Moments of Illumination
Moments
of illumination are always welcome, especially after struggling with a problem
and not being able to find an answer. As a math major in college, there was one
time when I spent most of an evening trying to figure out the solution to a
challenging problem, only to finally give up and go to bed. Incredibly, I woke
up the next morning with the answer!
It seems like those moments come in different
ways. Sometimes, like the solution to the math problem, they come rather
mysteriously. Then there are the times when we discover a new way of doing
something or realize what it takes to correct a mistake.
Recently
I had an “aha” moment in relation to knitting. After working on a certain pattern
of stitches, every row came up one stitch short. It was frustrating. Adding an
extra stitch in a place that wasn’t noticeable affected the uniformity of the
pattern. What to do?
Finally,
the answer came after reading the directions more carefully. It just took a
simple correction. One complete loop of yarn over the knitting needle near the
end of each row was all that was needed. What a relief!
And
then there was the continual irritation of having ants in the kitchen and not
being able to find their point of entry. One day, while sitting at eye level to
the kitchen counter, a small black ant caught my attention.
I
watched intently as it walked along the joint between the wall and countertop.
Then it disappeared through a tiny hole in the grout. Later, a flashlight
revealed several small holes along that seam. One good spray kept them at bay
until we could reseal it. Problem solved! Hurray!
Another
time, I had almost finished writing my weekly article on the computer when I
decided to change the name of the document. Suddenly a notice came up that
doing so might make the file unstable. I ignored the notice and typed in the
new name anyway.
Sure
enough, after that decision all attempts to open the document failed. It looked
like I was going to have to start over. Finally, I contacted a tech support
person and remorsefully explained what had happened.
It
only took him a few minutes to find the problem—a missing dot! No kidding! I
had omitted a dot when renaming the document. What a feeling of joy when the
original copy was retrieved once more.
Such
an easy fix! That moment of illumination came after asking for help from
someone with more training and computer know-how. Humbling, but important to
remember!
Then
there are moments of illumination regarding deeper things, like the inspiration
that came from a conversation overheard in the grocery store. A father and his young
daughter were on a shopping trip. The little girl, wearing a pretty red dress,
sat in the back of the shopping cart like a princess. He pushed the cart over
to a rack of snacks.
“Which
do you want? Veggie Chips or Veggie Straws?” he asked. “It’s your call!”
She
thought for a minute and then said, “Veggie Chips.”
“Veggie
Chips it is!” said dad.
His sweet way of including her in the grocery shopping
and of affirming her caught my attention. It reminded me of how much our loving
Heavenly Father loves each of us, blesses us and covets the time we spend with
Him
When
Jesus asked his disciples who people thought the “Son of Man” was, they came up
with all kinds of answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah… Jesus often used
the title “Son of Man” from the Old Testament as a way of referring to Himself
as the long-awaited Messiah.
“But
what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say that I am?”
Then
Simon Peter spoke up.
“You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus
answered, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to
you by man, but by my Father in heaven…” (from Matthew 16:15-17 NIV)
May
we be open to receiving all that God wants to reveal to us through the power of
the Holy Spirit who resides in us when we put our faith in Jesus as Lord and
Savior.
Did you know that "stressed" spelled backwards is...."desserts?" Another aha!
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