The Cat in the Hat becomes a Cat in the Box

Isn’t life much simpler when we’re young?  We start out believing our world is pretty easy to read – like a Dr. Suess book.  But as we grow up, we discover that complexity, not simplicity is more the norm for life.  So many conflicting ideas confront us that it seems all of life is a paradox.  A popular television program often refers to the curious dilemma of “Schrödinger's Cat”.  This paradoxical problem was first presented by the scientist, Erwin Schrödinger, back in the 1930s.   In it, a cat and a flask of poison are placed in a sealed box. At some moment in the future, the flask is shattered, and releases the poison that kills the cat. The illustration was devised to create a paradox – that at any point in time, since we can’t see what’s happened inside the box, the cat might be alive or dead, so it can be thought of as being BOTH.  Yet, when one looks in the box, the answer become apparent.  I told you it was complicated!

My tendency in life is to seek out the clear answers that are to be found, and I’ve found them most often in the words of Scripture.  Clear teachings that anyone can understand, related to the character of God – “God is love”; “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; “Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world”.  All the truth you need to know to trust your life by faith to the Creator who made you.  But some passages start me thinking about that cat.  Not the one in the hat, but the one in the box:

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Philippians 1:21

“So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”  Matthew 20:16

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:10

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Matthew 23:12

“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”  Luke 17:33

Just when we think we have it all figured out, we run up against passages like these!  How can I be weak AND strong?  How can I be first if I’m last?  It seems we live life inside a box, too.  The confines of our environment don’t always allow us to see and understand what’s going on beyond our experience.  Simply put, there are questions that are too big for the box we’re in.  Those are the ones that seem to be paradoxical – no answer provides a clear understanding for us.

I don’t know about you, but I have lots more questions than I have answers.  And I want answers!  So I have to resign myself to the truth that there are things outside the box in which I reside that are beyond my control or understanding.  There are answers, but I just don’t know them yet.  Answers about life and death, about reward and punishment, about good and bad.  Someday, the box will be opened and I’ll discover what’s outside.  I’ll understand completely.  But for now, all I know is that I trust God with what’s happening outside the box and I trust that the Holy Spirit of God is with me inside.  So you know what?  This cat’s all good.

Jacob