LET'S TALK ABOUT . . .


                                               "CONNECTING THE DOTS"


Children often enjoy working on connect-the-dot pictures.  Perhaps it is more accurate to say children used to enjoy that activity.  So much has changed in modern times, with the help of technology that
children can now create and participate in intricate virtual play even before attending school.  It is amazing to watch what they are capable of doing with all the electronic equipment at their disposal.  We all know there are both benefits and concerns regarding children and adolescents and technology.

Even if we never particularly enjoyed connect-the-dot pictures we all participate in creating pictures, real or perceived, by virtue of how we piece together bits of information or sensory data.  Sometimes we create accurate pictures of reality and sometimes we do not.  If nothing else, perhaps what we have created is an accurate picture of something from our own internal worlds.  Perceived reality has consequences, accurate or otherwise.

We love being in control of the pictures we create by piecing together these bits or by selectively and "accurately" connecting the dots that reinforce our desires, longings, fears, threats, conclusions, etc.  It is often a form of internalized self-validation.  We just "know" that is the way it is, all the while failing to collect the information pertinent to creating some semblance of a picture closer to reality based on verifiable data.  It is like science being based solely on a hunch rather than empirically verifiable hypotheses, testing and clinical trials that lead to some kind of conclusion.

So often in life how we choose to connect or not connect dots only becomes clearer in hindsight.  Sometimes we connect dots and we should not have.  Other times we fail to connect dots when it would have been more beneficial to have done so.  It can be difficult not to jump to conclusions.  That would require us to hold our hypotheses loosely, in a non-anxious posture regarding the need to know the final conclusion, while awaiting verification through additional information, time, etc.

Patience while waiting is hard at the best of times.  It is even more difficult if one has been actively waiting a long time.  Watch children who either refuse to wait or have been actively awaiting the fulfillment of a promise for some time.  They often reach the limit of their ability to wait and change course.  It is easy to lose heart, get weary and resolve the matter by simply giving up or taking some form of drastic action that forces the situation to come to some sort of a head toward "resolve."  We are a world that longs for immediacy on so many levels.  Practicing delayed gratification in sincere appreciation and grace stretches one.  It is a building block of developing character.

Sometimes in our own patience or impatience we encourage others to follow our verbalized or modeled resolution patterns.  We model connecting dots, drawing conclusions, delayed gratification, patience or impatience, etc.  We all model a way of doing ourselves in relation to the rest of life.  Are we content with the way we are approaching that challenge?  Have we become complacent?  Where are we being challenged to develop character as we move through the seasons of our lives?

Until next time . . . this is, Just Janice!