The trees, they are everywhere.
They blur together, in all directions –
green and dark browns, with shades of light sprinkled in.
Confusing. Disorienting.
Somewhere there is a path, a pattern, a way through,
though it is hard to see.
Trees are everywhere, blocking my way.
From one tree to the next I move, trying to find my way,
but the trees are chaos all around, closing in.
Suffocating it is, anxious I feel.
Focus. Stop. Take it all in.
Take a step back, shift, look at the trees from
a different angle.
The pattern takes shape, the path reveals itself.
Spaces open up, there is order.
See the forest – the Truth- in all its beauty.
Those words came to me in Adoration the other night. I was dealing with a challenge at work, a good challenge, but just a
design problem I was trying to solve in a piece of software I was writing. It was bugging me, it had been for a few days, and it resulted in me being behind on my other tasks I needed to get done and I was feeling a little pressure.
When developing software, like many other things in life, it is very easy to get stuck down in the
weeds, to where you get so focused on the problem and lose sight of the bigger picture, and potentially the solution.
We fail to see the forest for the trees.
I love that expression. In facing this problem, or really any problem in life, many times I find myself just focusing on the trees, the details, all the chaos and the anxiety before me – I lose sight of the forest, the bigger picture.
And so, it’s in these times where I have to take a step back, breathe, refocus, and look at the problem, whatever it may be, from a different angle. And for me, this is most always done in the Presence of Christ, and through His Holy Spirit.
This is why regular retreats to Eucharistic Adoration for silent prayer and meditation are so precious to me, simply to help me refocus and let Christ reorder my life. Sometimes, it takes frequent visits.
This happens all the time, to all of us. It’s so easy to get focused on the details of the problem or craziness before us and lose sight of the big picture. I’m sure after the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were all a little confused and overwhelmed with what was going on and uncertainty filled their lives. All they could see were the blur of the trees before them, and simply trudging from one to the next, hoping for clarity at some point.
But then Christ comes and breathes on them, filling them with His Holy Spirit, they are awakened, renewed, and now see the forest as a whole – the big picture. They see the pieces of the puzzle and they know what must be done.
The Holy Spirit comes to us in this way, surrounding and engulfing us with His warmth and Love, day by day, minute by minute. The Spirit is there for us, yearning for us, interceding for us, wanting to show us the bigger picture.
Yet many times we fail to let the Spirit in. We get comfortable in the trees, with our limited view. But we get blinded because we only see what’s right before us. And it’s a constant struggle to find the path through.
Jesus sent His Spirit to help us do just that, to help us see things from a different perspective, to fill us with His Love, Truth and Understanding. We may not get all the answers in one fell swoop, but if we seek the guidance of the Spirit, we will see more of the forest, more of the bigger picture, each time.
Pentecost is something we celebrate today, but it is something can experience each day, at any moment. Taking time to spend with Christ, to step away from the busyness of the moment and simply let His Spirit speak with us is how we can see the world from a different angle, see through the problems and uncertainty we face and see the solution. It’s how we see the bigger picture, the entire body of work, and the gaps that we need to fill to do His work.
And yes, the next day, I did figure out my problem that I was working on, a simple answer to something I was making more complex.
Isn’t that really what the Holy Spirit is for us? A simple answer to a life we make so complex?
