I would like to think that every child has an imaginary friend. I did, and I know for a fact that both my kids and now their kids have at some time turned to that friend for support and reassurance.

It’s an amazing feeling to be in a world of your own, where your imagination can take you anywhere, at any time, and without any necessary reason. You are in complete control, and there are no battles of ownership, jealousy or misunderstanding. It’s all so real and present.
Anything is possible, and the unlikely becomes a reality. Goals that set so high that looking up at them makes your neck ache become a reality in that place.

Pure effortless conversations and oratory flow without pause or hesitation.

Everything can be a victory if that’s what you choose to believe.

On the down-side, calamities and negatives can be romanticised into the most epic of all disasters, highlighting the rogue person or situation as the villain who is doomed for obliteration.

It’s while you are in those times that you begin to understand the power of your mind and imagination. You can feel it, touch it, smell it and see your desires, and there is nothing that can dissuade you from accepting it as truth, and real.

I am forever amazed that God made us in His image. He pictured creation, spoke the words, and they existed. His power is eternal.
He gave us the ability to imagine, to use to open so many doors in our lives.

The ability to dream while awake, to see visions when there are no pictures, to hear and speak when there are no words, a world of safety bound by the possible.

The worlds and scenarios played out in our imaginations can be powerful tools to teach, enable and facilitate change.
As far back as I can remember, there always has been my safe place. One that I haven’t been to in a long time, but I know that I can always reach if needed.

My Lighthouse is in the middle of an island surrounded by ocean.

I have lived in this lighthouse. I’ve basked in the sunlight of the rocks that surround it. I have hidden in it feeling safe and secure during the hailing winds and wild seas that crashed on those same rocks. I have stood in the tower and looked out into the darkness of night, calmed by the searching shining light reflected out into the black world outside. I have cherished its isolation, its powerful structure, its formidable strength, but more than anything the knowledge that it’s the beacon of salvation.

The purpose of a lighthouse is to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a navigational aid for those at sea. They mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs while some sit at the entries of a safe harbour, guiding boats and ships to the land. They warn of danger, but also of safe passage. They warn all those who use the sea to be careful, not to be fooled by the things that they can’t see, those things that are not obvious but hidden deep beneath those blue waters. No matter what the weather there is no going over or around the dangers, to not head the Lighthouse message is an accident waiting to happen.

There are so many references to ‘Light’ in the Bible, and sometimes we speak the Word, and it eases our souls, but in the Gospel of John, he refers to the light of God in such a deeper more meaningful way. I believe that when he talks ‘walking in darkness’ he does not mean committing acts of sin but rather, rejecting God’s message of eternal life through Christ.
Those who define darkness as sin, also define light as good and righteous. However, in the Gospel of John, light is never defined as righteous.

Light is defined as life, as we seen in John 1:4: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”.

Those who have faith in Him will have eternal life.

The Lighthouse is the light of life. During the day it stands and is seen for its purpose, during the night it disperses that darkness to save and warn of the dangers that are unseen.

Lighthouses remain firmly built as a fortress of truth, they have no need to roam the coastline or oceans looking for lives to save, they just stand, shining. A lighthouse can symbolise various things, such as overcoming challenges and adversity or guidance. I’ve used them as a way forward and to help in navigating my life.

For me, that was my attraction. A strong, safe place to go to, night or day, for the quiet isolation, or the comforting saving power of the shining light. It symbolises my salvation and safety, especially in the face of adversity, always there, always still, my place. My Lighthouse was my comforting 
sign that the calm waters of a welcoming harbour were close at hand.

The strength of a lighthouse is in its location. It stands at the highest point of land – closest to the sea and its dangers. Its circular construction makes it impervious to the most bitter gales which time and nature can hurl at it. As the circle is a symbol of ‘Divinity’, the circular
 Lighthouse symbolises stable and reliable spiritual guidance during our mental and emotional storms.

Metaphorically, ‘Water’ represents the emotions. Likewise, the Lighthouse is a symbol for ‘Spirituality’,’ Strength’ and ‘Emotion’. That guidance is available to us during the times we feel helplessly tossed around in a sea of inner turmoil.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s concept in my mind included a figure living alone but always remaining vigilant. Someone keeping alert under the direst of circumstances. The role of a Lighthouse Keeper (long redundant by modern technology) was my imaginary dream job. How good it would feel to know that your skill in keeping the light shining, could save lives.

When the mind of imagination became a reality, my life changed forever.

Accepting Jesus into my life, accepting his Word, accepting his light, gave me life. It saved me from the treacherous dangers and darkness of the unknown and led me to safety. Regardless of how turbulent my emotional seas became, my need was only to focus on the guiding light of the spiritual lighthouse within me.

I can learn from my imaginative world of the lighthouse. I know how it feels, I’ve tasted the utter joy of watching the changing oceans and skies. I have seen the bliss of the sunshine, the exhilaration of rain on the windows. I’ve heard the roaring waves crashing on the stone walls, and the howling wind whistling around me. I take all those imaginations, and I relate to the purpose of the beacon of life.

If I can but shine just a beam of His light through my actions each day, I can be satisfied that in and through Him, perhaps someone else will recognise that light and life, and take shelter in his Truth and Grace.

There is no fear in the light; everything is seen and understood. The darkness holds no explanation; the fear is generated by the unknown. It only takes one match to be struck to dispel the darkness and make a way back to safety.

My relationship with God has changed significantly over the years, and because of this I have found my trips to the Lighthouse fewer. Perhaps this is Genesis 1:26-27 in action:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

I no longer have to go to the Lighthouse, or be surrounded by the image of its strength and security, I am now my own lighthouse reflecting and shining out his life and salvation.

Whatever my life is developing and evolving, I can truly reflect on my imaginary world, and rest in the knowledge that in all things, keeping a pure heart and entrusting my hope and faith in the truth, there isn’t any further need to imagine another place.

Here and Now is better and just where God wants me.