The Mystery Of Missing

From the time I was a small child I have read the scriptures, and yet I am amazed, as I continue to dig into this ancient treasure, that I am ever discovering new things.

Take tonight for example…

While reading Matthew 14 I stumbled across the numbers 5, 2, 5,000 and 12. This was signified by 5 loaves, 2 fish, 5,000 men plus women and children, and then when they were all fed there were 12 baskets of leftover fragments filled.

But then I read Matthew 15 and discovered the numbers 7, 3(few), 4,000 and 7. This represented 7 loaves, 3 fish, 4,000 men plus women and children, and then when they were all fed 7 full baskets of leftover fragments remained.

Now you might respond to this observation with, ‘So what?’

Well the fact is that for some reason my brain had never picked up on the fact that there were two accounts of the loaves and fishes miraculous event. Until tonight I was only familiar with one. Amazing!

But I suppose the lesson I have learnt from this is the importance of continuing to delve, dig, meditate, study and investigate. For if we simply glance, it is quite possible that we will miss something.

And it is for that reason that I continue to return to the volumes of wisdom literature that form the foundations of my very existence. For as humans, it is so easy to miss or glide over important truths, and it is only as we spend time in the company of the wise that we will ultimately have the flame lit in the waxened candles of our mind and heart.

That takes a consistent and constant attendance at the feet of the sage and the master.

To rectify the miss we must return to the place of learning as a regular participant in the university of life – for it is there that fresh thought is crystallized, and where character’s precious metal is forged in the fire of intimate association with wisdom herself.

Tags: Learning, Reading, Study, Wisdom

Posted: 02/05/2009