I love jigsaw puzzles. For me, assembling a good 1000-piece puzzle is just enough of a challenge without inducing the feeling of frustration. I’m rather choosy about my puzzles. If I am going to spend a significant amount of time putting it together, then I want the final product to give me joy, or at least add to my knowledge base somehow. I recently put together a doozy that depicted hummingbirds of the world, and enjoyed learning about the large variety of species of these exquisite creatures that inhabit our world.
I also work on puzzles in the hopes of improving my brain function, which has suffered as a result of some health challenges I experienced a number of years ago. Despite the obligatory detractors, many brain experts agree there are benefits to doing jigsaw puzzles, such as improved short-term memory, increased spatial perception, and stress reduction.
There are limits on my love of puzzles. I am not a martyr. You will not find me tackling a 42,000-piece puzzle (as did this guy) or a completely transparent one (buy it here if you are a maniac), or even a monochromatic one. There is one called “Pure White Hell” selling for $31.80 on Amazon (free shipping!).
Evidently, I am not the only one who is doing a lot of puzzles during the pandemic. Bill and Melinda Gates are big fans, and reportedly always take one or two on their holidays. Sales of puzzles have soared during quarantine, with some retailers reporting a 370% increase this year. The most popular designs have sold out completely, and many toy companies cannot keep up with the global demand.
The appeal of jigsaw puzzles is pretty obvious. The process is simple, and the tactile nature of it is soothing. Solving puzzles can be either a solitary pursuit or a group activity. Puzzles are cheap and appeal to people of all ages. They can be easily exchanged or passed on without much devaluation, and they never get outdated. In fact, puzzles were first created in the 1700s and here we are, still enjoying them today, more than 250 years later. In a world where the latest video games are passé in a few months, there is an appeal to the timelessness of the puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles give us a chance to slow down in a world whirling around at impossible speeds.
Late last year I completed a rather unique concept in puzzles—that is, the mystery puzzle. This kind of puzzle comes without a picture. Included in the package is a simple murder mystery story, and the puzzle has to be assembled to provide the final clue to deduce “whodunit.”
I found this concept a serviceable metaphor for life. We generally have an idea what the overall theme of our lives is about, but the details have to be worked out one piece at a time. As each piece is put into place, the picture gets clearer and it becomes incrementally easier to find where the remaining pieces fit.
The typical strategy for completing a jigsaw puzzle is to do the edges first, in order to provide a structure from which to work. In the same way, the Christian disciplines can provide us with a foundation on which we can build our lives.
There is always the point while working a puzzle when it seems a piece REALLY OUGHT to go in a particular spot. It is the right color, size and shape, and yet it is just a little off. If pieces are forced into a space they don’t belong, they may be damaged. The correct configuration becomes impossible, ensuring the puzzle will never be completed properly. So often I have tried to manipulate the pieces of my life as I thought best, only to be frustrated when results were not as I expected them to be. I usually find out later that what I desired was not optimal for me or anybody else. God’s plan was better by far.
Then there are the times when the size and shape of the pieces make it seem impossible that they would fit anywhere. It may even be that these pieces are the last ones placed, because the appropriate location only becomes apparent when the image is nearly finished. The unexpected events in my life (good and bad) are like these mysterious puzzle pieces. They only make sense when viewed within the entire timeline. When the scope of my vision widens with time and experience, I gain an understanding of why they occurred, and I can begin to see the blessings generated through each situation.
There is always the suspicion at some point in the puzzle process that pieces are missing even though pains have been taken to make sure none of them stray. We all yearn for the pieces we think are missing from our lives. Perhaps we never got that dream job, traveled to that dream destination, got married or had children. We should see our responsibility in some of these actions, but at the same time know that God can configure our lives in ways that make us whole, regardless of what components we have to work with.
Oh, how we hate the unknown! Through the years, I have learned to trust God with enigmas. With each passing year I see more and more of his design. I acknowledge the picture of my life is one of His making, not my own, and I have come to understand that the result is, and will be, quite wonderful. I now relish the process of putting each piece in place rather than trying to rush to a sub-par result. Building something worthwhile takes time, effort and dedication. Each puzzle piece is an individual piece of art.
Jeremiah 29:11, though often quoted, is a verse of which I never tire:
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
The New Testament also speaks of hope in our future:
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:12-13
The pandemic has upended many of my life plans, but I know the path forward is being forged by a God who is working things out for my spiritual benefit.
Someday, all our puzzle pieces will make sense to us, although the wait for enlightenment may be long. In Christ we have a future worth looking forward to because it is filled with faith, hope and love.
Nina Kylstra. Member of the LifeWay body of Christ for 22 years. Wife of the lovable Eric Kylstra for 30 years. Life-long follower of Christ.