Some restaurants provide activity sheets to occupy children while waiting for food. The paper often includes a ‘connect the dots’ game that draws an animal. In much the same way, imaginary lines joining stars in the skies form constellations. These remind me of some analogies to following God’s will. 

In the “connect the dot” method, God’s will is a dot on a sheet of paper. It is not just one action or behaviour in everyday life. The dot may be our spouse, our career, or other major life decisions. Miss it, and our life will be second best. Miss another dot after that, third best. Miss more of them, and we may not even recognize the constellation or animal that God has planned and mapped out for us. 

Another analogy is a unique picture in a colouring book has given to each one of us from God. There are options, since we can choose the colours and the order of colouring. But we all know and follow the rules to colour within the lines, and that “flowers are red, green leaves are green…” (Harry Chapin song Flowers Are Red). Social conventions and cultural expectations are often mistakenly mixed as part of God’s calling. 

I prefer the imagery of the garden instead. The garden is full of potentials, often surprises, and complete with areas of beauty and creativity while other parts still need weeding and the hard work of cultivation. We are free to spend time on sections of our liking, although seasons may prescribe a certain wisdom to order. The garden is so large its boundary is less a limitation than a stimulus to venture into the horizon. “Who is my neighbour?” or “What is work during Sabbath?” are needless boundary-seeking questions. The prohibition for Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9)  is not at the edge, but in the center of the garden. 

God has only one goal for us—be transformed. So it’s not what we do per se, certainly not the one thing or one way. Our discernment with the help of the Spirit is to act in ways fitting the context of our lives to produce positive character transformation. Beauty in our lives and that of our community and the world will be created as a by-product. So live with an analogy that is freeing for growth instead of fearing of mistakes or following the crowd.