Living in the Grey

My love of the sciences started when I was a little girl.  I asked questions that had black and white answers and loved solving problems.  I have always been drawn to the beauty of fractals and images with symmetry and structure.

My windshield on a cold morning in Richmond

But from the moment I arrived in East Africa over four years ago, I started to learn to live in the grey and the abstract.  It was a slow process, but somewhere in the middle of it all, I became much more comfortable asking the questions that don't always have definite answers.  Missions and international development are full of these types questions as is the Christian faith.  

I still have moments when I want everything to have a black and white answer, and I'm continually learning how to live by faith in the grey.  It is an ongoing process.  Learning to live in the grey does not exclude the scientific method by any means.   I still love fractals and solving concrete problems. I just have also come to love discussing questions that have answers that I cannot yet understand or that may not have answers at all.

This may not much make much sense to you, but if you can relate, then maybe you are one the many friends who has questioned, considered, discussed, and prayed with me in a living room, coffee shop, classroom, or car ride.  For these friends I am deeply thankful.