Puzzles

A 3,000 piece puzzle has taken over my dining table, and much of my life, since the beginning of July. It seems only fair that if I am to put its broken pieces back together, it should give me something in return. It chose to give me some life lessons. Some are obvious, like how it takes perseverance, and with help it goes faster.

However, more insights lie beneath the behemoth pile of pieces. I stared and stared at one piece almost daily for a month and had absolutely no idea what it was. I had a vague idea of where it went based on the colors, but couldn’t figure it out. Today, I found where it belonged. Once in the big picture, I could see exactly what it was (the partial snout of a dog).

Life is like that. We can stare and stare at a problem and not see a solution. As much as we look at different options, none seem to fit. We pray and ponder. We try answers in different parts of the issue, but nothing is right. We just don’t know what to do. Then, one day, in a way that only God can do, He opens our eyes to see the answer. Pouf, just like that it works out.

Puzzles don’t just keep going off in random directions. Edge pieces form a boundary to keep the whole picture intact. We could almost say it keeps the puzzle safe. In life there are many times we need to set boundaries to keep ourselves intact, or safe. Sometimes the boundaries have to do with work and life balance. It could be a needed boundary in an unhealthy relationship. Maybe it’s a boundary regarding an activity we know we should not engage in. I bet you can think of more areas we need to have edge pieces.

Working on a small area at a time helps with perseverance issues. But then, there are always spots where you can’t find the right piece, so you need to leave a blank spot. It’s annoying and super hard to let it go, because you want to finish it. In one area I had a missing piece for what seemed forever. I revisited it now and then, but it took a full month to finally find it (amidst 1,500 other pieces) and finish the section.

Sometimes life doesn’t fit neatly into the packages we want. We have missing pieces that we have to let go of and just wait for them to resolve. Sometimes the wait is long, but in His timing, God brings the missing piece and we can move on.

I’m sure there are more lessons, but that’s enough for today. May the puzzle of life treat you well this week.