The Unknown unknowns

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."                                                                                                                                                 Donald Rumsfeld

  There were those who when they first heard this laughed. There were others who said "What in the world is he talking about!".I must admit that I was one who had to think about what he was saying. But once I did I was like "Yeah, that's deep."

  It would seem that for most of us the known knowns and known unknowns are not a problem. We know what we know and we know what we don't know. But the problem for most of us is in the last part of Donald Rumsfeld's statement, the unknown unknowns.

  We face and deal with our challenges based on what we know and what we know we don't know, not taking in account that there are things we don't know we don't know.

  Case in point. Whenever God puts someone in front of me to help me accomplish a goal they almost always ask me "What do you want to know." My answer is always the same. "I don't know. I don't know what I don't know. Tell me what I need to know." I have found that people are willing to share their knowledge and will tell you what you want to know. But if you only ask questions about the things you know that you don't know then they will only give you the answers to those questions. The last thing I want them to say later is "Oh, you did not ask me about that." I always say "Tell me what I need to know."

  God is here to help us with the known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Don't be afraid to ask, just say Lord, tell me what I need to know.

                                                 Reginald

                                       Ephesians 3:20,21

   

 

                                                                              

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