Connecting the Dots
I ran across this quote the other day – “God writes straight with crooked lines.” The source seems to be in dispute. Most generally it is referred to as a “Portuguese Proverb,” but is often attributed to St. Augustine, sometimes St. Francis. Whatever the source, it is a good quote, and seems a better way to say “I don’t know,” “No one really knows,” or, the favorite of Catholic priests in my youth, “It’s a divine mystery.” It is also much shorter than by singing some lines from Farther Along. As I think of it, it speaks to a faith that somehow, the “crooked lines” make something, somehow make sense.
In this saying I am reminded of the “connect the dots” sheets of my childhood (do those still exist?). When I looked at the dots the ultimate object was not discernable. Even seeing the dots and numbers, I could not conjure up in my mind the image that would reveal itself if I picked up a pencil and connected the dots. In some sense, it took faith to start and to keep connecting the dots, faith to believe that somehow doing so would create something (other than a jumble of dots, lines, and numbers).
It occurs to me that God works that way in our lives. The dots, lines, and numbers, the events and stops along the way in our lives, don’t always make sense as they unfold. Still, somehow, if one keeps at it and follows the guidance, from one dot to the next, somehow (“It’s a divine mystery”) it all works out. Boy, that is a long way to go to define “faith.”
It occurs to me... 