Life is not a paint by number kit

We were drawn to the living room window because of the commotion as Kanti ran through her fence line and was suddenly surrounded by four coyotes that appeared out of nowhere.  It took Greg forever to get his shoes on to go out after her.  I was sick, certain she was going to be harmed or killed.  She chased a couple of the coyotes into the tree line with two others on her tail, and then she was out of sight. They had effectively lured her.  Minutes later, she reappeared alone, racing out of the edge of the trees hundreds of metres from where she had run in, completely unharmed.  For that brief window of time, I felt overwhelming horror and helplessness, followed by a wash of relief.

That horror and helplessness was over a dog, granted Kanti is a remarkable dog and we love her a ridiculous amount.  But those same emotions recurred with far more intensity when we heard His Next Page would have to endure another surgery.  For us, His Next Page, isn't just a story on a webpage.  He is family and we are part of the words on his pages.  As he singularly faces the MRIs, scalpel, and diagnosis, together we struggle to bear him up and to bear one another up.
Like Kanti, we watch & wait - for a miracle
In one of our times together we were talking about how we like to think we control our lives and what a gigantic fallacy that is. We deceive ourselves into believing if we eat the right food, marry the correct person, live in the dream house, raise great children, and, and, and - that things will go our way.  I was reminded of the paint by number kits that I played with as a child.  I controlled the paint brush and I was supposed to put the right color in the right space and stay within the lines.  The sales pitch on the kit was if I did all the right things I would end up with a passable piece of art like the picture on the front of the box.  I never did end up with something that looked as polished and pretty as the picture but I tried several kits hoping for a different result because I liked the idea.

I think we get a similar Pavlovic message from our culture and we often don't realize what we are being fed.  Just to be clear I am referring to the psychologist Pavlov not the dessert pavlova, although there might be room to weave both in.  For the last week, Black Friday messages have been peppering me everywhere I turn.  Buy this, save tons of money, or at least $50, and feel wonderful.  Buy and feel successful.  Buy and feel satisfied.  And we fall for it repeatedly.  Christmas is coming so we need to bake, buy, and feel.  Buy and feel happy.  Buy and feel like a family.  Watch for them.  The buy and feel messages are everywhere.

What about when you can't buy the outcome you want; when you can't control the paint brush and have the paint by number life you planned?  What do you do then?  Where do you turn?  How do you cope with the pain and the helplessness?  We chose to turn to prayer and meditation with His Next Page as our family's way of bearing one another up.  Sometimes things come undone and life gets crazy looking, like a Jackson Pollock painting.  In those times we grow, learn, and "Bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2) because there is nothing else we can do.

We can't control the paint brush but we can step with courage and hope into the paintings of our lives, certain that the Creator who counts the stars and knows them all by name (Psalm 147:4) holds us all.  We watch, wait, and pray for a miracle.  Please pray with us.

Comments

  1. Thank you Joy for putting in words our thoughts as well. It is easy to believe 'if we do the right things, etc. We will be safe'. It doesn't always work that way. May we have the trust that we are in the Creator's hands.

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    Replies
    1. Ruth we are bearing you and your family up as well.

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