AS the poet once said: "I have climbed highest mountain, I have run through the fields, Only to be with you, Only to be with you... But I still haven't found what I'm looking for".
U2 lyrics aside, Where's Waldo? was a series of childrens' books by British artist Martin Handford. The first book was published in 1987. In it, the reader becomes visually accustomed with the character of Waldo, his distinctive red and white stripes, blue jeans, walking stick and happy go lucky smile.
If you've ever touched a Where's Waldo? book, you'll remember that the whole thrust of the literature was to find Waldo. Easy enough, says you after you're parents naively hand you your first copy. Not so easy at all.
Look at this mess! And this was just page one!
Where's Waldo? was a champion of holding a child's interest for longer than any video game or any tv show. I spent hours pouring over the detailed pages, scouring every corner of Waldo's crazy world just for a glimpse of the elusive man. The books came with me on car trips, plane trips, beach trips. Why I would even go to the beach with a Where's Waldo? book serves as testament to how gripping these books were.
The second book in the Waldo series was known in Britain as Find Waldo Now, in which Waldo proves to be the master escape artist yet again.
But hang on. Find Waldo Now? Well, why? Let's ask the question: why is it so important to find Waldo? I mean, it can be absolutely grueling. And after you find him, you have to look for him again on the next page! It seems like no matter how hard you chase him down, the striped man slips through your fingers and you have to do it all over again. The searching doesn't ever seem to end.
There's a different kind of searching within the human soul, which searching it performs sometimes without us even thinking about it. Why do we window-shop? Why do we aimlessly browse the internet? Why do we channel surf? We do we go to new places to see new things? Why does that sudden itch come to learn all about something that maybe you've never heard of before? What is it we're looking for?
Far more significant and profound than the search for red and white striped bloke named Waldo, the human soul searches for something which it doesn't really even know. It's like knowing that you lost something and tearing up your house looking for it, only you've forgotten what that something is. It's like walking into the grocery store to pick up that one thing, only you forgot your list in the car and now you're wandering all the aisles looking for it.
What are our mortal souls looking for?
Friends? No, you get friends, you make friends and you lose friends and all the while, you're still looking.
Riches perhaps? No, you get as much money as you could ever want and it will never be enough.
What about power? Even the most powerful men and women in history looked beyond themselves for something more.
Fame, then? No, I think we can all agree that fame only means you'll be searching at the top and not at the bottom.
What is it then? What is this deep searching within us? Like the Where's Waldo? books, there is no abandoning the search. Once you pick up the book and turn to the first page, there's no dodging the task. Oh you might come back to it later. But you'll always come back to the search. Why? Because the man must be found.
There is maybe no easy answer for just why our souls are searching. At least, the answer is probably too complex for a humble blog post. But what is evident, is that there is no abadoning the search.
And yet just as in the case of Waldo, the prize, the goal, the object of our search is right there in front of us the whole time.
If God said 'dude', He might very well say the same thing as Waldo.
Everything our souls are reaching for are ultimately in God. We search for wealth. God can give us the riches of heaven in Christ Jesus. We search for friendship. God came to the world to befriend mankind when we were alienated from Him. We search for power, fame, kindness, purpose, happiness... all these things have their source in God, not necessarily meaning that we will have them in ourselves, but that in knowing God we may know what all of these truly mean. That is to say, I may never experience fame, but I can know the Famous One. I may never have true power and authority, but I can know the One who has authority over all creation.
Really, our souls are only searching for their Creator.
Note I did not say religion or spirituality. The soul isn't searching for strict liturgies and codes for conduct. Someone once said: There is a way of reading the Bible that seems to leave God far away, off in the shadows somewhere. It is all information and technicalities and knowledge, but it feels like you're sitting with your back towards God. You come up against a difficulty or question, and you go to books, you ask pastors, friends, strangers on the internet, anyone but Him. Gradually God gets smaller and dimmer. Don't read it in that way. Read the book to know the Author! Know the Creator. What we are looking for isn't friendship on a social website, it's a friend in a real Person.
The question is: why is it that you still haven't found what you're looking for?
"O God, be not far from me..." Psalm 71:12
Either you haven't found Him yet, or you did and you forgot. If God seems far away, guess who moved?
"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." Psalm 145:18
WHERE AM I?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeletethe answer is: right where you are.
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