On page 40, the narrator observes: "It is remarkable how a seemingly insignificant action or event can
change entire lives." I have seen this to be true in my
own experience in several ways. A smile is contagious; smiles are often
described as the universal language of mankind. Mary Christelle Macaluso
once said, “If you have made another person on this earth smile, your life has
been worthwhile.” I fully agree with this statement; the seemingly smallest of
actions can make all the difference in the world. Mother Teresa said, “Let us
always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
Smiles always make my day; they fill me with optimism, hope, and sanguinity.
The simple things in life make me the happiest. A euphonious song on piano, a
canopy formed by crape myrtles and pine trees representative of the merging of
cultures, the massive and infinite sky lay out like a painter’s canvas, “like a
patient etherised upon a table.” A tree in my backyard, still, sturdy, strong,
pure, broken, yellow, green, alive, vibrant, bona fide. A gentle
breeze from the north carrying the flowers from the Bradford pears to the deep
green grass like snowflakes, occulted from the naked eye. Monarch butterflies, dark, rich,
luscious roses, tulips along the edge of the center, circular garden bed,
bright red and brilliant yellow. Soaking up the sun’s rays, the feeling is
evocative of God kissing his child on the cheek, embracing, enveloping,
consuming like “a melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.” He is my
stimulus, and I am his creation.
At Missy's memorial service, the narrator tells us, people filed
by her small empty coffin, "all sad as
they paraded by, no one knowing what to say." I think
the most helpful thing to do when someone is going through a tough time is to
simply be there for him or her. Sometimes, having someone sit with you is more
comforting than attempts to find the right words as words often fail us. I have
found the presence of others to be the most helpful to me when experiencing times
that try men’s souls. Pages 64-65 describe Mack's struggles with
the "if-only" game. The “if-only” game can never be won because this
counterfactual thinking fails to change current circumstances; this kind of
thinking cannot turn back the clock or change the past. I wrestled with this
game through a good portion of junior year when I fell very ill. Often I
wondered if God was punishing me or if I should have lived my life differently.
My mother figured I fell ill because God was testing me, testing my will,
strength, and determination; in a way, I felt blessed to encounter this kind of
struggle, but oftentimes, I only felt pathos, solitude, and isolation. I would
continually pray for the light at the end of this tunnel to arrive, although
exercising patience was difficult, but eventually this old life did crumble and
fade away.
In Chapter 9, Sarayu shows Mack a messy, fractal garden. The garden is full
of colors, herbs, flowers, plants. Mack describes it as a “chaos in color…confusing,
stunning, and incredibly beautiful.” As they walk, Sarayu picks various herbs
and plants and flowers, giving them to Mack and creating a bouquet. I love this
description of the garden as a “chaos in color.” The second law of
thermodynamics states that nature naturally tends toward a maximum in regards
to entropy, or chaos. Later in the chapter, Papa arrives, and Mack remarks that
he feels comfortable in the garden even though it is a mess. Papa and Sarayu
smile at each other. Sarayu says, “And well you should, Mackenzie, because this
garden is your soul—this mess is you!
Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart.
And it’s wild and beautiful and perfectly in process. To you it seems messy,
but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive—a living
fractal.”
Despite the fact that nature may seem chaotic on the surface, much of the
“chaos” we see behaves according to patterns detailed in the Fibonacci
sequence. The limit of the Fibonacci sequence is the Golden Ratio, which is
approximately 1.618. In nature, one can come across this ratio in many areas of
art and science. The numbers of clockwise and counterclockwise spirals in the
seeds of a sunflower are two consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. The
shells of snails and pine cones are also well-known examples of the Fibonacci
sequence. Sarayu’s quote reminded me of the interconnectedness of mathematics
and nature and the belief among many early mathematicians that truth is beauty.
As John Keats articulated in his poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Beauty is
truth, truth beauty, —that is all/Ye know on
earth, and all ye need to know.” In tenth
grade, I presented a project on chaos theory and the Mandelbrot Set in which I
discussed the applications of these concepts to ecology, blood vessels,
internal structure of lungs, graphs of stock market data, and the human heart.
