1,000 pieces. At first glance, it’s a big pile of little color splotch cardboard pieces. Somehow it is to become the beautiful garden scene on the box. That is, unless I choose to give up. During my sabbatical, I learned that puzzles are both a frustrating and satisfying way to relax and unwind. Since sabbatical is to be a time when you learn more about yourself and also find new ways to refresh, I tried out puzzles. The process is simple at first. Find all the edges and string them together then find the parts of the picture that stand out and so on and so forth. Sometimes it starts out rather quickly but with others it took a bit more time. I found with everyone one of them, there usually comes a point when it looks like it won’t work or there are pieces missing. Sometimes it felt that there was no way I was going to be able to figure out all the white and blue pieces that were to become clouds and water. I don’t know how many times I even thought of giving up and that I was wasting my time. That feeling of disbelief that the pieces are correct or that the puzzle could be completed creeps in. However, stubbornness in me pops up and keeps pushing on, trying one piece after another and eventually, somehow, pieces start connecting and a breaking point happens when it all starts coming together and the picture is complete!
Now, I find puzzles to be soothing and a great strategy for longevity. Now I see 1,000 little problems that I can solve. The same strategies of puzzling can be applied to life and ministry. It all looks daunting, but if you take it one step at a time, trying different ways, taking breaks, looking at different perspectives, and trying again and again, at some point you get in a groove and it all starts coming together to find a beautiful picture at the end. James 1:3-4 speaks of the testing of faith to produce endurance and how endurance completed gives us maturity, completion and nothing lacking. It is the trials and failures that we go through that build our problem-solving skills, our perspective, and endurance. Just take it one issue at a time, one problem, one part. Piece by piece, problem by problem, each step takes us closer to the finish…the Father’s beautiful picture He made us to be.
What are other “puzzling life lessons” of longevity can you think of?
Taking a break. Sometimes I just need to step away from the puzzle (aka. life situation) and do something else. Rest. Clear my head and what I look at. Then, when I go back to it, I usually see things from a different perspective and with “fresh eyes”.