Connecting the Dots

Sometimes I have to laugh to myself when my kindergartner, Caroline, has a connect the dot sheet to do for school. Usually it's something super elementary like a house, or a simple car - but as the adult it's totally obvious what the finished picture is going to be. But at six years old, she cannot always see it. She simply follows the instructions, picks up her pencil, and begins to connect the dots...and then, to my surprise, she actually acts surprised at the finished product.

Does your life ever seem like a big "dot-to-dot" puzzle? I know mine does. Of course the "dot-to-dot" I'm currently working on is not quite a simple as the ones Caroline gets to do for school, but regardless I realize that I have something to learn from her. With the dot-to-dots in my life I can waste so much time wondering what the finished picture is going to look like. If I'm extremely honest with myself, and with you, I am often tempted to want to throw the pencil down, stomp off, and not even look for the next dot. The good news is that as hard as the puzzles in our lives may seem, God is the one who is ultimately helping us to complete them, if we allow Him to.

The reality is I need to spend a little more time just trusting. I need to spend a little less time consumed with wanting to see finished picture. I need to spend a little more time stepping back, and zeroing in on the fact that God is the one that gave us the pencil to begin with; remembering that God is the one that helps us to hold the pencil; remembering that God is the one who showed us where dot #1 was, and then pointed out dot #2, and we just faithfully, being led by Him, began to move the pencil from dot #1 to dot #2, and so forth.

Here in Cancun we are watching God reveal the dots to us one at a time - and I am choosing to trust that He will continue to do so in His perfect timing. And that certainly doesn't mean I don't wish I could have a sneak-peak at the finished picture...it just means that I'm not gonna let it keep me from enjoying the process of doing this puzzle, one dot at a time!