Exercising Gratitude: 30 Days - 5
Unanswered Questions.
Today I am thankful that many of the questions we face in life remain unanswered. Why would I ever be grateful for such a thing? Glad you asked.
If every struggle were met with a pat answer - a manual of 'here's the how and why and what of every question ever' - the inquisitive side of me might lose vigor. I might fall flat, mope about, unmotivated to seek, to discover, to find. I'd have all the answers, and I'd live blinded to the journey of discovery.
That's why.
Because unanswered questions invite trust, faith, learning, engagement, hope, surrender, joy, peace. The unknown can be scary. The unanswered questions can cause tension, confusion - pain, even.
To me, the unanswered questions sit, not begging an answer (though on the surface, that's how it seems - but need I remind you, things aren't always what they seem?), but begging to be noticed, heard, pondered. What do my questions say about me? What do they say about who I am, what I need, what I'm missing, what I'm longing for, what the deep yearnings of my soul are?
Questions - especially unanswered ones don't always need an answer. They need knowing, understanding, openness. One of my favourite quotes is by Frederick Buechner: "God does not give answers. He gives Himself."
And the truth in that is worth pondering. I would say that perhaps God does sometimes give answers - or more likely, we'd like to think He does. That we have Him figured out to the degree that we can with resolute confidence declare that we have heard/read/understood the answers He's given.
But I think Beuchner is right. Jesus said, "Come to ME, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." He said, "I AM the way, the truth and the life." He said, "I came that they might have life, and life abundantly." I haven't found the part where He said, "I came to explain everything to you, and to give you answers. I came to give you a new code, a checklist of statements that, once you agree to them, you inherit the kingdom of heaven." Buechner is right: God gives us Himself, if we'll have Him. If we'll hear the invitation. If we are drawn by such grace. If we can sit with unanswered questions and instead find the love we long for in the person of Christ.
Because I have a hunch that ultimately most of our unanswered questions lie somewhere in the realm of, "Does God really love me?" (There are of course many other categories of unanswered questions, like, "Why can't I get my computer to work?" or "Why won't my kid get his shoes on?" or "What is a black hole?" or "Could Einstein have been wrong?" - you know, those kinds of things...but I digress).
Sorry for the rabbit trail.
Most of the pressing, deeply felt, yearnings that prompt the unanswered questions that sit on our souls like dead weight, asking to be acknowledged - most of these stem from a kind of deep need we may not know we have. The need to know, understand, feel, discover and welcome the love God has for us. I believe this to the very core of my very fragmented, broken, sometimes wandering, self.
So yes, I am thankful for unanswered questions. And mostly for the invitation they present to be drawn into the loving embrace of my Heavenly Father Who has given me Himself.
"He who did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8
Today I am thankful that many of the questions we face in life remain unanswered. Why would I ever be grateful for such a thing? Glad you asked.
If every struggle were met with a pat answer - a manual of 'here's the how and why and what of every question ever' - the inquisitive side of me might lose vigor. I might fall flat, mope about, unmotivated to seek, to discover, to find. I'd have all the answers, and I'd live blinded to the journey of discovery.
That's why.
Because unanswered questions invite trust, faith, learning, engagement, hope, surrender, joy, peace. The unknown can be scary. The unanswered questions can cause tension, confusion - pain, even.
To me, the unanswered questions sit, not begging an answer (though on the surface, that's how it seems - but need I remind you, things aren't always what they seem?), but begging to be noticed, heard, pondered. What do my questions say about me? What do they say about who I am, what I need, what I'm missing, what I'm longing for, what the deep yearnings of my soul are?
Questions - especially unanswered ones don't always need an answer. They need knowing, understanding, openness. One of my favourite quotes is by Frederick Buechner: "God does not give answers. He gives Himself."
And the truth in that is worth pondering. I would say that perhaps God does sometimes give answers - or more likely, we'd like to think He does. That we have Him figured out to the degree that we can with resolute confidence declare that we have heard/read/understood the answers He's given.
But I think Beuchner is right. Jesus said, "Come to ME, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." He said, "I AM the way, the truth and the life." He said, "I came that they might have life, and life abundantly." I haven't found the part where He said, "I came to explain everything to you, and to give you answers. I came to give you a new code, a checklist of statements that, once you agree to them, you inherit the kingdom of heaven." Buechner is right: God gives us Himself, if we'll have Him. If we'll hear the invitation. If we are drawn by such grace. If we can sit with unanswered questions and instead find the love we long for in the person of Christ.
Because I have a hunch that ultimately most of our unanswered questions lie somewhere in the realm of, "Does God really love me?" (There are of course many other categories of unanswered questions, like, "Why can't I get my computer to work?" or "Why won't my kid get his shoes on?" or "What is a black hole?" or "Could Einstein have been wrong?" - you know, those kinds of things...but I digress).
Sorry for the rabbit trail.
Most of the pressing, deeply felt, yearnings that prompt the unanswered questions that sit on our souls like dead weight, asking to be acknowledged - most of these stem from a kind of deep need we may not know we have. The need to know, understand, feel, discover and welcome the love God has for us. I believe this to the very core of my very fragmented, broken, sometimes wandering, self.
So yes, I am thankful for unanswered questions. And mostly for the invitation they present to be drawn into the loving embrace of my Heavenly Father Who has given me Himself.
"He who did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8
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