“One of the great innovators of our time, Steve Jobs of Apple, had this insight: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward,” he said. “You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

What did he mean by that? Perhaps an illustration will help. In the late 19th century, artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac began painting in a new style that would become known as neo-impressionism. Their technique consisted of dotting canvases with small specks of color. Close up, these dots appear unconnected and random. But when you take in the entire painting, you can see how the dots blend into colors and how the colors eventually form shapes that reveal a beautiful pattern. What once seemed arbitrary and even confusing begins to make sense. Sometimes our lives are like neo-impressionistic art. The dots of color that make up the moments and events of our days can appear unconnected and chaotic at times. We can’t see any order to them. We can’t imagine that they have a purpose at all.

However, when we step back and take an eternal perspective…we can begin to see how the various dots in our lives interconnect. We may not be able to see the entire picture just yet, but we’ll see enough to trust that there is a beautiful, grand design. And as we strive to trust God and follow His Son, Jesus Christ, one day we will see the finished product, and we will know that the very hand of God was directing and guiding our steps.

We will know that the Master Artist had a plan for those random dots all along. We will see that He has amplified our talents, prepared opportunities, and introduced us to possibilities far more glorious than we ever could have imagined or accomplished on our own.”  (Excerpt from a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf  called The Adventure of Mortality)

That could not have been more perfectly stated. I’ve seen exactly what he is talking about over and over again in my own life. People I meet, events that happen, seemingly random occurrences that end up not being random at all…rather, they end up being part of a master plan that is coming together like the pieces of a puzzle snapping into place one by one to reveal an amazing picture. But we can’t get to an amazing picture if we don’t first have the faith to snap each new piece, one at a time, into their frame. The process may feel tedious at times…it may appear to be leading to nothing…just stay with it…eventually you will see why each piece filled a meaningful slot in your picture…

~Amy Rees Anderson