Why Imagination Matters—and You Need Allies
I was not the same person after I read The Lord of the Rings. It made me think, of course, and I absolutely loved it. But, most importantly, I wanted to be different afterwards. Who and what I loved changed, or grew, in every right direction. It was one of the most spiritually powerful experiences of my life, better by far than nearly every book of devotion I have ever read. Better in and for me. It strengthened my faith, devotion, and love for God, his rule, and his creation and cause. Here were, as C. S. Lewis said, “beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart.” It broke my heart, yes, and it shaped it like nothing else ever had. Where did it do this work? Mostly in my Imagination.
When Andrew Mackay and I started Story Warren over thirteen lucky years ago, we had a vision for serving kids and families in the crucial area of Imagination. Back then, there were lots of places online to fight about everything all the time. So much has changed! (Wink. Sad wink.) But there were very few places where parents and others could find Allies in Imagination. I’m convinced that’s very important.
Why the Imagination Matters
Imagination is the organ of meaning. –C. S. Lewis
That’s why. What he said. Stories, like most art, are meaning-making machines. They help us make sense of life, truth, and purpose, and love and shape us in ways mere information—even truthful information—never can alone. This is part of the reason, I believe, that we have received more than factual data about Christ’s purpose, power, and mission. We also received a story. In fact, we got four incredible and varied accounts of that story. (Wow, think about that with your intellect-brain.)
As modern Christians, we have too often abandoned the imagination (along with the arts and stories) in search of Truth, Influence, and Power instead. I have never and will never say that we need to abandon the Truth. Never! I will say that when we tell faithful stories, we don’t lose Truth, we gain meaning.
In the best stories, where our Imaginations are engaged, and we decide down deep who and what we love, we get it all.
The stakes could not be higher, and we are here for you. That’s the heart behind our sharing The Green Ember early on. That moment forged a connection with families that far surpassed our expectations and validated in a profound way how important this work is. It’s also why we’ve created Longtreader Games and The Green Writer Show, and why we share newsletters meant to serve you and inspire your heroic work at home.
Filling the Gap
Like many of you, I was concerned about the toxic art (stories, games, music, etc) that was clearly dominating our culture. But I was also bothered by the “safe for the whole family” art that many well-meaning Christians have been creating. These efforts end up being dangerous in their own disconnection from reality and honest truth.
The gap between these two ditches felt like a lonely road. But we wanted to populate that gap by creating excellent, exciting stories, games, merch, and experiences, and also by curating connections when others are doing the same. We wanted to make a place we would want to visit and read, and be encouraged and inspired to serve our families better. This was, and is, a golden rule project.
We aim to love our neighbors. You are our neighbor. So are your kids. We are all in on loving and serving you.
You are doing the hard work. You’re fighting in the good battle. We are bringing you ammo. We’ve got your back.
Look around our newly improved site. Make yourself at home. Chew the meat and spit out the bones. Read some articles. Listen to a podcast. Buy a set of books. Play a game demo. Give us a chance to serve you.
We are committed to being your allies in shaping Christian Imagination.
We’re on your side!
S. D. Smith
- Why Imagination Matters—and You Need Allies - October 13, 2025
- Explain Up, Don’t Dumb Down: Why Little Kids Need Big Words - July 23, 2025
- Make Believe Makes Believers - July 19, 2021
Website looks great! For me, the books were the Narnia Chronicles and The Secret Garden (for changing my imagination). And I\’ve read them consistently ever since :-).
From when I first listened to it on the radio to now (nine years), Hinds Feet on High Places has expanded my imagination, reminded me of Christ\\\’s love, and encouraged me to go further up and further in.
It was mainly Narnia and On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness for me.
Christmas. Snow on the ground. Sleigh bells. A nasty yellowjacket stinging a child.
Wait, what?
