Solvitur Ambulando
The phrase is attributable to St. Augustine. It’s Latin, and it translates to – “It is solved by walking.
Literally, it means that sometimes, the solution arrives just by taking a walk. Relax your mind, take a walk, and the answer will arrive.
More importantly, it means that sometimes, the solution arrives just by giving it time. Keep walking through life, continue down the path that you are on, and eventually, the answer will arrive.
This is helpful for us when we can’t see what God is doing, or when there seems to be no divine movement, or our prayers seem to be having no effect in heaven. The answer, in these cases, sometimes comes down to solvitur ambulando.
I remember a similar illustration that comes from the movie ‘Princess Bride.’
At one point, it seems that everything is going wrong in the book. The young boy becomes concerned, and he starts to argue with his grandfather. Didn’t his grandfather say that this was a good book? But at this point in the story, nothing is looking good. All the good people are in bad situations, and the bad people have the upper hand. In fact, not only does the situation look bad; it actually looks hopeless and irreversible!
The young boy, as I said, starts to argue with his grandfather. Surely, this isn’t the kind of story that he was expecting! This isn’t a good story! His grandfather, however, doesn’t argue back. He simply says, ‘Do you want me to keep reading, or not?’ The implication is, ‘the story is good, but we have to keep going.’
The boy isn’t thrilled with this response. It is hardly the encouragement that he wants. He wants to know right now how things will turn out, how this is a good story. But his grandfather offers him the only valid answer: keep reading the book, one page at a time, to see what happens.
I’ve thought often of that as an illustration of the life of faith. Faith calls us to move forward without sight, without seeing what we know, but believing it. The promises of God are just that – promises. We want an immediate answer, to understand quickly. But all God offers us is what the grandfather answered: that we can keep reading the book, one page at a time. In the end, it will all make sense. It is solved by walking.
Solvitur ambulando.
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