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The Gift of Imagination

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Life isn’t a Hallmark movie, but I do believe that Hallmark offers the magic of imagination that can get us through hard times.

Honestly, as a writer, my friends and I have Hallmark movie watching parties where we pick apart the plot or recast the characters to our own liking. “I could write better than that,” we say.

The truth is that if we changed these stories, they wouldn’t offer the same kind of magic. They wouldn’t take our imagination to a sweeter/kinder place and give us the strength, hope, and joy needed to create such heartwarming scenes in our own lives.

Think about it. When you’re lying in bed at night, is it easier for you to go to sleep when you’re mulling over life’s problems or when you’re daydreaming about things that are lovely, pure, and admirable? Since I was young, I’ve always put myself to sleep with my own version of a bedtime story. It’s also biblical. Philippians 4:8 says “Think about things that are excellent and praiseworthy.”

That’s the beauty of imagination. Tap into it.

I’ve been pondering this more lately because of my cancer diagnosis. My first day home from chemo, all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and watch Holiday in the Wild. Then this week, when I couldn’t sleep because of the steroids they gave me, I walked around the house like a ghost for a bit before sitting down to write until three in the morning. It was just the escape I needed. It took my mind off my own troubles.

But there are people who have it far worse than me. I had the honor of hearing Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein share her story of being taken from her family by Nazis and marched through the snow until girls were snapping off their toes like twigs. She claims it was her imagination that kept her alive. She called it a gift. While her friends gave up hope and died around her, she would spend whole days deciding if she was going to wear a red dress or a blue dress to her next dance. She ended up wearing a white dress when she married the soldier who rescued her. (See her Oscar-winning documentary here.)

I am thankful for this gift. For those who can’t make up sweet stories on your own, I’ll do it for you.

Whether you’re a Hallmark fan or not, I want to encourage you to daydream/read/watch stories about the kind of world you want to create. Then, go create it. That’s the gift that keeps on giving.

What is the best gift you’ve ever received? (Answer for a chance to win an autographed copy of my Romantic Times top pick, Finding Love in Park City.)

Angela Ruth Strong (54 Posts)

Angela Ruth Strong survived breast cancer, works as a flight attendant, and uses her own crazy life experiences as inspiration for the stories she writes. Her books have earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been nominated for a Christy, won the Cascade Award, and become Amazon bestsellers. She and her husband also got to play extras when her novel Finding Love in Big Sky was adapted for film. To help aspiring authors, Angela started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho.


Comments

  1. In the last year or so I have taken up reading and watching romantic stories just for the happy endings. As a man with a romantic heart, I resonate with the idea that we can create places of warmth, beauty and safety in the lives of those we love and in our communities. I deal with a chronic illness that makes it hard if not impossible to hold down a 9 to 5 job. That’s hard for me as a man used to providing for his family. I used to think that my reading and watching were an escape from the realities of my day-to-day life. Now, I see them more as an escape to a place of refuge from the hurts and losses of life.

    Thanks for the great post and the reminder that God made us to choose how we think. It can give us hope in the uncertain short term to focus on the truth that heaven and its pure love and joy are the final word.

  2. I’m sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis and treatment issues. That’s amazing that stories can help with such hard times, especially that girl with the Nazis–I’d never heard that before!

    As to my best gift ever, that’s hard for me. Getting my big keyboard at Christmas from my husband when we first married was a big one. So was the Valentine’s Day gift when my husband upgraded the diamond on my wedding ring.

  3. The best gift I ever received was the gift of salvation from my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  4. The best gift I ever received was a gold , shimmery skirt from my daughters. We saw it in a store while we were out shopping. It was far more than I could afford. I loved it and was a little sad that it wasn’t on sale. Unbeknown you’re me, my daughters went in together and bought that skirt for me for Christmas. I cried so much because I knew how much it had cost. I understood their act of love and sacrifice in order to bring me a gift like that. I cried though, not because of the gift, but what it took on their part to buy it. I will treasure that moment forever.

  5. Hi Angela,

    The best gift I’ve received recently was my brother paying my way to go to his beach house for Thanksgiving. I’ve survived cancer twice, abandonment after a long marriage, and had to struggle ever since. However, God redeemed me out of a dreadful life of sales. Now I’m teaching at the local community college. A lifelong goal realized. I’ve been swimming between deadlines for work, writing deadlines, and grad school deadlines heaped on top of that. Some time off to unplug was just what the doctor ordered.

    Blessings,
    Laurie Epps

  7. This post really resonated with me. Imagination and feel good stories can take us to a better place. Like you however, when family circumstances are challenging it is hard to read too many feel good stories. Thanks for your words.

  8. The best gift I ever received was my salvation through Jesus. The next best is a group!! One was the set of keys to my parents car, next was when my oldest nephew gave us Christmas gifts that he’d made of handblown glass, and one was just this Christmas when my youngest nephew, who is special needs, gave me a necklace that he made. Praying for you as you go through this trial!!

  9. Probably the one specific gift that I remember well was a new Bible that my parents gave me for my tenth birthday. I have received so many other gifts over the years but that is one I can clearly remember both the occasion and the gift.

  13. The best gift ever was a surprise on my 40th birthday from my husband. He flew my best friend in from PA (to NC) and sent us for a spa day and overnight at the Grove Park Inn, a luxury resort in Asheville, NC. I couldn’t even imagine that story to ask for it! Incidentally, I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 months later. The memory of that gift became a gift in itself.

  14. I am very late the heat has gotten to me. Sorry about your diagnosis.
    I love watching hallmark movies if we get them or other similar same with HEA romances.

    One of the bests gifts I ever got was on my birthday this year. My friend bought me 2 rescue cats Henry and Libby. They keep me on my toes.
    For a Christmas gift one of the best was from a friend who I meet through cricket. I support Western Australia even though I live in South Australia. My friend got an autograph bear and had as many of the squad as she could sign it. I was able to then get several more autographs and ended up only missing one of the squad. I still have the bear his name is Beau named by one of the players

  23. How wonderful! I went to a Christian school and prayed every day in class for a Precious Moments Bible. One day, the teacher had me stay in at recess. She pulled out a brand new Precious Moments Bible that had been left in the lost and found for months and never picked up. That sweet moment taught me the power of prayer. And that God has precious things for us. <3 Thank you for sharing.

  25. You and Edward (above) both! I also shared with him the story of how I went to a Christian school and prayed every day in class for a Precious Moments Bible. One day, the teacher kept me in at recess to give me a brand new Precious Moments Bible that had been left in the lost and found for months. It was like God wanted me to have it. He answers prayer, and He gives good gifts. <3

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