Some images just breathe out a promise freedom and liberation. The cover for Beni Johnson and Sheri Silk’s ‘What if…’ just does that. Against a dark background the bright, almost golden image bursts across the book's cover in an explosion of freedom and joy. You can feel your heart lift just to look at it, even briefly.
It’s always interesting to look at an effective cover image and discover why it works, and why it works in the context of the book. The contrast of the bright image against the dark background is the first thing that gets noticed and attracts the eye. Indeed, the eye is drawn into the golden nebula of what, on closer inspection, is a cloud of dispersing dandelion ‘parachute’ seeds. We’ve all done it. We’ve all picked up a seed head and blown the small seeds free; trying to free them all in just one breath. To the left of the golden haze is the ‘un-blown’ seed head with its parachutes bound and still. While they stay there, they’re not free to spread and grow and won’t fulfil their primary purpose – to carry new life far and wide.
The message is clear. The seed head to the left is packed with potential but not achieving its purpose. To the right, the liberated seeds are heading out to grow into new dandelions – just like the one that made them, spreading new life and golden flowers to the joy of nature lovers and the despair of gardeners everywhere. The seeds' potential has been turned to reality, and the cycle of new life continues.
In the centre of the shining cloud of fresh new life, a young woman leaps with all the joy of life. Her hair is free, her arms and feet bare and her face turned sunwards. The arch of her back, the reach of her arms and the flex of her knees all show a release of energy. Even her fingers are spread in the enjoyment of being fully aware of her own self; who she is and what she can do. Her youth, vitality, optimism and sheer joy of being is something we all recognise and aspire to.
The cover promises a fulfilment of potential we all long to realise, while the book’s title, ‘What If…’ holds up the image as a real possibility, though clearly in a spiritual sense. The book’s publishers know we can all read this image and that it will have an impact on us. We can read the symbols and we yearn for the implicit, life changing, spiritual experience.
Ultimately, this is a ‘how to’ book; how to change yourself from the potential depicted on the left of the image to the empowered spiritual reality on the right. But as with all ‘how to’ books, the transformation is up to you. Until then, it’s just a hope, an ambition – a dream of what might happen if you let God release the potential of your spiritual dandelion. The book can only show you the difference and ask you the question, ‘What if you joined your dreams with the most amazing God?’ – Les Ellison