"... because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you ...” Isaiah 43
Life is complicated.
I bought my wife a 344 piece puzzle for Christmas. Unlike standard puzzles, it is mostly a circle, with bits and pieces that burst through the edges here and there. Beyond being circular when complete, the pieces themselves are cut into more intricate curves and curls, jagged teeth and curlicues. If that isn’t enough, the picture is a complex mix of shapes and colors with an owl at its heart. And if THAT wasn’t enough, the puzzle bits are quite small, most of which do not interlock with their counterparts and companions. If you try moving any of them across the table, they come apart and need to be put back together when they’ve reached their destination.
When people look at the “344 pieces,” they laugh. “Child’s Play,” they declare, and maybe it is. My ego isn’t so fragile that the thought that it may take us more time to put this together than Yogi Bear would offend me (for we know Yogi is smarter than your average bear).
The puzzle begins
Still, it is taking time to figure it out, and time is one thing we have in abundance; I have no desire to finish it all in one sitting. My back and my rump can’t handle that sort of commitment anyway.
It is true that standard puzzles go together quickly, but what’s “standard” doesn’t interest me. The delight is in finding solutions, connections, and those occasional “ah ha” moments when the piece you’ve been looking for is found, and fits! The joy, as is often said, is to be experienced in the journey, not in the destination (although it WILL be nice to get it put together eventually).
Puzzles are complicated. So is life. Puzzles used to come in boxes without a picture. One might never know what they were assembling beyond a vague description (scenery, farmhouse, waterfowl, etc.); they wouldn’t know what it would be until it was completed; their enlightenment was deliberately incorporated into the process of the assembly!
It's coming together
Some people want to know what’s happening in advance of what’s happening, but life’s not like that. It unfolds slowly (most of the time) and nothing is revealed until it is revealed. We can make plans, but there is no guarantee our plans will survive their engagement with reality.
For example, we were having our HVAC system inspected for winter and in the process of seeing that all was well, the inspector noted the hot water tank was rusting out and had developed a small leak. I called around and discovered the cost of a replacement was about quadruple what I’d estimated it should cost to replace.
The cold water of reality put me into truly hot water financially, but what can you do? When life hands you lemons, you say “Tanks,” and hire a plumber. It takes what it takes, not what I want it to take.
In the Bible, God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” What God says to the community, God says to you and me and everyone else: “Don’t be afraid; if you find yourself in hot water, fear not. My son’s a carpenter, a plumber, and an all-around decent fixer-upper. He knows a thing or two about jigs, jigsaws, and jigsaw puzzles.” I’ll bet he knows a thing or two about hot water tanks, too!
Life is complicated, but God sees the whole picture. God IS the whole picture, and God has a special place for each of us and, in fact, even God feels incomplete until we’ve been pressed right down to where we belong.
Miraculously, it is right there; don’t you see it? Those curlicues of life we find so confusing help secure us into the living, beating heart of God. There’s no slipping up or sliding out of place in God’s heart, ever!
And if we slip? Easy peasy – God puts us right back where we belong. So we can enjoy (hot) showers of blessings, for God has figured us out from way back when. So let’s not fret here; let’s enjoy the process of assembly right here in this, our valley. God knows which outie fits each innie of this, our puzzling life.
Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)
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