78 Chaos: Patterns and Interruptions.

Remember! When I refer to person in the Godhead in any blog, I am referring either to singular person (one-of-three) or to the collective person (three-in-one) of the Triune.

Consider this, my possibly dazed companion: In graduate school, I took a design course which focused on the creation of, and meaningful interruption of, patterns. The first task was to create a basic element worthy of repetition. Next, quantities of the element were produced. Then the many elements were aligned within a box frame. If it looked good, the pattern might eventually become a textile, or wallpaper, or something else.

To add interest to the yards of pattern, one could insert a predictable and repetitious interruption, sort of like repeating a sprinkle of flower overlay on a background of plaid. All very nice. Worked well. I call this a malleable pattern—meaning a number of various interruptions could be applied to the background with good results.

Of course, one needs to exercise restraint in how many different effects one gets going in a design or risk losing the concept entirely, or worse (at least worse to an airhead debutante), risk becoming tacky and tasteless. Oh, what a responsibility it is to be an airhead debutante!

Anyway.

Now, when God made creation, He chose to make it a malleable pattern.

Why?

To take expression to greater richness and depth . . . and to take expression beyond the strict control of His own hand, to offer to share that control with a new creature—a creature made in His image. God thinks big, dear fellow soul.

It was a daring, bold, exalted experiment, yes, but a dangerous, oh so dangerous, experiment, none-the-less, because under the hand of a novice, or a malcontent, or a deviant, or an egotist, and the list goes on, and on, a truly malleable pattern might have too many disruptions and evil might surge, overwhelming the pattern and ruining it. And then what?

And then, quite possibly, the collapse of all apparent order into total disorder.

All in all, dear partner in discovery, God deals with chaos like we deal with a stack of catalogues. We can flip through catalogues and select what we will. God can do that with chaos. And does. Imagine that!

Chaos is a stable resource for our Heavenly Father. But for us to share in a situation predicated upon chaos, chaos must remain a stable resource. In the Garden, we were called to perform in a worthy manner, to participate in worthy matters, keep our hands off of chaos (the tree and its fruit). Adam and Eve did not respond rightly to that call back then, but we, “followers of good”, now in our time, being “followers of good” on this side of the Cross, must aspire to recognize and value God’s Catalogue Resource Approach to chaos. We must aspire to cooperate with God. We must endeavor to live His way, not independent of His way. We must reject the allure or our own thinking, our own reasoning. And enthusiastically embrace His.

But we too fail, you know. Adam and Eve did. You and I do, too.

The Solution? Well, see next blog!

To be continued . . .