Recently, a movie was released about imaginary childhood friends who have been forgotten by their kids, who are now grown-ups. The film follows the story of one little girl as she attempts to find new kids for the IFs, hoping to place them before they disappear forever.
She discovers that other kids can’t see them; they belong to their kid, now an adult who has forgotten them. Once she finds a glimmer of hope, she carefully sets the stage to spark an old memory of dancing as a young girl for her grandmother and her IF. Through the power of music and dance, her grandmother remembers her IF. Warm light fills the room, and we witness a unique link between them as they dance in unison.
The little girl embarks on a mission to help reconnect IFs with their adults. The next IF reunites with his adult when he catches the aroma of freshly baked croissants. This scent brings back a cherished childhood memory of his family running a local bakery. At that moment, he recalls his friend, and the room fills with warmth as he rekindles his bond with his IF.
In spiritual direction, we talk about following the directee’s experience as they share in confidence; we can explore how they connected with that experience by asking questions using their senses. When we are hit with life’s trauma, we cut ourselves off from those senses to protect ourselves from the danger that we have been exposed to; we put up walls in the hope that we won’t be caught off guard again or hurt by that thing or person. This reminds me of Elsa in the movie Frozen, “Conceal, don’t feel”. If you’ve seen the film, you know this method didn’t help Elsa through the hard times. It disconnected her from herself and isolated her from the love of her sister. The little girl in the film IF was also struggling with the loss of her mother and her father needing heart surgery. She wanted to be tough and brave and hide her childishness.
In her book, McBride says, “The Body is not just an idea or a series of words; it is also an experience. Being fully alive and present lets us know we really are in our lives, not just passing the time on autopilot until we break a hip at eighty and wake up to the fact that we never really lived at all.”
I doubt God desires a world of robots; instead, Spirit invites us to embrace embodied living. In our efforts to escape pain, loss, loneliness, illness, hunger, fear, grief, and death, we inadvertently forfeit the many gifts of life that our bodies offer: pleasure, joy, energy, connection, creativity, and so much more!
Experiencing life through my body is an invitation to encounter God more deeply. Achieving full integration feels like a re-membering, reconnecting us to our roots as God’s image-bearers. “Let us create humans in our image…” Our bodies were purposefully crafted and deemed good by the triune God.
McBride provides techniques for achieving an embodied state, beginning with focusing on the breath. She relates this practice to the essence of God, referring to “YHWH,” as the sound of our breath connects us to the divine life source.
I also wish to highlight that God, in his loving kindness, meets us in our current state. Keeping this in perspective, that God meets us where we are, we could draw a connection to the idea of an imaginary friend in the film, IF, representing God’s spirit, accompanying each child during their times of need. What if God is the imaginary friend who patiently awaits our re-membering?