When I commit to daily writing…as I do during advent and lent…I go out on a limb and have faith that time will find me to write.  Tonight, it would seem that time has found me in the 11th hour (literally and figuratively speaking).

I have imagined many things today:

I imagined feeling better, as I sat at my doctor’s office awaiting a prescription that might clear the depths of this cold that has been resistant to moving along.

I imagined getting through my work…or most of it…before mid-night.  I might still make it (although I didn’t finish everything).

I imagined myself taking new steps, being received in them, cherishing the feel of new ground beneath my feet even as I step off what has been familiar.

One thing I didn’t have to imagine…I didn’t have to imagine the amazing world that is already being created by my students.  They showed me, in their words and in their images tonight as we wrapped up our semester together.  One described how she used class techniques to lead a peaceful protest last week.  One described this class itself as a peaceful protest…a way to see the world differently and change the nature of how we live in it.  I didn’t have to imagine because I felt their words, and their hugs, and the way in which we created changed together.

I did, though, imagine my students graduating and moving on as social workers in the field, advocating and changing the world through individuals and families and systems.  They are world-changers.  It is a fabulous image.

I imagined finding time to write.  I decided I would write, even if it meant that something else didn’t get done.  I imagined myself free to choose instead of bound by obligation.  I imaged my anxiety getting cast aside.

To imagine is to hold an image, to give that image a life of spirit.

I decided to give life to my freedom.  I still have managed to get through some of the work…and to write.

As I walked, I found myself humming “Imagine” on this rainy, cold night. The sidewalks were glazing as the temperature dropped to freezing.  But, I could feel a warmth; I could imagine the flow and balance of life…of body, mind, and spirit.  The image that came to my mind was one sacred to me, one I have written about before, one that hangs on my wall and is tattooed on my shoulder.

I held my image as I walked, and I began to sing…

“…you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.  I hope one day you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”

This image remains with me, and will rest with me.  It is a small point of light, the grounding and expanding as we imagine, and hope, and wait with expectation all that our imagining will become.

In response to the AdventWord global advent calendar project with the Society for St. John the Evangelist. Today’s word: #imagine. Follow the worldwide advent calendar at: http://www.aco.org/adventword.cfm