I am a fan of many things Steve Jobs did during his life. While he was very human, he left us with a legacy of life changing products and passion for innovation. One of his famous quotes came during a commencement address at Stanford University.
“You can’t connect the dots [of your life] looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
His statement resonates in the context of the mundane happenings of my life. As I have thought of the implications I realize that you and I are part of a great story that is at odds with key words in Jobs’ thought. The dots of our lives connect – yesterday, today, and in the future. We are part of a big story with dots that are already connected. An observation made long ago is still true; “There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15.21, 22)
Many today do not know Christ by name. What they know is the heart of Christ. Living out lives of love, mercy, and compassion with a view of community is living in Christ. Embracing the equality of all human beings is giving the Divinity within you free reign.
It would be one thing if the story ended in the link between actions and God, but we know more of the story. We know that good came and evil responded. We have the testimony of lives that followed this lead and made the world a better place. We have the shared hope of restoration and resurrection. The dots are connected.
Jobs went on to remind us that “You have to trust in something”. I do. I trust in the God that loves me passionately as I am while caring too much to leave me this way. It is a great story that is still being written in your life and in mine.
