Deep reflective thoughts

August 6, 2008

Here I am, in England, engulfed in a sea of deep, reflective thoughts: Life is like a game of Scrabble and God’s will is like a photo displaying a shallow depth of field.

Life and Scrabble, what have they in common?

• As in Scrabble, each turn and move in life is affected by the decisions of others.

I may think that I can live utterly independent of the decisions and choices that others around me make. However, just a little experience in life tells us this is impossible. Everyday examples include a family member taking the last apple in the fruit basket causing me to chose a pear instead or a fellow motorist cutting me off causing me to recoil in anger or an employer assigning that one last task at the end of the day which causes me to work late. While some of these turns and moves caused by the decisions of others are unavoidable not all of them are. For example, if my employer assigns the one last task at the end of the day, this will cause me to work late, however it will not necessary cause me to become angry. That choice belongs to me. I may have lost a tremendous opportunity for points in Scrabble but may get another better opportunity. Where I have the opportunity to chose how others’ decisions cause me to act or behave I should think long and hard before responding because there may be an open door to ‘more points’!

• As in Scrabble, each turn and move in life is built off of previous decisions.

My turn in Scrabble is directly affected by what is on the board. Immediately after I have completed my turn and laid my tiles down I have opened another door. Life works like that, too. Many years ago if I had not chosen to take violin lessons I probably never would have taken piano lessons which means that today I would probably not be considering a career in piano teaching. That is just a brief example. If you have difficulty understanding my crazy thoughts, please let me know and I can try to explain!

God’s will and photography?

• In a well composed photograph displaying a shallow depth of field you will notice that very little of the subject is actually in focus. I believe this is how we view God’s will. We cannot understand what is beyond the point where we currently can see because it’s blurred. God knows. He can see it. We just have to trust and believe and as he reveals more to us the depth of field becomes deeper.

~ by bendecida on August 6, 2008.