Do I have to figure this out?
from “Monument to the Burghers of Calais” by Rodin.
We spend a lot of time in our lives trying to figure things out. There are straight mathematical things that lend themselves to figuring out–finding a solution. What is 100 plus 25? 125. Figured it out. Or logical equations. If- then-else. I did a lot of If-then-else statements in my work with databases. “If the entry contains an @ symbol and a “.”, then display “Thank you,” else display “You must enter a complete email address.” That kind of figuring out, finding answers and solutions feels satisfying, complete, and even relieving.
But there’s so much of life that can’t be figured out! Why did this bad thing happen? What’s that person thinking? How come she said that? How come I said that? What do these words in a poem mean? Where is the logic in this story? Does this even make sense? Why can’t I have a life with no problems?
Ironically, what often helps me is yet another thing that I cannot figure out–a metaphor or simile. Poetry contains a lot of these, also the Bible, and also common language. I have a hard time remembering which is which, but the difference between a metaphor and a simile is that a metaphor is like calling something a name, and a simile is comparing something to something else, usually using the word “like.” So a metaphor would be me saying, “That was a piece of cake,” and a simile would be me saying, “That was like a piece of cake.” In many cases, as in this explanation, they are very similar.
In the above example, we can pretty much figure out what we mean because calling something “a piece of cake” is a well-known idiom for us. Someone unfamiliar with it, though, might have a harder time understanding. We run into that in poetry or the Bible or other cases. In a Simon & Garfunkel song from my childhood, the lyrics say, “I am a rock. I am an island.” From the context, we get that it must be about loneliness–I think!–but what does it really mean? We could come up with multiple theories.
In the Bible, especially the Psalms, we see a lot of metaphors. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 46, containing quite a few:
God is our refuge and strength,
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God
the God of Jacob is our fortress
Many of us know the one from Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Poetry is full of metaphors.
In an interview with Eugene Peterson, he talked about metaphors and life and said, “You’re not trying to figure things out; you’re trying to enter into what’s there.” Don’t you love that? Relax and stop trying to figure everything out, to find the answer. Instead, “enter into what’s there.” Here you are, here are the people around you, the circumstances you’re in, the hard or the easy stuff you have to deal with. And no matter what, God is there. You may or may not feel his presence, but I hope, even if it’s only intellectually, you know that God loves you. Even when things don’t make sense, and you can’t figure them out, God is your refuge and strength, your rock, your friend. Like a mother hen who gathers her brood under her wings, God loves you.
A beautiful musical rendering of Psalm 46
Some poems I have collected in my blog