When I was growing up, I loved putting together jigsaw puzzles with my mom. We'd dump the 500, 750, or 1000 pieces out on a card table and spend hours sorting, grouping, and connecting. The picture on the front of the box was always an important aspect of the process--a resource we could look to in order to make sense of the Monet-like mess on each individual piece. One time, though, we put together a "mystery" puzzle--the idea being that we didn't know what the picture was going to look like and only had some clues related to what it might be. It was a pretty difficult puzzle, and all I can remember is that I quickly got frustrated and left it to my mom to complete.
Lately, I've been thinking about how living life is like putting together a series of jigsaw puzzles--each with its own image that somehow fits successively into a greater whole. The big trick, however, is that we seldom have a reference picture to help us see what we're presently doing; life is a mystery puzzle. We're lucky enough to have "clues" in the form of scripture, revelation, and wise friends/family, but the actual picture of our own life is remarkably lacking. However, rather than allowing ourselves to get frustrated when we can't see exactly what the end product might be, we have to be patient and continue sorting, grouping, and connecting. Because after weeks, months, and sometimes years of sorting and trying to make sense of cardboard piles of sky, forest, or sand--things start sliding together rapidly. Once two or three pieces fit together, it's easier to see what you're looking at, and sometimes, things start fitting together so well and so quickly that it seems strange that you didn't see the patterns before.
I know this, because I feel like I've completed a few puzzles in my life already--and looking back at the revealed pictures makes me wonder where in-the-moment frustration came from. It's what I'm holding to right now while I stare at a few jumbled piles...and as I marvel at how some of the pieces are starting to fall together almost without my trying to connect them. I guess this mystery puzzle is just bigger and more beautiful than I expected.
