Fractals are my Favourites! Explanation Time.

Fractals. My God connector word. I thought I'd finally share how I got so hooked on it. I was 17. I found the word in the months leading up to my Salvation. I was in Math class when Mrs. Rayner brought out these creepy 60's posters. I hated them. Then, she explained how fractals work. I knew God existed. I always had. The definition of fractals made me yearn to apply it to my life. It got me thinking. It made me want to live for such a God that would detail our lives. It was one of the ways I saw His love. I don't understand the full out mathematical principles behind fractals, but I get the general picture. He has imprinted it on my heart. Its definition is a tool that I use - I put towards understanding the things of God. I apply it. So here it is. It's the kid's definition - told you I didn't understand the specifics - plus I want it to be clear:

"Fractal: An irregular shape that looks the same at any scale on which it is examined"
Mirriam-Webster Online Dictionary: http://www.wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=fractal

See. Not so hard to get. What it really means to me is order. It just makes sense. I like only the natural fractals, so I'll use them to explain fractals further. First though, I'll give you the 17 of the ones found in nature, because there are lots of different kinds to love: Sea Shells (fun memories to collect on walks), Snow Flakes (love 'em), Lightning (actually awesome), Romanescu (weird looking), Ferns (I have a New Zealand based love of them), Queen Anne's Lace (pretty), Broccoli (ew), Peacocks (they creep me out), Pineapple (tasty and delicious), Clouds (pretty), Crystals (hello diamonds), Mountain Ranges (I want to see more of them), Trees and Leaves (I love them, especially in the fall), Shorelines (of the whole world - perfect order), Rivers and Fjords (the power and sound of the current; amazingness), Sea Urchins and Sea Stars (I love anything star related - dork dork), and finally, Stalagmites and Stalactites (scary looking, but cool nevertheless)...
Website (warning: haven't looked at anything else of theirs):
http://webecoist.com/2008/09/07/17-amazing-examples-of-fractals-in-nature/
...So, all of these things look chaotic up close. They are different, they look unique. Then there's a fractal pull-back (I talk about the pull-back a lot) and then all of a sudden BEHOLD, there's a pattern. A grand scheme. God's plan. It like one of those pointillism drawings - you can't see the picture until you step back to a further position. We can do this in life. We'll never be able to see the fullness of God's plan, it's sheer detail would no doubt kill us, but we can let ourselves see the plan He has for our lives. There is one. We can see it easily in our pasts: in how we've come to this present time, how we've become who we are, and generally just in all of the ways God has intricately worked in our lives. Why then do we doubt Him in the present? I know He's held me up in the past, just like in that Footprints prayer He's carried me through seasons of my life. Why not now? Why can't we claim His love in all times? We need to work. We need to know that He's for us. That He wants the best for us and from us. Faith is a two-way street. His love is constant, but we need to be in the right place for it.

Those natural fractals are interesting, but I think there are so many more than these. Ones that we haven't, that we may never, discover. I think that waves are ordered like fractals. Wind too. I think the real reason I love them is because I can see them everywhere. His perfect order. I lost the word fractal for years afterwards. I remembered the concept, but wasn't applying it to my faith walk. I missed out. It really bothered me that I couldn't think of it. That I couldn't see either the details in the big picture or the big picture in and amongst the details. I can't explain the joy I felt when it suddenly leaped off the page of a book I was reading. I stopped caring about the book. I think I dropped it in my haste to get to a computer. That's when God started hitting it home for me. His plans for us. There are two equally horrible ways to approach the plans of God. Both are aforementioned. We as believers can get caught up or lost in either the details or the big picture. We need to find a middle ground on which to see clearly the situations we face. Fractals show the connection between them. It's how I change my viewpoint. I toggle (funny word) between them. It helps me to keep a healthy perspective.

There's more. See, I refer to fractals so often that I can over-talk about them, but in the end, it'll help you understand where I'm coming from in different things. Otherwise, I just sound nutty, although to be honest, sometimes I am just nutty. It's an odd duck thing. Moving along (merrily merrily... oh dear, the hyperness), since I've moved to Kingston fractals have been coming up more and more. In almost every service, I write it down somewhere, and it's just become a part of how I read the Bible. My sister really pushed it home one night. She was speaking to the crazy ones (whahaha) about God's plans for us. As she delved into scripture I just kept going back to the word strategic. His plans for us are strategic. They are innumerable and immensely detailed. Complicated to us and order to Him. His order. Seeing fractally (note: that's not a real way to use the word, it's just a Lisa way) yet? If not, wait for it! He sees more than us. Comparatively, we see very little. Sometimes, we even deliberately try to see little. He gives us glimpses of His plans though. Some of the glimpses I've gotten are written in this very blog. I really like how the glimpses we get always line up - that's just another view of His order. Anyways, Jenn was talking about how God plans things out perfectly (hear that? I always try to go a-fixing and hurt only myself). The verse she brought up that cemented things for me was this:

Deuteronomy 7:22
"The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you."

--> God's plans are big. They are strategic. He works little by little. He intersects everything on the Earth. We get impatient, but His timing brings so much more. I feel like the wild beasts growing too numerous for us are the details that come up against us. We need to let Him take care of things. To find peace in Him.

Philippians 4:7
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

--> Peace cannot be found in the world. It's not for the world, it's for those who've decided to be set apart from the world through Jesus.

Habukkuk 2:3
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay."

--> His timing in everything and in every season!

2 Peter 3:9
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

--> He is so patient with us. First in the slow steady way He brings us to our Salvation and then as He deals with all of our junk. The stuff that we've brought with us to Him. He is patient. He is loving. He is worthy of our trust. We can trust in the plans He has for us. And so, we can also trust in His timing.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end."

Fractal Pics - Trees & Leaves (I wish I had a stars or snowflake shot)