Connecting the Dots the Best Exercise to Understand Life

As a child, I worked with books that had many different types of exercises: coloring pages, mazes, crosswords, and connecting the dots. My favorite was Connect the dots. On more complex pages, you can't tell what the image is until you've completed the process of connecting the first point to the second, and so on until the last point is connected. The resulting image was already in the background. This is what the creator of the page had in mind before removing the lines connecting each point. His goal was for the page worker to find the image after connecting each dot.

I remember some of my "aha" moments when I finally connected enough dots to see what each picture would be, but I finished the exercise anyway because I wanted to see the whole picture. I was able to color it in later, but I often left the last point as given because I saw all I needed to see. Happiness was finding the hidden image.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away this week. In his speech to Stanford graduates in June 2022, his first point caught my attention. It was about connecting the dots.

The story of Steve Jobs connecting the dots had much more to do with his personal life. He was where he worked because of a series of events, some of which were beyond his control: circumstances surrounding his adoption as a child, dropping out of graduate school, and a decision to pursue his personal interests. Making the decision to quit, being fired from the company he started, all these things have led him to a point where he was able to accomplish some things. Connecting these dots in retrospect helped him see the full picture of why he was able to do the things he did.

Steve Jobs is one of those people whose achievements have greatly influenced the way people live. He said that you can only connect the dots when you look at life again, but when you connect the dots or situations, situations that initially look negative can sometimes give positive results.

Connecting the dots is my favorite way to study the Bible. There are many ways to study God's Word, such as verse exegesis, character analysis, theme, book studies, etc., all of which are very important. What matters is that you take the time to read His Word, ask Him to reveal His truth to you, and apply it when it is revealed.

Often when I read God's Word, I notice a repetition of a word or concept and begin to connect the dots. For example, as I read the letters that the apostle Paul wrote, I began to see similarities in his prayer. Paul's prayers included prayers of blessing, thanksgiving to the saints, praise and thanksgiving to God, petitions and blessings to God on behalf of the saints. I would never have discovered these collections of prayers if I hadn't connected the dots that flow from Romans through Philemon and all the letters in between.

I find it fascinating to connect the dots of God's words. Many of my Bible studies started out that way. His speech, connecting the dots between his history and current events, makes sense. Reading the Bible is now as important as reading the newspaper today. Connecting the dots between His Word and life events distracts me from His plan.

Steve Jobs was partly right. We can only connect the dots of our lives by looking back. However, Christians have one advantage: there is someone who believes in God, trusts Him, and has a plan. The resulting picture of our ideal life was already in the mind of our Creator before we were born. His plan connects the dots of our past and present with our future. As I look at the picture of His creation, I know I can trust that whatever the Creator does, He does it right.

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Created on May 1st 2023 04:49. Viewed 128 times.

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