I hadn’t really thought about it until I took this picture that butterflies have four wings. It makes sense for flight and steering purposes, but I never actually considered the fact that they have four as opposed to two. Sure I’ve picked up butterflies and moths since childhood, and I’m sure I knew it before now, but the knowledge never made an impression. When I draw them, I outline a wing on each side of a thin body and antennae. I didn’t see the full picture.
How often do we go off “half cocked” with partial information to do something or say something that, if we had seen the full picture, we might no do? Sometimes our incomplete picture has to do with people we don’t quite understand or know. Sometimes, it has to do with situations we have to deal with or decisions we need to make. Sometimes, we may even base our feelings about others on how we feel ourselves without taking into consideration the fact that we don’t know the other party that well.
Most often, I think, that we need only to look at something from a different angle to understand it better. Whether that different angle is a change in attitude or putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, trying to see your situation differently can make all the difference.
My mother in law came by today, and I told her about my blog. She read a few posts excitedly and began grilling my husband about whether he had read them all yet. He replied that it was he who had been encouraging me to write for years. His explanation of why he wanted me to immortalize my thoughts and memories about my mother warmed my heart. “I’ve never seen a relationship like theirs. They loved each other more than anything I have ever seen. She had to tell her mother’s story so she could live on through Heather’s memories. Their relationship was so special, it has to be shared.” It’s true. He is the one who encouraged me to write. At first, I was too broken-hearted to write about her. The accident that caused me to be laid up is what gave me the opportunity to write. It was at that moment that I realized that perhaps I finally saw the whole picture.
[…] We learn to trust God by example. Running back to our parents as children helps us to learn trust. We know that they will be there to fix the scrapes, give advice, dry our tears. If we haven’t had the benefit of that experience, we still learn to trust by example – it’s just harder. We either learn through similar experiences with friends or others. If not them, then we learn by watching Jesus’ own example of obedience to His father. Today’s verse implies a full circle. It starts with a God-given direction. Next is the choice to figure things out on our own. Finally, we see how our choices cause us to veer off the path. So, God instructs us to trust in Him instead of our own understanding of things and promises to keep us on the path we were meant to travel when we do. […]