The Search For Waldo

God spoke to me through a fortune cookie tonight.

It read: “Slow down. Life is passing by. Cherish every moment.”

Ha. It had been sitting on my counter all week. And no, it wasn't open.
I'm not THAT gross.

Ok, so do I really think God himself put that fortune cookie in my grease-soaked carry-out bag from Golden Dragon? No.

But I DO think it sounds like something He might say. (James 1:2  ~NLT)

And it’s something He’s been pressing on me lately.
Something I know He wants me to do.

To slow down. To live in the moment.

To take a look at the craziness surrounding me, and find Him in it.

Because believe it or not, see it or not, He’s still there. In the middle of it all.

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Life often reminds me of a Where’s Waldo book. Every turn of the page pulls us into a scene that is packed with people, bursting with bustle, drowning in details. Sometimes, the scene is so full, so distracting, it can hard to find the one person we’re supposed to be looking for/to. Sometimes he’s out in plain sight, uncrowded and visible amongst the masses. But at other times, the scene can be downright overwhelming, and we doubt that he’s even there. A cruel trick from the illustrator.

When it reaches that point, we have a couple of choices. One is we can give up. We can close the book and look for something else. A nice picture book with playful penguins, perhaps. Another option is to completely withdraw and skip out from the scene, and look forward to another. But when that happens, we don’t really grow in our ability to engage with the scenes, and we end up missing out on a lot of the book.

The third option is to slow down and stick it out. To pause and look at every detail. To check every action and see just what’s going on. In doing so, we notice things we never saw before. We see some goodness in the madness. We might even find some humor. Eventually, as we examine closely, we'll finally find him. And when we do, we realize that he was there the entire time.

You probably know where I’m going with this by now. If you’re thinking “he’s going to loosely compare God to Waldo,” you’re right!

Yes, I know this illustration is fatally flawed in many aspects. 

Unlike God, Waldo doesn't actually do anything but stand there and smile at us as we feel like morons for not being able to pick him out. Also unlike God, Waldo exists to sell books that entertain children and  make publishers rich. And I’m sure God would have better fashion taste than a red-and-white-striped turtleneck. Poor Waldo looks like a mix between a convict and an elf.

So I’ll just quickly flash you my self-certified poetic license and ask you to just take this example at face value. Because there is a sliver of truth in it.

Back to the comparison.

As time goes forward, sometimes we find ourselves in scenes and life stages where God is completely visible. His calling and direction is clear, and so is His movement. The normal chaos of our lives can’t crowd him out.  I love those scenes.

But then there are the other scenes. Scenes where “suffocated” isn’t a strong enough word to describe how we feel. Where “too much” isn’t a wide enough depiction of what’s on our plate. Where pinpointing God in the pandemonium seems impossible. Where we wonder if it’s all just a big joke from the Illustrator. I don’t love those scenes.

I can honestly tell you I’m in that scene. Right. Now.

And I know some of you are, too. Or maybe you just were. Or maybe it’s waiting on your next page turn.

Those scenes… they’re not fun.

But when we encounter them, I believe we have the same choices as with the Waldo book. The first option is that we can give up. Read another book. Or quit reading altogether. And no one would blame us. 

Or the second option is we can withdraw and look for the next scene. But it’s harder to grow that way. Growth comes from experience, and if all we do is gaze forward, denying and avoiding the present, then we don’t experience it, and thus we don’t grow from it. Therein also lies the potential for a dangerous cycle, as we will always be encountering undesirable scenes in our book. If we end up skipping forward all the time, we’ll eventually reach the back of the book, and we’ll have missed out on a whole lot.

Then there’s the third choice. To stop and look around. To check every situation, every detail, every avenue, and look to see how God is working. Look to see the good in the bad and the humor in the sad. To engage with the difficulties at hand, even when it’s painful. To –as James said – consider the scene as an opportunity for great joy.  Because no matter how long it takes, when we finally can see Him in it, the whole picture changes, along with ourselves.

And we'll realize that He was there.

The entire time.