Mystery

God works in mysterious ways.

What this actually means? It gets used often but is it just a simple answer that prevents us from seeking more? God indeed is mysterious, breath taking, sensational and brilliant.  Not everything God is and does can be explained, that in itself is the great mystery, not all things can be easily answered and nor should they. We are so quick to want to know how it happened, what led to the events, why something changed and an answer to the problem or question. If we know, it can be explained, we have the result, end of story. God is never the end to the story but rather the beginning. Being left in wonder and full of questions, is that wrong? Does it hurt us, really? Or does it encourage us to sit, be, think and truly wonder. In many respects answers are boring, they end the story – they complete the puzzle. Yes, it may be exciting to have overcome, solved or triumphed a conundrum but with our deep desires and complex wonderings will an answer ever be enough?
Mystery and deep wondering is always present, taking time to immerse in these and rest with them brings God to us. Watching a child grow in its first year of life is truly amazing and holds many moments of mystery. First teeth, crawling, rolling and the beginning of speech. As a parent you can scour the internet, read books and research as much as possible on human development, but each child is different, will achieve milestones when they are ready and will often surprise us when we watch it all happen. Parenting is to be part of God’s mystery and whilst we think we have the answers we often find we do not. The unbelievable emotions a parent can feel in any one moment is amazing and yet it can be so hard to explain and unravel. We are created in the image and likeness of God, mystery, wonder and love.
We could in fact turn this on its head and say, ‘we work in mysterious ways’ and God is always present. We can be creatures of habit and at times totally spontaneous, full of great need to do wondrous things. Flight, dancing, chemistry, climbing tall mountains, sculpting, skiing down dangerous slopes or trekking across many landscapes in itself quite mysterious, why do it? In theory, there is no need, but each thing has led to another discovery, notion or idea as we explore God’s creation and what it means to be human. Simply because we can, breaks this done to an answer or a problem solved. However, the mystery of free will is at work here when we allow ourselves to think, question and connect to deep and complex wonderings. From art to the sciences, we see wondrous creations and learnings and ideas being sparked and reengineered and with God present. God is with us in the mystery.

So, who indeed is working in mysterious ways, God or us? Perhaps of more importance is the word mystery.Maybe it is time or us to sit with the mystery that surrounds us and allow it to be. Not our budgets, health or work, these need and demand our attention, but to our soul questions, pondering and reflecting upon these allows us to sit in the mystery withGod. It can be uncomfortable, tense, aggravating, calm, joyful or even bland but to truly know yourself is to experience kaleidoscope of feelings. Gods love for us is never ending, eternal and life giving. When we allow ourselves to walk with our God through the many mysteries of life, we are choosing to be part of the story, a journey that is divine.