Fostering Imagination through Curiosity

Asking questions and discovering new answers

May 31, 2026

This month I decided to foster my imagination with curiosity. Turns out the skill of being curious is not as natural at my age as it was when I was 4. I no longer go around saying, “why?” to everyone and everything. I believe I either know or should know and so don’t risk asking questions and betraying my ignorance.

gray owl on brown wooden fence during daytime — Photo by Josh Mills on Unsplash

I did write about changing the way I phrase things, saying, “I wonder…” more than making bold statements I am not sure I fully believe and certainly haven’t fully explored. I have corrected my language a few times while talking to friends and family and it is interesting how it changes the conversation. Most of what I have been curious about this month has been more personal than I want to share in this space but it has been a useful time of exploration.

Other thoughts on curiosity:

A few years ago I did a little podcast for our church I called, “Mentoring the Daily” it was designed to be a conversation starter for the mentor groups I had set up. We were thinking about mentoring for daily life rather than focused on mentoring big topics. They weren’t designed around sharing the gospel or establishing any theological foundation but about encouraging each other in our daily life and faith. What can I learn from younger women, what can they learn from me as we simply live life? One month I reached out to a woman at our church who was a question asker. Whenever we got together she asked me lots of thoughtful questions. I wanted to explore that idea with her. I listened back on it today and wish I had started my month with this podcast because it was a great conversation to get me thinking about asking questions of both myself and others.

I think this is totally worth listening to but before you listen just know this sounds exactly like the sort of podcast that would be recorded at a friend’s dining room table with one mic and zero editing. I am not a professional.

The thing that sparked my desire to even think about curiosity along with imagination was a quote in the Beth Moore bible study I did this winter, “Sometimes the attribute most asleep in our bible study is curiosity, and…it needs waking up.” A couple chapters later she says, “We will not trust who we cannot question.” It has me thinking about how to be more curious about reading the bible.

a person sitting at a table with a book and pen — Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

After 55 years of Sunday school, bible study, sermons, camps, retreats, small groups, conferences, books, podcasts, songs…do I still come to the bible curious about what I am reading or do I assume I know it all and just skim for the highpoints of what I already know. Do I read asking myself if what I have been taught is true or if there are further explorations or deeper understandings still to unearth? Do I ask questions, not of doubt, although those have value too, but to know more, to dive deeper, to grow and encounter God in a richer way,? Or am I content to just know the Sunday school stories and summaries from my childhood and make them fit into every experience I have going forward? Am I letting God get bigger or keeping him small?

The truth is I’ve asked lots of questions of my childhood lessons, what I took away and what I was either taught or interpreted what I was taught (they are not the same thing) throughout my life. I went from Baptist to Anglican. You don’t do that without being curious and asking questions. But I have noticed seasons where it does feel like there is nothing left to learn unless I want to dive into a theology degree. Those, I wonder, might be the seasons where I am asking fewer questions. Where my curiosity is stagnant.

I have been picking up my bible this month more than I had been lately to see what is new and what new questions I can ask. It has felt fresher to come to it with an attitude of curiosity and I have had an excitement that had been missing lately. A friend is listening to bible in a year this year and she was telling me that a minor story from David’s life about a woman named Abigail struck her different in this season as she observed something she had never thought about before. Sometimes a new way of studying the bible, like listening rather than reading, can trigger new observations and questions. For a few years I read The Message bible in my daily reading time. Passages so familiar I only skimmed in the NIV were unfamiliar in The Message and I often didn’t realize until afterward it connected to verses I knew. It caused me to see it fresh again. It’s a fun version to read.

Flowering trees. May in Minnesota. This picture smells amazing. Just thought I would share.

If you really love questions Emily P Freeman is who you want to start following1. She asks great questions and has an end of month newsletter that always has questions to help you reflect on the end of the month. Sometimes I answer them for myself, sometimes I just enjoy her answers. Here were her questions at the end of April:

1. What’s something you’ve made that you’re proud of?

2. What is a moment that made you laugh in April?

3. When did you get to do what you love?

Random:

From a friend’s Instagram. If you post something with the word imagination I will screen shot it.

My goal of fostering imagination is to not spend one month on each of these focuses and then move on but to build on each one. So I am still finding time for silence2, still reading3, still looking for new experiences4, still trying my hand at artistic activities5 and will continue to be purposeful about curiosity throughout the year.

Curious this month about how this single dice ended up in the middle of a crosswalk. Stopped to photograph it as a car was driving toward me. Yes I did.

This month I read:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Seemed like I should finish off the series. I did skim both of them, skipping parts I found boring or just wanting to rush to parts I enjoyed most. Sometimes you are just in a season of needing a comfort read that is in easy reach and after watching the good-but-not-quite-the-same movies while flipping channels I decided I’d rather just read the books than watch the movies.

I am also almost done with a book written by a friend from church called, '“Resilient Heart”. She and her husband served as missionaries in India for 20 year before they were kicked out of the country. Back home processing the experience she reflects on the resilience needed during those years and all the ways she grew up from a newly wed 20 something still trying to navigate adulthood to a mom and ministry leader. I am enjoying learning about her experiences navigating a different culture while also relating to the universal insecurities around building relationships as adults no matter where you live.

I am creative:

Every season I update my desktop with a new wallpaper that reflects things I enjoy about the season, quotes, sometimes work related things, etc. As I was working on a summer version this month I realized it is one of the ways I express my creativity and something I look forward to updating regularly. Like all of my creative endeavors I don’t over think it but I do spend some time balancing it out and finding pictures that bring me joy. Always fun to create. This is my May art. Enjoy.

As I finish writing this the end of May I am not sure yet how I am going to foster my imagination in June. It will be a surprise to all of us. Stay tuned!

What have you been curious about lately? How are you fostering your imagination this summer? And ideas for me?