Saturday, March 24, 2012

Imagine If: What if the Point Is the Asking, Not the Answer?

My second daughter is a junior in high school.  She wrote the following poem on Tuesday; I read it Wednesday after my wife e-mailed it to me.  I want to post it today as my monthly New Year's Resolution Post for this week - for two reasons: 1) I am extremely proud of her and what this poem says about her; 2) I believe there is a direct and powerful application of the core message of this poem to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the faith that fuels our search to understand its meaning in our own lives

Please feel free to share whatever hits your heart and mind concerning the Atonement (or anything else, for that matter) as you read it. 
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The Map
by Jessica DeGraw
3-20-12

Imagine if
You are a child.
You find a map;
A pirate's treasure map.
You search.

Everyone searches.
For their keys,
For their shoes,
For their dreams.
They search.

When you are searching,
What are you searching for?
Something nonessential?
Something worthwhile?
Searching for change?

And how do you search?
Do you agonize over it?
Are you annoyed by it?
Do you feel anxious about it?
Are you diligent?

When do you find it?
After an hour?
After twenty-four?
After one-hundred and sixty-eight?
After you've given up?

What if you never find it?
What if you never stop searching?
What if the map is infinite?
What if that's the point?
Imagine if.

3 comments:

Paul said...

*Like*

Matthew said...

For me, this calls up the idea that we, of our own selves, can't actually accomplish anything at all. The whole idea of accomplishment is false in light of the atonement and salvation offered by the grace of Christ.

"Do you agonize over it?
Are you annoyed by it?
Do you feel anxious about it?
Are you diligent?"

All of these things vanish once we realize that the search is already over, in a sense. Christ was the only one who could find what we needed, He did, and He offers it to us freely.


The other way I look at it is that the process of searching is the process of becoming. It isn't the attainment of a goal, but the becoming of a person that is the important thing.

Either way, I liked it. :)

Papa D said...

"The other way I look at it is that the process of searching is the process of becoming. It isn't the attainment of a goal, but the becoming of a person that is the important."

I really like that phrasing, Matthew!