A Closer Walk
A couple of random quotes from Albert Einstein. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” “If you can't explain what you are doing to a nine year old, then either you still don't understand it very well, or it's not all that worthwhile in the first place.”
A fish is a perfect creation for its environment. It has a special breathing apparatus called gills to extract oxygen from the water it lives in, tail to propel itself through the water, and fins to stay on course as it travels. But on land it can do none of these. Oh, it can flip and flop and flail. And as anyone who has ever caught a fish and dropped it knows, it can do this until it finds it way back into the water. Then it is gone. But as referenced by Mr. Einstein, to judge it by its ability to climb a tree is a total exercise in futility. During WW2 the Germans took musicians and artists from the camps and put them in the coal mines to work. Many of them died. They were neither built for that nor had any training to do that. Another exercise in futility.
Explaining something to a nine year old requires simplicity and an ability to not employ a barrage of large words that will then need to be explained. A nine year old has an innate ability to comprehend and understand concepts if they are explained simply and clearly. But Mr. Einstein's quote above is not focused on the nine year old. It is instead directed toward the explainer. Mr. Einstein's quote is stating that the inability to explain something to a nine year old reveals the fact that the explainer doesn't really understand the subject matter at hand. Or, perhaps what is being explained is not worthwhile to be engaged in after all.
A few years back the Blade had an article about Don Landoll, the founder of Landoll Corporation in Marysville, Kansas. From that article I gleaned these two quotes. “You must generate, recognize, and take advantage of your opportunities.” “Take what you know to figure out what you don't know.” Mr. Landoll tells us that we are able to generate our own opportunities. In the same vein, Milton Berle (remember Uncle Miltie?) is quoted as saying, “If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.” Generating opportunity and recognizing opportunity are two different things. Many of us don't recognize opportunity until after the fact. Did anyone buy Microsoft stock back in the 1980's and hold on to it? Anyone buy Amazon in the 1990's and hold on to it? These two companies are among the most valuable on planet earth. We sometimes don't recognize opportunity until after the fact. Wish I could tell you how to improve on that.
Mr Landoll's second quote above, “Take what you know to figure out what you don't know,” challenges us to utilize the knowledge we already have to figure out things we don't know about now. Look at Moses. In Exodus chapter 3 our God calls Moses to lead the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. Moses, as we would expect, has a number of questions for God about that. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” “Who do I say sent me?” And so forth. In chapter 4 after this exchange between Moses and God, “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” And the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say,” Exodus 4:10-12 NASB. What is God telling Moses here? Our Lord is explaining to Moses clearly that whatever he has now will be enough for what God has called him to do now. In other words, Moses already possesses the knowledge he needs. He is already equipped for the task at hand. Mr. Landoll's quote relates to that. “Take what you know to figure out what you don't know.”
We may not realize it, but our God, in His grace, mercy, and love, equips us using our life events to provide the knowledge and experience He knows we will need in the future. Consequently, we are already equipped and prepared for whatever our God has in store for us in our future. And praise the Lord for that!
“To God be the glory, great things he has done! So loved he the world that he gave us his Son, who yielded his life an atonement for sin, and opened the life-gate that all may go in. Great things he has taught us, great things he has done, and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son, but purer and higher and greater will be, our joy and our wonder, when Jesus we see. Refrain: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory, great things he has done!” Words by Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915, music by William H. Doane, 1832-1915.