I was a homework Goddess until my kids came home with New Math.

What used to look like this:

Now looked like this:

What?

I tried to figure it out.. but I couldn’t. It was weird.

We parents got so confused, our school district actually offered Night School On New Math. I learned I needed to add a little abstract to my linear thinking about math. Truly more than I can handle. I just like to color.

The gospel of John tells us about a man named Nicodemus who visited Jesus for a little night schooling also. He’d been hearing some confusing things about Jesus performing miraculous signs, and well, it was weird.  When Nicodemus asked him about it, Jesus said:

“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” – John 3:3-8

If flesh is predictably linear – birth, life, death – then the Spirit is its abstract counterpart – in, around, involved.

When the world – as it inevitably does – feels like it’s on a straight line toward destruction, life in the Spirit brings comfort, guidance and deeper relationship with God.

The Spirit can’t be calculated, but it can be counted on.