One thing I like about revisiting my own childhood is the chance of possessing again the vitality and innocence of being a child---the excitement and the fantasies. In my childhood fantasies, I had dreamt of coming up with inventions that would change the future. In my childhood fantasies, I had wished of living during the time when countries and most islands were not yet discovered, so that I would spend my life navigating the globe, discovered those places and then name them after me, and after people I love. In my childhood fantasies, I had imagined myself becoming invisible whenever I wanted, so that when I needed to escape from my simple mistakes, I could just do so instantly. Gone were my childhood days and perhaps my childhood fantasies had also flown away. I realized that the world is far different from movies and fantasy books. We could not just move things with a magic wand. If we want to get somewhere else, we should travel. If we want to be freed from our mistakes, we should face the consequences of our actions. We should learn how to keep on moving despite our fears and weaknesses. We should seek for strength and wisdom in reflection, in loving and in prayers.
But along the way too, I realized that such ‘fantasy worlds’ and perhaps juices of our creativity are just there with us still, though they are taking into their realistic forms. They are just somehow sleeping in some corners of our being, waiting to be triggered again so that they can come out once more. And I am just glad that the seeds of being imaginative remained intact in me because with it, comes the hope of making extra-ordinary things. Though, what I could create in my lifetime is something that could not astonish the world, it could at least inspire some. Every day we are actually producing something original, and extra-ordinary: that is our story. When we dream of beautiful stories for ourselves, for others and for the world, we should exert our efforts too in making them real. With faith and persistence, we will soon find ourselves looking back on how we have brought our childhood dreams, our thoughts and desires into life. Every day, we create our story. These are stories which we can write, stories which we can share, stories which can inspire, and stories which could teach us and anyone else. These stories are stories of our past, celebration of our present and hope for our future. These stories are stories that glorify God’s presence in our lives.
