Prophetic Imagination

Part 1: Rest

As the new year approached, I started asking the standard NYE question; do you have any resolutions or themes for the year? Most people I asked said they’re still figuring it out. One friend answered, “I haven’t had the time to theme.” Another asked, “How do I make a vision board if I don’t have a clear vision?”

This is, ostensibly, the time of year for naming our goals and aspirations. We shed the past and start fresh. But what can we do with a blank canvas when we scarcely have time to think?

Togor Gado is one of the friends I dream with the most. She is an endless fountain of wisdom, and I have to keep my notes app handy to catch the gems she drops so effortlessly.

She had a little break between her demanding job and Master’s degree program and we used the time to catch up. I asked what was next for her after the program. She paused and thought for a moment. Then she said something I haven’t been able to let go. “I want to get enough rest to nurture a prophetic imagination.” She said this as if it wasn’t poetry. As if she hadn’t just put to words what nearly everyone I know is feeling–that we need a certain spaciousness if we are to dream.

To me, a prophetic imagination is the ability to dream and envision the world you want to inhabit and have a restful trust that the steps you’re taking are bringing you there. It can be seen as the step before manifesting. To have a prophetic imagination is to boldly, freely and confidently want. 

Togor’s words got me thinking: what does it take to have a prophetic imagination? What keeps us from having one? I think we need two things to imagine prophetically: rest and courage. This week, we’re talking about rest.

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I’m not a Christian but I was raised in Christianity. The Bible will always hold my first set of metaphors and scripture will always be my mother tongue. As a result, a shift in my understanding of scripture, even now, can lead to change and growth in myself.

Growing up, I was told God rested on the 7th day. There were 6 days of world-building and on the 7th, after getting all their work done, God rested. This story set the tone for my weekly rhythms. Work work work work work work. Rest. Rest was always something to be earned. It came at the end of giving all you could and was at most, a reward and at least, a reprieve.

Then I heard a theologian* tell the story of Creation from a different angle. Rest may have been the end of God’s week, but it was the beginning of ours. 

I thought of Togor’s words in this context. She knew she needed to reach a place of rest before she could dream big for herself. Rest is the first step toward a prophetic imagination, not the last.

This year, I’m doing my best to lead with rest. Last year, I made a lot of bold and exciting goals for myself and I am proud to say I accomplished all of them. But it came at a price. By the end of the year I was so worn out that my immune system went MIA and I spent the majority of November in a Nyquil-induced stupor. I don’t want that this year. Moreover, to quote my friend Evan, “I don’t want to look at my life as one long to-do list.” This year, I’m not setting specific goals on how many essays to pitch or how many pages to write. My goal for this year, to reference the Bible yet again, is “to be faithful in the little.”

It’s like having a budget, but with hours instead of money (though I often feel I have neither). Last year I did the math and learned that I only have 10 hours of sitting-upright-and-typing energy in my body each week in addition to the 40 my day job requires. When I go over10 hours, something always suffers. I miss time with friends. I stop working out. My Dino-nugget to adult food ratio goes off the rails. I miss sleep. While much of my identity is being a writer, it is not the entirety. Even my noblest writing ambitions must be reigned in when they threaten to harm other sacred parts of myself.

I don’t have all the specifics laid out for this year, but I know how I want to feel: rested. I want to establish a steady rhythm for meeting my goals. I plan to give what I can to writing this year and to let the rest be the rest. 

2023 started on a Sunday. I’m choosing to read this as a reminder to ease in with Sabbath energy. The future must begin with rest if it is to begin at all.

If you’re looking for goals or feeling a bit directionless, consider starting with rest. Let rest be your anchor and your north star. Let it root you in where you need to be and guide you in where your prophetic imagination invites you to go.

*I wish I could remember the theologian’s who said this. Let me know if you do!

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Finding the Laughs

I feel this in my bones.