I’m a little blank here at the moment. Maybe chemo brain creeping into my morning. Ah, the only thought that is in my head at the moment is can I operate without knowing everything. Seems like an “of course”since that has to be how we do things in general. But there is this emphasis out there on “knowing”.
I just got back from my Bible Guys where I led the troops through Genesis 3,4 and 5. It was my idea to study Genesis, to work our way through it. It is hard to get this group out of the New Testament but it can be done occasionally. But I thought that it would be profitable to go through it for a review of the stories that are in there most of which we haven’t covered since Sunday School days.
And there are great stories in there. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and his family in the early chapters. But there are numerous details that are hard or impossible to understand for us such as people that have been reported to have lived 800, 900 so years. Really? Talking about Methuselah and friends. And giants. Hmmm.
Well, we can get hung up over things we don’t understand or we can travel on with the knowledge that we know enough for today. Tomorrow is another day with its own revelations, that today is enough for today.
Somwhere along the line I have picked up the idea the God has the three attributes Truth, Goodness and Beauty. Which means to me that I can move toward God or God can move toward me along any of those three different pathways. To understand beauty is a whole different ballgame than understanding goodness or truth. Each has it’s own logic and method and rhythm for instance.
This is a tremendously freeing notion to have these three ways to progress. This is what is coming out of me today. Hope this makes a little sense. Morning loves, Felipe.
Nope, not a little sense.
It makes all the sense in
the world.
Truth Goodness Beauty.
Resonates to my core, knocked me over.
Meaty and chewy and tasty.
Wow. If that’s what shows up when you’re a little blanked-out chemo-brained, well, I say stick with it! Seriously-/ to hold those in the heart the heart and mind as the paths where approaching lies is good enough on any day and circumstance, don’tcha think?
Steve-O ~ thanks for the backup on that. Just a semi crazy morning with different influences coming in. It is a long road and it it is always good to come up with a realization that somehow lightens the load of the journey. Thanks for the suprise visit on Wednesday, always good. Felipe.
Felipe, yes it is my aunt Charlotte Carte Attebery who painted this picture for me. She did it just before I left on my three week study pilgrimage to Italy in the fall of 2015 then she added a few touch ups after I returned.
Truth, goodness, and beauty also resonate with me as as well. There are different aspects and different ways God chooses to reveal himself and therefore make himself known to us. Beauty touched me on a completely different level than truth, and goodness can reach us on an entirely different level. Receptivity I believe is the key. Can we be or are we receptive to God on these levels?
As for knowledge, it has been important for me to “feel” like I knew everything. I found security there even if it wasn’t necessarily right. Reading what you wrote in your post communicated an element of letting go and accepting the mystery. At least that is how it affected me. I feel a sense of freedom from your observation, along with a sense of reassurance, but I will admit I feel a certain level of fear as I ponder this though. If by not knowing everything allows us to live more presently in the moment and accept the mystery that comes with this, then I desire this, but I sense the risk and uncertainty in completely letting myself go into the unknown of the next moment or even tomorrow. Important? I think so. For now I can say I think you are a little further down this path than I and I thank you for helping me to see this in a different light.
Rho ~ Thanks for the long heartfelt comment. Two things come to mind as I read your words. One, that God reveals himself to us, as a ongoing process. If I look at this in a very personal way I see this happening. This is a wonderfully rich and joyful concept full of newness. Then two, we should never be stuck. We have at least these different three ways of moving or of being moved by. One of those ways will feel more at home to us on a particular day. It is immensely freeing to be this nimble. Now it is easier to see how we can get across the river just skipping from one rock to the next.
We have to have faith that there will be another rock even though we can’t see it at the moment. We are blessed to have this faith to carry on even though we don’t “know” everything. I think that this is our most basic challenge in this world to maintain this faith. You’re a peach, Felipe.x