Lessons Learned from a Puzzle

Heather decided that I needed a challenge this Christmas so gave me a 2000 piece puzzle as a gift! I love puzzles....but 2000 pieces? I didn't even know they made them that big!! Needless to say it was a bit of a challenge, even just to find all the edge pieces and put them together. As I worked  on it after Christmas I realized that putting a puzzle together is a lot like life and there are definitely lessons to be learned!

1. You need to know what the big picture is  going to look like! Without that you have no idea where anything fits! But once you have that figured out, then things like pelicans and gazebos can take shape. Just like in our lives, perspective is so important. Some days I forget that and get so bothered about little things that really aren't important! But when I remember that this is not my home and I am only here for a little while, well that's what I need to remember!

2. Perspective is the next thing that is important. When I first started putting this brick gate together I didn't leave enough room in the middle. No wonder the pieces didn't seem to fit. But when I figured that out, all of sudden it fit together with other smaller areas that I had been working on.

In the same way in our lives we needed to have the right perspective about people and situations. Do I focus on the fact that it just isn't working no matter how hard I try? Or do I look for the positive, give thanks and concentrate on those things that I can be thankful for. I still look for three things every day that I write down in my journal and it sure does help me to have the right perspective.

3. You can't do a puzzle without 'persistence' or you won't get it finished! Believe me working on a 2000 piece puzzle took a lot of persistence, especially when it came to finishing the sky and the water. So often in life we are tempted to quit when things get hard, but in the same way, we need to keep at it, work at it, and not give up.

4. Patience is much needed as well, especially when you have hundreds of sky pieces that all look the same until you put them under the light and figure out the shading. Life is like that too isn't it? We live in an instant society so we want results and we want them quick. But life isn't always like that and the most important things in life, like relationships, take a lot of patience.

5. Every thing goes better if you have a partner and don't have to do it alone. After Christmas we had a delightful visitor from Japan, and she loved working on the puzzle with me. What a gift she was!

The last night before she flew home we both worked on the final pieces of sky and celebrated when the last piece fit in!! What fun it was to realize that we had done it!

I am so thankful for the amazing partner that God has given me! I am so blessed that we have gone through life together.

I haven't put the puzzle away yet....still deciding whether or not to frame it because I do like the picture! And it has taught me a lot of lessons so it's a great visual reminder of all of these!