I would like to apologize for missing my deadline last week. I was attending a three day conference at work and found the time to be less than conducive to fresh thoughts. The organization I work for took those days to re-focus on our task, as we are all volunteers and rallying together once per-year is a pivotal moment in the direction for the next year. Thank you for not holding my lack of discipline against me. -Nate
We all know of those pages from activity/coloring books that show a seemingly random layout of black colored dots. I believe the term for these activities are called “connect the dots.” The instructions are in the title! All you must do to complete this page is using a crayon, connect one dot to the next dot, creating a linking chain of dots. As you continue and finally reach the last final dot, connecting it with dot you began with, you are suddenly without the page of random laid-out dots, but a page with a picture.
I can look at a connect the dots page and, with confidence plow from dot to dot and finish it within 30 seconds… easily. At 28 years of age I have a lot of experience connecting dots. I am really good at it! (not to brag) Too bad it wasn’t made for me. These types of games are created for children to help them learn to draw and can improve their cognitive skills in understanding completion of a task. It is a simple, but beneficial tool for kids.
There may be an underlying message in connect the dots though. What if children are learning to, more than just to draw, to create a work of art. Often, I find in writing that I don’t know what the final product will look like. More than often, actually. I would say that it is a rare case that I finish with the same topic I began with. You have heard it said that the most difficult sentence to write is the first sentence. The reason is that you are setting the standard for the entirety of the text.
Take for instance this chair
When I was working on this article, I found this picture and I was going to use it as a really inspiring image to challenge you. Now, I am five hundred words into this blog and I can’t remember what I was going to say about it. (I might use the picture in a little bit) The dots served no purpose on the page until you put your crayon down and began to move from dot-to-dot. You followed the instructions and in complete trust of the creator of the activity, you created art.
“Three longings we all have are to believe, belong and become” – Mclaren
Each of us have deep areas in our life that we feel an intrinsic need to connect to something. I suggest that we might all have a desire to believe in, or have Someone greater than ourselves that might help, teach, care for and simply show us how to live this life we were given. That we all have a desire to belong to an idea that will drive us to do great and world changing things and also to believe that we can become someone who is better than who we know that we are. Someone that can actually love others without wanting anything in return.
What if we could learn from connect the dots as adults and connect peoples longing with their passion? Each person could be an individual work of art. What if I knew how to connect the dots on your “page of life” (cheezy!) to the ability to fulfill the desires you were given? I have to trust that your Creator knew what was happening when you were thought of, and I was able to help you get to the next dot. Maybe it isn’t me who will show you the dot after that but I can send you along the way. Eventually, the picture would begin to form and I would be making art! I would be making you!
I think we are all capable of this type of creation. It would mean that you would have to get out of your chair (ref. the picture!) and start showing people where to draw their lines.
‘The distance between someone’s despair and God’s dreams for them, might be the length of your arms.’ -My Friend Chris
Finally, I would like to give mention to and congratulate my MSU Spartans for making the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. I hope they play up to their potential and I’m looking forward to a possible match-up game with my wife’s team Maryland Terrapins. Should be fun to watch!
A Reconstruction in Jest 