“If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are.”  

Hmmm.

This Zen proverb has been up on my fridge for a few years now — and yet I still don’t, ahem, understand it. Or, rather, I don’t understand why it’s so hard for us as humans to accept the things we do not understand.

Perhaps the point of it all isn’t to understand. Perhaps the point is just to live the abundant life that Jesus promises us (John 10:10). Perhaps our joy really starts to become complete (John 15:11) when we stop fighting to understand God’s love and instead embrace it.

To put this proverb another way: “If you believe it, God loves you. If you don’t believe it, God loves you.”