that is made, began with a what if.
What an amazing gift we have...the ability to see what may come, and act upon that which we have created in our minds. To make choices, to know what to say, or even how to behave when words fail us. To bond with another, to help along someone who is hurting. To forge relationships that sustain us our whole lives. To literally create the world around us...all it takes is one thought.
In a way...we have been given the means to glimpse into the future. With our Imagination.