Michael T. Hare

“There were dragons when I was a boy.”

If you’ve ever watched How to Train Your Dragon – The Hidden World, you’re probably familiar with this line, spoken by Hiccup as he and his family drop anchor to visit Toothless. When I was a boy, there were dragons too. I saw them in my imagination, inspired by stories that I loved.

If there was ever a perfect representation of why I write, this is it. “There were dragons when I was a boy.” As we travel through this world, we start to lose our sense of wonder, and our dragons begin to disappear. I’ve experienced that—a loss of my sense of wonder, a loss of my joy. It’s a gnawing feeling that I want to help others through.

God made us with a unique imagination; we’re supposed to use it! Otherwise, he would never have given it to us. Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t have an imagination anymore. I’m too old. I’m too mature. Besides, I need to be thinking about the future right now.”

Sometimes, it can feel like our imagination is gone, but that isn’t true. We’re just applying it in the wrong place. As we get older and more responsibility falls on our shoulders, life threatens to bend our imagination toward potential hazards. Your imagination never left. It’s just being abused.

Thankfully, that’s where God comes in. In Him, we can find rest, simply by trusting He’s got us. There’s no method, traveler. I wish I could say there was, but God isn’t one for complexity. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). I’m not saying it’s always easy to trust God—in fact, I’ll be the first to tell you how tough it can be—but the truth is that He’s got us, and He has a plan.

Once our anxieties and fears are at rest, held by God, our imaginations will have the space to thrive once again, surrounded by a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). I myself am still going through the motions, trusting that God has a plan and direction, but there’s hope on the other side. I can feel it.

P.S. Think of our imaginations as dragons. If they don’t fly free, it doesn’t bode well for them. Take some advice from Gobber: “A downed dragon is a dead dragon.” We must help our imaginations fly again. And sometimes, the best way to do that is by forging them new tails.