It was Christmas-time in the snow-covered little orchard town where my grandparents lived. We were visiting them for the holidays, with a fire in the hearth and sparkling decorations everywhere. I was splayed on the thick carpet, enjoying the double warmth of the fire and the heating vent where my hands rested after snowball fights had numbed my mittenless appendages. With a thick blanket of Hallmark-worthy white coating the ground, no one would have predicted the lurking yellowjacket who’d been living in the heat vent to choose that moment to crawl up out of his hidey-hole and angrily inject repeated stabs of his venom-filled stinger into the sensitive space right between my fingers! Childish shrieks during Christmas are not unusual; a child screaming in actual pain and terror is not, however, commonplace. If not for both the swelling and the still-angry wasp crawling around the vent, few in the formerly-comforting house would have believed it. After a frantic search of the house revealed zero sting remedies, my wise old grandmother took command of the situation in the calm, matronly fashion which characterized everything she did. She engulfed the small, sobbing boy into an embrace, then handed him a very old copy of a book with a pile of gold on the cover, topped with a massive red dragon and emblazoned with the curious title of “The Hobbit” in curly letters.
I had always loved fairy tales, but Tolkien’s first love letter to the vast imagination comforted the small boy, opening a fascinating world of dwarves, adventure, heroes and feasting which has never left me or been bested by any book short of the Bible. A lifetime of storytelling to my children later, I still treasure a tale that would so enrapture a small child in wonder that pain, hurt and a seemingly ruined holiday would instead become the doorway into a world so full of inspiration and valor that I still strive to live according to the unswerving loyalty Bilbo showed the dwarves despite their grumbling, criticism and even Thorin’s greedy betrayal near the tale’s climax. Thank God for the gift of written sparks to the imagination: For fantastic stories and those who know that opening minds to the wonders of Creation and creativity given to us is a worthy task!
Thank you for sharing this story. It brought tears to my eyes, and I shared it with my family around the supper table.
God bless you.️
A book that changed my imagination would probably be Sun Slower Sun Faster by Meriol Trevor.
The Blackstar of Kingston
Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess,
I just watched Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and read the books for the very first time last month. At first I was afraid to, because I can get frightened at times, but when I asked my dad nervously, \”Will it be any good?\” he looked me in the eye and replied, \”It is the best and worst movie you will ever watch. Best, because it will give you courage, inspire you, embolden you, make you cry, laugh, and gasp. Worst, because you will never be able to be the same again. Do you think the pros or cons win?\” I hesitantly agreed that we could give it a try.
Wow, was he right! He wanted my brother and me to see a kind of courage that is hard to find now. He wanted us to learn to stand for the Truth and for light, and to never give up, even when it seems like you have no way out. And we did learn it!
And reading Lord of the Rings made me think about The Green Ember series in a different way, too. I have been in love with the stories since I read them the first time, but now it reminds me of Lord of the Rings in a way that will be more inviting for younger ages. It still has the hope, the grit, the tears, the pain, and the victories, just like the Greatest Story ever told. Thank you for all you guys do at Story Warren!
Lord of the Rings has got to be my top Imagination changer followed by the Hobbit, but the Princess and the Goblin, as well as Treasure Island and Kidnapped are certainly high on that list.
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I would say the story that changed me was definitely The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, from the moment i heard the words, \”In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit…\” I knew that i wanted to tell good and faithful, and true stories. that was more than 8 years ago. I\’ve been a fiction author ever since, with six stories in the works and many more to come. The stories that fed my passion after Hobbit, was The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and S. D. Smith\’s very own the Green Ember. Without these stories i would not be the person i am today.
Narnia has always drawn me into Aslan’s world and helped me understand our walk with Christ better, starting young. First read to me, then reading myself over and over in all these years, to my children and now my grandchildren. I also loved Princess and the Goblin. As an adult ‘Til We Have Faces’ by CS Lewis changed my heart a lot because I saw how blame, pride and self centered ness and self pity created so much separation from God and others and steals our joy. It was a real eye opener in a very different way for me who grew up in the church. I delight in Sam’s books to The Green Ember series. I am reading them to my grandchildren.