Steve Jobs (THE Steve Jobs of Apple) said, "You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” (Stanford University commencement address, June 12, 2005.)
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Apostle, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, likened the dot connecting to neo-impressionistic art and identified the source we can trust to connect our dots.
"In the late 19th century, artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac began painting in a new style that would become known as neo-impressionism. Their technique consisted of dotting canvases with small specks of color. Close up, these dots appear unconnected and random. But when you take in the entire painting, you can see how the dots blend into colors and how the colors form shapes that reveal a beautiful pattern. What once seemed arbitrary and even confusing begins to make sense.
Sometimes our lives are like neo-impressionistic art. The dots of color that make up the moments and events of our days can appear unconnected and chaotic at times. We can’t see any order to them. We can’t imagine that they have a purpose at all.
However, when we step back and take an eternal perspective, when we look at our lives in the frame of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can begin to see how the various dots in our lives interconnect. We may not be able to see the entire picture just yet, but with patience we can see enough to trust that there is a beautiful, grand design. And as we strive to trust God and follow His Son, Jesus Christ, one day we will see the finished product, and we will know that the very hand of God was directing and guiding our steps.” (Ensign, March 2019)
Tanah and I recently caught a glimpse of dot connecting on our lives. Here is the story.
About 4 years ago Tanah told me that she wanted to backpack through Europe together, just her and I against the world, so to speak My then teenage daughter wanted to spend a month alone abroad with me?!!?!?! AWESOME! What a priceless opportunity! Always (almost) up for adventure, I immediately endorsed her plan.
At the time I asked Lance if it were okay that I set aside all the extra money I make--money from projects not included in my salaried responsibilities as an OPA teacher--and he readily agreed. The money in my “trip fund” has accumulated for years and has become a tidy sum.
This was our year for the trip. I kept my summer clear of obligations, even agreed to a postponement of the family reunion, because Tanah and I were going to Europe this summer. All systems primed and ready for take off! Then Tanah received notification that she had to serve jury duty March-July. Jury duty? I have been a registered voter for decades and have never been summoned to jury duty. She has only been a registered voter in Cedar City for a few months and she was summoned. What are the chances? And March-July..the entire summer???? So the trip to Europe was postponed once more….
A month later Tanah was offered her dream job; she was invited to work with in costuming for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. For Tanah nothing could be better….except maybe if she were given the opportunity to become executive assistant for the man who runs the Shakespearean outreach education programs at SUU. Yep, a week later she was invited to be paid to be trained to be his right hand woman. They are absolutely ideal jobs for her, jobs that will put money in her bank, books in her bags, and food on her table for the rest of her stay at SUU AND jobs that will open doors for her when she graduates. And they are jobs she would not have inquired about nor been able to accept had she been in Europe this summer. And she would have been in Europe this summer had it not been for a seemingly random summons to jury duty. About the trip fund…. It has brought tremendous peace of mind in our current financial tight spot to know that, if need becomes desperate, we have some money stashed away.
The very hand of God is indeed directing and guiding our steps. May He continue to do so. May He guide yours as well. And, perhaps most importantly, may we be aware of and grateful for His dot connecting!
Image credits:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Seurat_053.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/countylemonade/5915871833
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Connect_the_dots_puzzle_(partially_solved).png
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Apostle, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, likened the dot connecting to neo-impressionistic art and identified the source we can trust to connect our dots.
"In the late 19th century, artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac began painting in a new style that would become known as neo-impressionism. Their technique consisted of dotting canvases with small specks of color. Close up, these dots appear unconnected and random. But when you take in the entire painting, you can see how the dots blend into colors and how the colors form shapes that reveal a beautiful pattern. What once seemed arbitrary and even confusing begins to make sense.
Sometimes our lives are like neo-impressionistic art. The dots of color that make up the moments and events of our days can appear unconnected and chaotic at times. We can’t see any order to them. We can’t imagine that they have a purpose at all.
However, when we step back and take an eternal perspective, when we look at our lives in the frame of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can begin to see how the various dots in our lives interconnect. We may not be able to see the entire picture just yet, but with patience we can see enough to trust that there is a beautiful, grand design. And as we strive to trust God and follow His Son, Jesus Christ, one day we will see the finished product, and we will know that the very hand of God was directing and guiding our steps.” (Ensign, March 2019)
Tanah and I recently caught a glimpse of dot connecting on our lives. Here is the story.
About 4 years ago Tanah told me that she wanted to backpack through Europe together, just her and I against the world, so to speak My then teenage daughter wanted to spend a month alone abroad with me?!!?!?! AWESOME! What a priceless opportunity! Always (almost) up for adventure, I immediately endorsed her plan.
At the time I asked Lance if it were okay that I set aside all the extra money I make--money from projects not included in my salaried responsibilities as an OPA teacher--and he readily agreed. The money in my “trip fund” has accumulated for years and has become a tidy sum.
This was our year for the trip. I kept my summer clear of obligations, even agreed to a postponement of the family reunion, because Tanah and I were going to Europe this summer. All systems primed and ready for take off! Then Tanah received notification that she had to serve jury duty March-July. Jury duty? I have been a registered voter for decades and have never been summoned to jury duty. She has only been a registered voter in Cedar City for a few months and she was summoned. What are the chances? And March-July..the entire summer???? So the trip to Europe was postponed once more….
A month later Tanah was offered her dream job; she was invited to work with in costuming for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. For Tanah nothing could be better….except maybe if she were given the opportunity to become executive assistant for the man who runs the Shakespearean outreach education programs at SUU. Yep, a week later she was invited to be paid to be trained to be his right hand woman. They are absolutely ideal jobs for her, jobs that will put money in her bank, books in her bags, and food on her table for the rest of her stay at SUU AND jobs that will open doors for her when she graduates. And they are jobs she would not have inquired about nor been able to accept had she been in Europe this summer. And she would have been in Europe this summer had it not been for a seemingly random summons to jury duty. About the trip fund…. It has brought tremendous peace of mind in our current financial tight spot to know that, if need becomes desperate, we have some money stashed away.
The very hand of God is indeed directing and guiding our steps. May He continue to do so. May He guide yours as well. And, perhaps most importantly, may we be aware of and grateful for His dot connecting!
Image credits:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_Seurat_053.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/countylemonade/5915871833
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Connect_the_dots_puzzle_(partially_solved).png
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