Meaningful
Song for this journal.
Everything is meaningless meaningful.
Meaning is an interesting thing. We all seek it, whether we realise it or not. We want to know why certain things have happened in our lives, why something had to be the way it was. We can wonder if there is any significance to the things we go through. We especially want to know the meaning of the most painful parts of our lives. Loss of a relationship, a person, health, work or another heartbreaking life situation. Why did it happen? What was it for? It can make us depressed if we don’t understand it.
It isn’t all about looking for meaning in the big things, though. I used to catch myself wanting to know the meaning of every indiscriminate and ordinary event. Why am I struggling to fall asleep? Is it simply because I had a stressful day or had too much caffeine? Maybe. But could there be a bigger purpose to this sleepless night which will create a domino effect? It’s a very cosmic way to look at it. Almost like trying to peer behind the curtain… and probably understandable when a tired mind starts to wander in nocturne hours!
When I would coincidentally meet someone while out and about (almost in a poetic way), I would wonder what it meant. When I would get stuck in a traffic jam, I wondered why. When things did or didn’t go my way, I wondered whether God was trying to tell me something. Have you ever thought along similar lines? Maybe it comes with having a creative mind.
Likewise with art, I used to wonder what the meaning of my art pieces was. I always thought every drawing had to communicate a distinct message. If it didn’t, if it was a simple sketch of a face or a character who was not doing much, I would wonder what the point of it was - exactly like the drawing included in this journal. At one stage, I thought such drawings of mine were meaningless and worthless.
I have since stopped looking at life events and art this way. I have started to see that everything is meaningful, including the tiny moments and experiences we have, or the insignificant art pieces we make. Why? Because I believe we are made in the image of the great Creator, and even He cares about the tiny details (He knows the number of hairs on our heads!)
I have also stopped trying to figure out what everything means, or why things happened. Life is easier when you leave control out and just flow through it.
There is one thing I believe which gives me hope: all things work together for good to those who love God.
“We don’t have to see the meaning of everything, but we can take things as they come and trust the rest to the Master.”
Life is made up of a lot of little, plain, ordinary things. They are like puzzle pieces that come together to form the intricate, complex and beautiful things that are our lives. It’s the little things. There can be beauty and meaning in the most ordinary circumstances, and it can be the little art pieces which we think nothing of that carry the greatest message to someone else out there. We don’t have to see the meaning of everything, but we can take things as they come and trust the rest to the Master. And the more significant life events we have experienced can be treated in much the same way, and be left to God to be worked out ultimately for our good, if we are His, even though it may hurt right now.
