A New Mosaic

 

“To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 

* * *

 The words above were written sometime in the 10^th Century BC by King Solomon, supposedly the wisest man who ever lived, a claim that might be disputed by certain latter-day politicians. But it’s a good theme to consider as we enter a new year.

We’re now nine days into it, wondering how to bring closure to the old one and figure out where we go in this new one. We’ll all be looking for another bite at the apple, that second chance at the trough, to maybe try to ‘get it right,’ lay the past behind and begin with a new slate of opportunities.

But we have to get to work quickly because euphoria and good intentions have a short shelf life. They tend to fade into inertia after crossing the threshold of another year. Reality and routine replace our best intentions.

Ah, yes, routine, that beaten path of habit, the tyranny of the urgent. We sometimes curse having to plow the same old row of daily duty. But routine is not a curse inflicted upon us. It often saves us from ourselves and our natural tendencies to go off the reservation fully loaded but half-cocked.

It also stifles instant gratification. It replaces it with delayed gratification, our today’s déjà vu, as we look at unwashed dishes, unpaid bills or the multiple other ‘must-do’s’ left hanging.  

This morning I decide to take Scripture to heart and have coffee with the jigsaw puzzle while contemplating the season and time, perhaps get a glimpse of the future. I might have had better luck at tarot cards or reading tea leaves as to glean any direction or wisdom from this puzzle.

I remember when we poured it out of the box. Hundreds of small, odd-shaped pieces tumble on the table. We’re excited to get to work, searching first for the corners, then the margins and building from there. You might say we were trying to form some structure to the mess lying in front of us.

Maybe it’s the caffeine or my natural tendency to metaphorize such a jumbled hodge-podge of incongruent parts, but it sets my mind in motion. It seems to resemble the loose, disconnected hanging chads and details of last year that beg reconciliation or put out to pasture.

Now looking back won’t solve anything, but maybe it might make some things clear when we consider the random bits and pieces of last year. I know that’s a reach for lesser IQ’s, but there were some things that just didn’t turn out right, things that maybe could have been done better or smarter, like the wisdom my octogenarian friend gained from falling off a ladder.

Maybe some of you did some deep retrospective thinking, you know the kind that ends up writing resolutions and makes promises, promises that this is finally the year you’ll get it right. But after sufficient mental flagellation, you know perfection is not possible with humans. You soon rip up the list and move on.

So here we are, beginning a pristine new year still blended with the details of the last one.  Let’s be hopeful. And like the puzzle, we must begin somewhere, one piece at a time. The puzzle’s mosaic always begins like a chaotic mess, but with patience and time the structure builds and a new mosaic emerges.

* * *

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”  Take it to heart, lighten up, we’ll get another bite at the apple. God remembers Eden and will see to it.

Happy New Year from us at The Weakly Post. Stay in touch.

 

Bud Hearn

January 9, 2023