Bits and Pieces

I think I may have posted a blog by this same title some time back. It would be interesting if the content is similar to today’s posting. If someone wants to look back at all the posts and find the answer to that question, great! Otherwise, I’ll let the not-knowing tension exist calmly!

Bits and pieces. We know each other in bits and pieces. We also know the world in bits and pieces. Never are all the facts before us at any one time. Nor are we fully knowledgeable of each other at any one moment in time, either. Life continues mysteriously, today as yesterday, and most likely tomorrow, too.

The mystery is an enticement for forward motion – getting on with life one way or the other. We persevere. Sometimes we suffer. Mostly we get along and enjoy the scenery and experiences moment after moment, day after day, until we have consumed an era. When we look back we understand better what had transpired, but even then the bits and pieces do not fit perfectly and we do not understand perfectly.

So many historians. So many eras. So much study and written on things past, all struggling to learn what happened and why. And too, we do this to capture the moment of what the prologue means for our tomorrows. Mankind keeps at this task. Has done so for millennia. And that is a right thing to do. Else we are like snails on sandy soil making our way through life slowly without much ado.

Poems have made much of bits and pieces. That is the role of poetry – to voice the questions, posit the assertions unproven – about the life all around us. Not knowing or understanding. Experiencing, yes; accumulating bits and pieces wherever we can and finding meaning in it all. Oh the doubt! That may be the one thing well defined!

One day we learn of a friend from many years ago who has died. Back then our relationship was of central importance. Our relatedness taught us about life, at least something we carry forward to this very day. Sense was made of the unknown. Excitement over not knowing was built and so our tolerance of the mysteries began in earnest. Tantalizing questions hung throughout our discussions. And we learned to laugh at the asynchronous nature of life. Intellectual curiosity became a major theme in our life together. It fueled study, conversations and future relationships for many years.

Thinking about the deceased returned the mind to those days past. How rich they were to us, both then and now as we balance our understanding of the world with the process we were transported through to gain imperfect understanding. The remembrance a form of memorial. Moments of calm introspection recalling those early days 50 years ago.

Even contemplating the passage of 50 years and appreciating what that passage has come to mean. Enticing still the mysteries. And we write of it. We think of it. We value it.

Bits and pieces is the ‘through the glass darkly’ written in 1^st Corinthians. It makes that biblical passage thoroughly understandable, doesn't it?

Life is uncovered to our sight in bits and pieces. We expose ourselves to others in bits and pieces, too; intentionally and unintentionally.

The tension of the thens and nows of life, the ins and outs, the known and unknown, form the bits and pieces we are served to navigate the unknown. All is good. All is inspiring. We are lured to discover again and again what we don’t know and why it is important.

Like faith? Yes. Like faith. We don’t fully know but we ‘know’ its all good.

May the bits and pieces of your life meld to oneness of happy.

April 6, 2015