I love a good mystery. You will find them standing in neat rows on my bookshelves - the cozy mysteries - not a big fan of blood and gore.What could be better on a gloomy, chilly afternoon than to curl up with a cup of tea and Agatha?
I also love puzzles, and the two go hand in hand it seems to me. Slowly and carefully the pieces come together until the picture begins to take shape. I hope you won't be shocked when I tell you I sometimes cheat. It's true. Sometimes I look at the back of the book! Shocking, I know.
My excuse is, I want to see how the mystery is plotted out through the pages. However, more often I just don't want my favorite character to be the bad guy or, worse yet, get bumped off. If everything looks okay, I can continue reading - happy in the knowledge that he or she didn't do it or is safe.
Having said that, I am trying not to cheat because the truth is, it takes all the "zing" out of the mystery when I already know all the answers.
Beth Moore said something this morning (via video) that resonated deeply in this mystery lovers heart. She was talking about our attempts to figure out the scriptures - and in the process figure out the mind of God. There are mysteries hidden in the pages of my Bible I long to unravel. Sometimes things just don't add up, and I want to make them come out right. I'm afraid it will all fall apart if I don't get it all set in order - everything neatly tied up.
"You can study scripture the rest of your life and never have it figured out," she said.
My obsessive-compulsive little self sighed deeply and relaxed. It's alright if I don't figure it all out. It was never meant to be that way. I read the words, and truth is revealed. I turn the page and the mystery continues. It is unending - for He is infinite. I will never plumb the depths of the mystery of who He is.
It doesn't make me sad. It makes me smile. Not every mystery must be solved - not in the here and now anyway. My God is so rich, so deep, so wide, so high - I can never reduce Him to my own limited understanding.
But He gives me enough - yes, more than enough. He calls me to seek and find, and He is there. He repeats the invitation and there is more. On and on it goes until one day everything will be revealed. For now, He gives me all I need - and so much more.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
Deuteronomy 29:29
"Then the Angel I saw astride sea and land lifted his right hand to Heaven and swore by the One Living Forever and Ever, who created Heaven and everything in it, earth and everything in it, sea and everything in it, that time was up—that when the seventh Angel blew his trumpet, which he was about to do, the Mystery of God, all the plans he had revealed to his servants, the prophets, would be completed."
Rev. 10:5-7
Blessings,
Linda
The picture is Patricia's. You can read her beautiful posts and see her amazing pictures here.
