Puzzlement

It started with a reference to MY puzzle pieces. 
The ones I carry around in a plastic bag.

And my never ending arranging ... and re-arranging ... in the hopes of finding ways for them all to fit together.  Creating a perfect picture ... or picture perfect ... life.

Trouble is ... all of my puzzle pieces are random.  Discovered on the floor ... under a pillow ... in the bottom of a bag ... lost & alone ... missing from assorted original boxes.

That's how it came to pass ... on a Sunday afternoon ... that we were a-puzzling.

I shared the story of Jessi's amazing ability to put together large, complicated puzzles.  How she could arrange the pieces to form the pictures ... before she could ever talk to us.
She's a puzzle savant. 

"Bring on a puzzle ... with a whole lot of pieces ... and let me show you how fast I can put it together!" With those words boldly spoken ... he threw the gauntlet down ... and the game was on.

The selection was made from a variety of scenes.  It was a good one. 
And all of the pieces were in the box!

It was interesting to see how differently we approached the art of puzzling.

He studied the picture on the box.  Arranging the pieces in assorted areas ... by color and location in the picture.  And by ferreting out the straight edges.

Not wanting to hinder his progress, I decided to toy with the border pieces ... leaving him to his sorting & arranging. That would not have been my normal way of starting. 

Thinking outside of the box ... added a delightful dimension to the challenge at hand.

Once most of the border was pieced together I decided to tackle the "structure" closest to me. 
The Corolla lighthouse, it was ... and once it began to emerge on the tabletop ... it became MY "structure".  Right away it was established that the number of completed "structures" was one
score keeping measure.

It was a competition, after all.


My puzzling strategy involves colors, shapes & textures.  Once the pieces are on the table, I rarely look at the box again.  Gathering pieces that seem to belong together, I begin to discover the picture as it emerges ... from making the connections. 

Typically, I am a little scattered ... bouncing from one area to another ... drawn by the allure of one piece here ... a different piece there.

We were spending Sunday afternoon ... surrounded by several hundred puzzle pieces.  He in his methodical visual way ... and me operating from an intuitive tactile vantage point ... testing our ability to put something together ...

Together.

Watching him was fascinating to me.  He would pick up a piece ... examine it closely.  Than he would hold up the box lid ... placing the cut-out next to the picture ... moving it from place to place ... as if his artist's eye could identify each individual shape in it's exact spot ...that way.

Then he would place it on the table saying confidently, "There.  It goes right there."  
And most of the time, it did. 

Go. Right. There.

"You know, what God has planned for each of us is far more amazing than anything we could imagine on our own."

That's what I said to him sometime or other during the course of the afternoon. It was a distraction ... diverting his focus from the task at hand. 

I am known for that. Interrupting. Distracting. Pushing the envelope. Asking the hard questions.


Random, it was ... what I offered up.  It's the only explanation I have for believing the mismatched puzzle pieces ... that I carry around in that plastic bag ... are designed to somehow fit together ... creating a perfect picture ... of my life ... complete with all that God has planned for me.

The desire of my heart. That's what God wants me to have. I know for sure because He promised.

If I only knew what that looks like ... the desire of my heart.  Makes me wish I was a box-lid kinda gal at times ... but then again, it would spoil the surprise ... and God knows ... I love surprises!

He wired me that way.

As the afternoon progressed ... I completed the most "structures" ... while he concentrated on sections that made up the background & details ... the subtle things that make the picture complete. 

It was satisfying ... and special ... when the work he had done ... so easily fit ... with the work I had done. I mused once again ...

"Instead of always grousing at God for not giving us what it is we think we want, maybe we should ask God to give us the things He wants us to have."

He said he'd never heard anyone put it quite like that before. 

www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com

(c) July 2013