Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV)
My granddaughter loves doing “dot-to-dot” books. She will sit sprawled in the floor, carefully going from number to number. We recently found an “advanced” dot-to-dot book. It makes incredibly complex pictures with the numbers sometimes going as high as 200!
Every so often she comes to me and says, “I can’t find the next number.” We will sit together trying to find out where the next pencil line needs to go. Most of the time, it is not at all obvious what the final picture will be and we have to search, search, search to find that elusive dot. It is often in a most unlikely place – yet when she is finished drawing, we can easily see how that dot was vital in the development of the final picture!
I started thinking about my life. Sometimes, I have NO idea where I am headed next. Life is not going in the direction I thought it would. When I do see where it is going, I sometimes think, “Now, why in the world is THIS happening?” and “Why now?” “I thought I knew where I was headed and now … THIS?”
Much like that dot-to-dot book, though, that next stopping point, the one I often don’t foresee or like, is vital to the finished picture. Often times, way after the fact, I realize, “Oh, THIS is why I had to experience . . . . (fill in the blank.)” There are times when I still don’t understand the path to that dot in my life.
Yet, I have come to realize that I am not supposed to understand it all yet. Just like my granddaughter working on her pictures, I don’t know the final product yet. I might have a vague idea, but no real knowledge of why that unexpected dot appeared. I may never know until this life is over, exactly why I was taken to that spot.
Yet, I must trust that each “dot” along the way is a vital dot. It is there for some reason and I must simply travel the path, trusting that the next dot will help complete the picture of my life. Believing that God is in control of all things can be difficult when our dots are making no sense, when the path seems completely wrong – and yet, if I stop to think about it, I ought not to focus on that one dot – but on the picture that will be produced at the end of the drawing. That dot I want to avoid might be the dot that will make this child all that God envisions.
Father God, Thank you that You know the final result of the dot-to-dot pictures of our lives. Help us to realize that even the most unexpected events will be incorporated into our paths in a meaningful way. May we have enough trust, that we can follow that path wherever it may lead us, knowing we can leave the end result to you. Amen