My 6,000-piece school of life
One of our early YWAM mentors, Alan Williams, frequently reminded us that if your output exceeds your input, your upkeep will be your downfall. So, taking this advice to heart, I decided to give my brain a break this Christmas and go on a mental retreat. Researching and reporting on global news can sometimes be overwhelming. The plight of the uprooted, wars and rumours of war, pandemics, famines and global catastrophes – can all take its toll if not viewed through the lenses of Him who holds eternity in His hands.
So, before jumping heads and heels into 2023, I decided to build a puzzle- one of my holiday hobbies. But not just any old puzzle – a whopping 6,000-piece, patience tester, perseverance builder, and virtue expander puzzle
Yesterday I completed the puzzle. But I achieved much more than just fitting pieces together. I feel like I fitted pieces of my life together as well. Every time I build a puzzle, I realize how many life-lessons are to be learned from patiently putting piece after piece together. Sometimes I feel I can learn more from life by building a puzzle than by attending a Bible school – just from a practical point of view. Here are some of the lessons I re-learned:
- THE PICTURE
The most important component of any puzzle is the picture. Without a picture, it will be impossible to place pieces correctly and systematically. Always keep the puzzle picture close to hand. Check, double check and, if need be, check again if the pieces still align with the picture on the box.
In life, there can be no purpose nor any meaningful existence without a clear and concise visual redemptive picture. Proverbs 29:18 says (KJV) Where there is no vision, the people perish. We always need to keep this picture close to our hearts and continuously align our actions with the Christ portrayed in scripture and ensure that we are still on track in completing what we started out to do. Am I still the believer that is displayed in the picture set before me? Virtues, such as kindness, love, reconciliation, forgiveness, and many more need to create the 6,000-piece puzzle picture of our lives.
- ENJOYMENT
Equally important in building a puzzle is the enjoyment of doing it. The enjoyment is not only found in the completion but in the building. Even in the times of feeling like giving up, there should still be a sense of excitement in the knowledge that the pieces will eventually fit together and that there is one last placement that will reveal the picture on the box and complete the image.
In life our ultimate joy is not only found in looking forward to eternity but in finding purpose in every day, making the most of every opportunity, and putting the pieces of our lives together in a meaningful way. We build with the expectation that there will be one final piece that will see the picture completed. Paul understood this principle when he encouraged the Church in Philippi with the words (Philippians 1:21) For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- STARTING
You always start a puzzle by building the border first. This is the obvious departure point for any puzzle builder but sometimes we are so distracted by the beautiful picture that we start with different components that leads to rabbit trails.
In life, we sometimes want to put the last piece in first without an initial establishment of boundaries and parameters. We get so obsessed with eternity that we neglect to first establish the borders of faith that will contain a life that reflects the eternity we so look forward to. This border, that contains the full Christian life and every piece we add, is called LOVE: Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
- A MEMORY EXERCISE
Building a Puzzle is a memory exercise. If we understand this principle, the whole experience changes. It’s not about finding the right pieces for the right spaces at the right time, it’s about remembering what you observed in the past so that when the right piece appears you know exactly where it should fit.
In life, the ability to remember the past helps us to build the future. We need to remember our experiences – the expedient ones, the beneficial ones and the bad ones. This will help us in the future to respond with confidence in our quest to obtain the bigger picture. This requires attention, intention, and patience. Paul applied this principle when he encouraged the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:2) to remember him in everything and for holding to the traditions just as he passed them on to them.
- KEEP ON KEEPING ON
The more you build the less you have to build. This sounds obvious but the reality is that the more pieces you put together, the easier it is to find pieces that still need to fit. Close to the end, every piece that still needs a place to fit seems to appear quicker and easier.
In life, the older you get the easier it becomes to identify those non-negotiable virtues that are important in becoming like Christ. Truth, beauty, and goodness suddenly become far more important than conspiracies, judgments and suspicions.
- UNIQUENESS
Do not force a piece where it doesn’t fit. Every piece is uniquely shaped and coloured for one specific space. Forcing it will not only mess up the piece but spoil the picture.
In life, it is key to acknowledge that each person is uniquely gifted, individually created, and a personal image bearer of God. We cannot afford to force people into a space we would like them to be in. It will destroy their uniqueness as well as their function within the body of Christ
Romans 12:4-6 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
- LIGHT
Always make sure you have good natural light. Building a puzzle requires that shapes, sizes, colours, and themes can be identified clearly and discerned well. Failing to secure natural light will obscure pieces and result in wrong placements and bad decisions
In life the true light of Christ can be our only guiding compass. Not the teachings of men (artificial light) but the life and teaching of the source of light – Christ himself.
2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- PERSEVERANCE
Hang in there, the missing puzzle pieces are in the box somewhere. You just have to find it.
In life, when you hit a dead end, keep your eyes on the bigger picture. The one missing piece to complete your picture is in there somewhere, even if you can’t find it, see it or identify it. It’s in the box. The magic appears when you persevere. Keep on keeping on and it will soon appear.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- FELLOWSHIP
Allow other people to build with you. Doing a puzzle alone might create a great sense of achievement but building with someone else builds a sense of enjoyment
In life, a sadness shared is half a sadness and a joy shared is a double joy. Don’t do life alone. Yes, people will disappoint you and you will disappoint people, but when the final picture is revealed the joy will be found in the mutual awe and not the individual achievement.
1 Corinthians 12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.
- INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS
Take time to step away. Part of building a puzzle is taking a break now and then to help you refocus. If you stare at the same pieces for too long, you can lose the ability to see what is right before you.
In life, one of the great enemies of seeing the bigger picture is inattentional blindness- being so focused on one thing that you lose the ability to identify what is right next to it. When we get too obsessed with conspiracies, politics, and plots we become blind to the image of God in people and how He wants ALL to be saved: 1 Timothy 2:3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
- ASSEMBLING
Remember, you are not creating the final product, you are simply assembling what has already been created and entrusted to you.
In life, we sometimes act as if we are the saviour of souls. We feel the destiny (the picture) of others is in our hands and faith becomes a burden. Remember, the picture is on the box – victory was achieved on the cross – we just assemble the picture by revealing the pieces of redemption. The burden of souls is revealed in the joy we have to complete the picture.
- EQUAL VALUE
Even though some pieces are easier to build, not one piece is more important than the other.
In life, it is the moments that make our pictures complete not the successes or the failures
- Look what you are looking at.
Sometimes what you are looking for is right in front of you, but you cannot see it because you are looking for something else.
In life, we often miss opportunities because we are seeking something else. We might feel that we have a calling to reach the unreached in other nations but miss the opportunities set before us in our own community while we wait. Do today with what God has given you where you are
Ephesians 5:16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
- BUILDING
Rome wasn’t built in a day. The joy of puzzle building is not completing the project but building the puzzle. Enjoy the challenge, but most of all enjoy every small step of seeing the picture unfolding. When you hit a roadblock and fail to fit any pieces, don’t walk away from the puzzle, your eyes will soon identify colours and shapes that will benefit you in the future.
In life it is important to remember that Christ came to give us life and to have it in full. We were not created to finish life but to live life. Enjoy the process and write down the words of Christ as you build your puzzle of life: John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
- MISSING PIECES
The last lesson comes from a friend, Marie van Nierop, who also built a puzzle this holiday but ended up with two missing pieces. This was her comment:
In life, those pieces are the things one has neglected to do… and now will never have the opportunity to do again.