Each Wednesday,     Tim Carson shares 
the wonderings of heart and mind and the inspirations and quandaries of the spirit. You are invited to wonder along with him through the telling of stories, reflections on faith and observations on the events that shape our lives.  

Tim Carson

 

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Wednesday Wonder
May 4, 2016

What does one make of one object out of place? Without cues that put it in context it is hard to know.
 
Take for instance the banana in the street this morning. Mind you, this was not a banana peel. Nor was it a bunch of bananas. It was not overly ripe and was not positioned in a bag. This was a lone, fully shaped, not-too-ripe banana that reclined on the road like it belonged there. Why?
 
Did someone lose it, accidentally dropped what was to be their breakfast? Did it fall off a produce truck? Did two children plant it there only to take bets on how long it would take a car to squash it? Was the banana trying to hitch a ride and just took time to rest before continuing its journey?
 
Out of context we don't really know. I have a friend who says that a weed is a perfectly good plant out of place. I have another friend who believes if you hang an unknown painting by a famous artist in the mudroom of your house unframed above the washer and drier people won't notice it. Put Joshua Bell in a subway without telling anyone who violinist is and people might throw a dime into his open case if that.
 
Out of context it is difficult to know what something means or how important it really is.
In the same way it is often very difficult to read a comment or behavior of any person out of context. What does that mean?
 
It is often near impossible to know what a random piece of scripture means when quoted out of place, out of context, without surrounding material to orient us.
 
And yes, it is often downright perplexing to make sense of an event in our life when it is not surrounded by enough other landmarks. Something happens but what does it mean? Can this be God at work? Or is it just random?
 
Oh, people can point and say, "Look, there's God" just like they can say, "Look, there's a banana." But in the end you have to see it for yourself. You have to care enough to notice. You have to decide if the banana means something or not. After everyone else has ventured their guesses only you can make sense of it.
 
Though we do find God in context throughout our lives God is just as often out of context, a mystery that cannot be defined by anything else.
 
God shows up like a banana in a fruit stand, surrounded by all manner of other fruit.
But God is also like the lone banana on the road with nothing else to help us understand.
 
Even if you do notice you won't be able to explain why.
Because most of time God just is.
 

@Timothy Carson 2016

 

Click here to go to Tim Carson's blog, VitalWholeness  http://vitalwholeness.wordpress.com/  

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