In the words of Immanuel Kant, “God has put a secret art into the forces of
Nature so as to enable it to fashion itself out of chaos into a perfect world
system.”
In
Chapter 10, Jesus asks Mack where he spends
most of his time in his imagination: the past, present, or future. I try to
spend as much time as possible in the present in life, but most of my time in
my imagination is spent in the future. Spending time in the future is good
because it promotes habits such as planning ahead and learning to be
responsible. Spending an excessive amount of time in the future is unhealthy,
however, and Satan rejoices when we fall prey to this mistake, as The Screwtape Letters informs us. A
persistent focus on the future is part of Satan’s overall plan for our undoing
because constant focus on the future instills a fear of either hope or anxiety
in us and can even fill us with dread if our expectations do not come to full
fruition. On the other hand, Satan is also pleased if one is too calm and
tranquil regarding prospects of the future due to a false sense of security,
complacency, or too high a regard for his own abilities. Several sources of
wisdom have warned us against this kind of nonchalant disposition. Phillips
Brooks once said, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men!” When
one prays for virtues to meet the difficulties and struggles in store for him
and focuses on the present where all consciousness dwells, he is out of Satan’s
grasp. We must also be wary to not adopt a sense of complacency about the
future because of trust in our own abilities. Proverbs 3:5 reads, “Trust in the
Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Leaning on
our own understanding and justifying contentment about the future with this
reasoning is dangerous, because as humans, we are fallible and can easily be
lead astray if we do not look to the right sources for inspiration, which only
God can provide.
We all have someone in our lives who we initially viewed as intimidating but
later came to view as warm, friendly, and loving. Oftentimes, our relationship
with God works in this manner. Sometimes, the hellfire-and-brimstone sermons
like that of Jonathan Edwards, especially “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God,” cause us to view God as unmerciful, unforgiving, judgmental, and
vindictive. Later, enlightening works such as Young’s The Shack and Max Lucado’s God
Came Near can illuminate the truth about God’s nature and show us that he
is a loving, wonderful, holy, heavenly Father who alone is worthy of our
praise. Paula’s aphorism can apply to relationships other than those with God.
I once found one of my math teachers intimidating, but upon discovering her
love of classical music, I found that I shared a common ground with her, and
she suddenly seemed personable and charismatic in my eyes. Sometimes, finding
similarities with other people helps make them a little less intimidating.
Similarities remind us that others are just like us. Eleanor Roosevelt once
said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Allowing
ourselves to feel intimidated is a choice we make; alternately, we can choose
to appreciate ourselves and others for God-given talents and refuse to fall
into the trap of comparison by counting our blessings.
When Papa tells Mack that “faith
does not grow in the house of certainty,” she means that the proud will not be
able to enter heaven. While we should feel assured and confident in our
expectations for the future, we should not presume upon God’s grace and assume
that he will save us. Faith arises as a result of humility and obedience rather
than pride and certainty. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us of this truth, stating, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths
straight.” Certainty is in a way a false sense of complacency that arises as a
result of leaning onto our own understanding; we must instead lean on the word
of God because it is the ultimate source of real truth and understanding. For
this same reason, we cannot trust our emotions more than we trust God. Emotions
are capricious, often impulsive whims that arise without forethought or good
judgment. Emotions would provide for an incredibly fickle foundation, and we
would never find peace or rest because emotion would always upset us. God
offers peace because he is the Voice of Truth; he reminds us that he has bigger
plans for us than we could possibly conceive for ourselves. He takes tragedy
and makes something good out of it. As children of his kingdom, we are like
phoenixes that are reborn from the ashes. If we place our trust in him, he will
guide us and act as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Mack’s conversation with Papa begins to make him feel
guilty, and Mack shares his sentiments. Papa responds, “Let me know how that works out for you. Seriously, Mackenzie, it’s
not about feeling guilty. Guilt’ll never help you find freedom in
me.” In Hosea 5:15 God is
speaking and he says, “I will go away and return to My place until they
acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will
