My sister and I love doing puzzles. We have 'puzzle rules' or etiquette when we work puzzles together. We sat down with a friend once to work on a puzzle, and she reached across the table to grab a piece, and you could almost hear the gasps as my sister, and I looked across the table at one another - that's not proper puzzle etiquette! I chuckle when I remember that event. We also visited a family member we hadn't seen in many years. She and her husband had a puzzle set up in their den, and we were fascinated by how they arranged their puzzle pieces. They had a system too. Little things like assembling the edge first, sorting by color, placing all the pieces on the table, or leaving them in the box to search like a treasure hunt. Everyone has their favorite method of working a puzzle.
A bit of trivia - the word puzzle, used as a noun to describe a game like we commonly use it now, is a relatively new definition. When I looked up the word puzzle in my 1828 dictionary, it wasn't even mentioned. The puzzle definitions are as follows: 1) To be bewildered, to be awkward. 2) perplexity, embarrassment. 3) To make intricate; to entangle. As Mary journeyed through her pregnancy she had to be puzzled. Bewildered, embarrassed, perplexed, how could she not be these things? Telling people she was pregnant, and by some miraculous method? Definitely puzzling.
When I work on a jigsaw puzzle, I always want to have certain things in place. I like to know that all of the pieces are present. I want an excellent picture to follow to visualize what the finished puzzle will look like. I want clear areas to work on, especially when putting together a puzzle with another person. When I ponder Christmas, it is much like a puzzle. I want a clear calendar schedule of all the traditional things I want to do. I want everything to be in place and to go as planned. There are certain areas that everyone in the family works on to make our Christmas season follow tradition, at least in my mind! I want everyone to follow the same plan I have, to feel like I feel.
I just read over that and paused; wow. Mary had none of that! She had no clear picture of what was to come. There is no way she could imagine life after she gave birth, given how her pregnancy started. She had to wonder how all the pieces of life would fit together. Bewildered and perplexed don't seem like good descriptions of what she must have felt. Yet she was obedient and trusted God.
I want to approach Advent this year as an unknown puzzle. Instead of a familiar picture, where all the pieces fit perfectly together, and I arrive on Christmas Day when the last piece is put in place, I want to approach these next weeks as a mystery. To be open to exploring new ways God may reveal Himself to me. I want to be like Mary, trusting and willing to be obedient. Sometimes I get so caught up in the familiar, the expected, that I leave no room for surprises. Working on a puzzle without a picture can be frustrating or seemingly impossible. None of us have a clear picture of what life will be, yet we can approach each day with wonder and awe. Taking one piece at a time and seeing how it all fits together, one day, we will see the beautiful picture God has planned for us.
Challenge:
- Do one thing today that is a challenge.
- Step out of your ordinary routine and ponder what God has for you.
- Ask "why," then accept the message you receive from God and see where that piece, that hard thing, fits in your life.
It may be to call someone that has come to your mind. Or dust off writing paper and pen a letter to a friend or relative. Or it could be to talk to the neighbor you have lived next to for years but never talked to. Perhaps God is asking you to do something you think is impossible!
When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, they were both pregnant, she was greeted with these words: "You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said". Luke 1:45 NLT
Prayer: Lord I want to believe you have great things for me. Open my heart and eyes with wonder to listen for Your guidance. Help me set aside my plans and expectations and move forward in obedience to follow You. Help me not be so focused on the final picture, but embrace the piece of life that You have for me today.
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