The Thing About Puzzles

We've had a lot of rain lately. SO much rain that many communities around us are experiencing flooding. I mean, dams are overflowing, and people are being evacuated from their homes. That's a lot of rain!

While we know that "April showers bring May flowers," what do we do when we're stuck INSIDE because everything OUTSIDE is so wet? My wife and I do puzzles! 🧩

Puzzles help pass the time in our house, along with reading and household chores. At least our minds are getting some exercise while our bodies turn to flab due to inactivity.

I've noticed something in our puzzling. It is an perfect representation of our future lives here on earth, and also of our relationship with God.

God knows everything, from beginning to end. We, on the other hand, know very little about what lies ahead. It's like opening a jigsaw puzzle box and dumping it's contants out onto the table.

Think about your life in high school. Did you ever think THEN where you'd end up 40 or 50 years later? No! But, piece by piece, you are there now. God knew where you'd end up. He even knew some of us "had a few pieces missing," like myself. But here we are!

Our children and grandchildren do puzzles. If they only knew . . .

"Hey, Grandpa. Why are you smiling me while I'm doing my puzzle?"

"You're a great puzzler and I like to watch how you figure things out. You are doing well." - proud Grandpa.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." - Psalm 139:13-14

The Missing Piece

 

There are several things that can be learned about life simply by doing a jigsaw puzzle. But the most surprising lesson, the most beautifully helpful teaching, is when we discover that one of life's "puzzle pieces" has gone missing.

My wife and I do jigsaw puzzles in our spare time. We've been doing them together for several years now. If we stop and think about the puzzle building process, even about the puzzle's creation itself, we can learn quite a few things.

Each one of us is a puzzle of sorts that gets assembled over time. A tragedy here, an illness there - sometimes, through no fault of our own, even some of our pieces can become damaged or go missing. Life is interesting that way.

My wife buys me puzzles at Goodwill from time to time. Sometimes, upon their completion, I have found a piece or two missing. I have become pretty good at creating replacement puzzle pieces. They're not perfect of course but they fill a void.

Jesus is the master craftsman when it comes to filling the voids in our hearts. He can heal broken hearts too. Of course, we will still have scars, but we will become whole.

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power." - Psalm 147:3-5

Do you have a missing puzzle piece in your life? Would you like to be healed? Trust in Jesus.

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:22-24

Jesus can heal your heart, but you do have to let Him. He is the missing piece you've been waiting for. Open the door.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:20

Puzzles

When I inherited my mom and dad's jigsaw puzzle collection I didn't know what I was getting myself into - a lesson about life.

Puzzles can be a fun little diversion. Jigsaw puzzles teach us that it is possible to attack a problem and emerge at its completion 100% satisfied. Unless, of course, there are missing pieces.

Often, my wife will enter my "puzzle space," bend down, and pick up one of the pieces I had inadvertently knocked off the table.

"Here. You might need this," she'll say. What an example of Jesus!

Life is a lot like assembling a crossword puzzle.

Puzzles exist so that they can be assembed. They provide us with a sence of accomplishment after we complete them. Equally, puzzles can also provide frustration if some of the pieces are missing or if the puzzle proves too difficult. Is life any different?

We can be working on life's puzzle, all organized and going well. Then, suddenly, something's not right. A medical emergency, infertility, the death of a loved one. A piece of our "puzzle" has gone missing or we have placed one of life's pieces in the wrong spot. Enter Jesus.

Is there a puzzle that Jesus cannot solve? Is there something missing in our lives that could not be fixed by Jesus?

Jesus completes us. He guides us through life's puzzles with His Holy Spirit and His Word. He is the one who picks up the pieces off our floor and puts them back onto the table for us.

Jesus could solve ALL of life's puzzles for us with a thought or a snap of His fingers. But He doesn't. He wants us to grow and to learn.

What God teaches us today may be needed to solve some "life puzzle" in the future.

Embrace the puzzle!

The Parable of The Puzzle

I have been retired for a year now. There are a lot of things I have discovered about this retirement lifestyle change. The first is, I really like it. As I tell all who ask how retirement is going, "I love it. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want." As I have also discovered, that's not always a good thing.

There are times when I am busy - working on the tiny house I am building or building beds for kids who don't have one. or simply just reading my Bible. But there are also times I have nothing to do. What do I do when that occurs? I put together puzzles.

I never really thought about it before but I have been putting puzzles together my entire life. As an architectural draftsman I drew plans for buildings. I would have to figure out how all the walls and windows went together before anyone actually built anything.

Building my tiny home is no different. How can I cramp a lifestyle into 215 square feet? You just figure it out. I recently built a bed from a video I saw on YouTube. Someone asked me, "How did you know how to build the bed? Where did you get your plans?" My reply was, "I didn't have any plans. I just figured it out and built it."

Life is a lot like that. We end up just figuring stuff out along the way. Relationships are like that too.

We live in a throw-away culture. It's broken? Well, throw it out and get another one.

I recently put together a puzzle. The one pictured above. 1000 pieces. Very enjoyable. There are many "little puzzles" within the bigger puzzle. However, when I got to the end I discovered that one of the puzzle pieces was missing. A little disappointing, yes. But I still enjoyed putting the puzzle together. I still enjoyed completing the challenge. That's the way relationships should be.

We can't just say, "Well, THAT didn't work. Time to take this old relationship to Goodwill and try someone new." That's not how God wants to live our lives or our relationships. Every relationship is full of challenges. We are not supposed to throw out the puzzle because one piece is missing or damaged.

I have put together puzzles with a missing pieces and damaged pieces. Sure, the finished product wasn't what I was thinking it would be but I finished it. I finished the challenge. May each of us treat our relationships like puzzles. Assemble the pieces, enjoy the challenge, and even if there are pieces missing or damaged in some way, stand back and look at the whole picture and what you and God have made.

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:2

“Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." - Mark 10:9

Solving The Puzzle

My wife took a picture of me and our grandson.  We're trying to put a puzzle together. As I looked at her picture I thought, "Aren't we all trying to do the same thing in life?"

Here's how my grandson and I do a puzzle. First we find all the border pieces and corner pieces. We put those together first. Then we look at the picture on the box. Well, we should. We don't. We just try stuff.

It would probably be easier if we looked at the box. It shows what our puzzle should look like when it's done. That would be way too easy though.

It was fun watching our grandson figure out which puzzle piece goes where. Last year, he'd just try joining one piece with another. If they didn't fit he would get frustrated and pound the puzzle pieces, even though they didn't match.

This year though he began to look for the correct piece. "Where's the piece with the star on it Grandpa? I don't see it. OH! Here it is!" And he'd pick it up and drop it right into place. Smart kid.

Our lives are like puzzles. We try fitting different pieces together. Work, family, relationships. When they don't fit we pound on them, trying to make them fit and conform to OUR will. When they don't, we get mad and give up on them.

What we need to do is look at the key to the puzzle - the picture on the box. For us humans the key to the puzzle of life is the Bible. The Bible tells us how the puzzle pieces of relationships and life should fit together to create the amazing finished image that God desires - the image of our God. You and me.

"This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one." - Ephesians 5:32

Are you have trouble putting the pieces of life's puzzle together? Talk to the puzzle master. And if our grandson is not available, talk to God. He is the one who created all of the pieces in the first place.

Mystery - Selah