earnestly seek Me.” According to this verse, God’s only purpose for guilt would
be to cause someone to submit to God’s will and turn to him as his guide. Guilt
can be good, for feeling guilt indicates the presence of conscience, or the
ability to determine right from wrong. Guilt can be destructive, however, if we
allow guilt to consume us, for going down this path will lead us to the
conclusion that we shall be forever unworthy of God’s love. God paid for our
sins, so we appear perfect in the Father’s eyes. Romans 8:1-3 reminds us of
this truth: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the
law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless
to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”
"You do not
just live in a world but a world lives in you." This quote reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17,
which reads, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will
destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that
temple.” While we inhabit the world we live in, God’s spirit inhabits us. While
the Lord has been and will continue to be our dwelling place, as Psalm 90
reminds us, He lives within each of us. It is our job to try to remain pure so
that God may inhabit our bodies. As a result we should be in the world, but not
of this world. While we inhabit this earth, we must not conform to its ways and
become enemies of God but rather be transformed by the renewing of our minds,
as specified in Romans 12. Only then will we be able to test and approve God’s
good, pleasing, and perfect will.
“Forgiveness does
not excuse anything." This
statement means that we should not act recklessly with the expectation that all
our transgressions will be forgiven. In other words, while God is merciful, we
cannot presume upon his grace. We should confidently hope that God will fulfill
his promise of salvation, but we cannot take advantage of this wonderful gift
by behaving in a careless manner and expecting God to forgive us.
"Oh child.
Don't ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a
stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can
speak." Upon reading these words, I immediately thought of
the healing power of the tears of Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes. Tears can
express both joy and sadness. I think men are often told that tears are a sign
of weakness. I myself have been told this. Personally, I think the reason for someone’s
tears determines whether or not I respect someone who sheds them. I don’t think
tears of self-pity are acceptable, but I can empathize with tears over loss of
a loved one, feelings of hopelessness, and joy, or tears that are expressions
of indignation against social or moral injustices, as tears for this reason
signal the presence of a conscience and a heart for mankind.
When Willie hears Mack say that God is
especially fond of him, Willie tears up and gets emotional. I think hearing
these words would evoke that kind of response from someone because for many of
us, God is the one whom we most desire to be in favor with. It is his opinion
that matters more than anyone else’s. To know that God is fond of me would make
me the most joyous being in the universe because it is him that I desire to
please; it is him that I desire to serve; it is him that I want to live for.
About Mack, Willie says that "he embraces even the darker
shades of life as part of some incredibly rich and profound tapestry; crafted
masterfully by invisible hands of love." I think a person gets to this point as a result of experience; it takes
a wise and erudite person to recognize the importance of both hills and valleys
in a person’s life and why it is important that both times of joy and grief
exist in a healthy balance. The description of a tapestry “crafted masterfully
by invisible hands of love” reminds me of the poem, Huswifery, by Edward Taylor. In the poem, the narrator desires to be clothed in
“Holy robes for glory.” He desires to be clothed with “Understanding, Will, Affections, Judgment,
Conscience, Memory.” I think these elements make up a complete life; all are
essential to forming a complete picture just as both darker and lighter shades
are necessary to craft a tapestry or other work of art.
Mat
and Kailey’s (two of my classmates) comments about dealing with the divorce of parents really hit
home. While I cannot relate to what this experience is like, I imagine that
enduring through something like this leaves an indelible impression on the
mind. I am glad that God worked through the divorce of Mat’s parents and made
something good come out of this situation even though the divorce was a
terrible thing to have happen, for this hardship brought Mat closer to God. As
both Mat and Kailey said, however, understanding does not always bring about
closure, as both still feel the sting of their parents’ separation. I think heaven
will be a place where all our pain and all our burdens shall be relieved, a
place with no more tears. I think God is the only one who can work through
tough times and bring us peace and tranquility. Only he can calm the storm
within us; only he can tame our internal tempests.
