A time of being puzzled

The end product is beautiful! A sense of accomplishment engulfs you and you want to show everyone what a masterpiece you have created! But if you rewind just a few chapters back, what do you see? On the table is just a pile of pieces, none of which is interlocking, none of it showing any spectacular picture at all… In fact if you did not know they belonged together and are meant to form a beautiful picture, you might have disgarded those right away! A heap of cardboard, ready for recycling.

In these difficult times, a simple puzzle taught me a few valuable life lessons and unconsciously and unintentionally, prepared me for what was to come.

It has been 10 years since the last time my husband and I built a puzzle of 1000 pieces. That in its own says something of how time has flown by and how little time we as a couple have nowadays to do such things as this was B.C. (before children)! But when this puzzle of 500 pieces caught my eye in the back of the cupboard, at the beginning of lock-down, I thought it will be a good family activity to revisit.

We started enthusiastically, but little did I know, that this would become “my puzzle” and that this puzzle building was a lesson in life for me and maybe others too. It is no wonder the saying goes “getting all the pieces of the puzzle”, it is such a valuable principle to hold onto.

So what was the big deal with puzzle building? To start off with: Don’t be overwhelmed when faced with something that seems too big to handle. When you look at the picture and a massive pile of pieces, you can’t help but wonder, “Am I EVER going to get this right and successfully complete this?” And to be honest, it was not just at the beginning, but often during the process that those sceptical thoughts crossed my mind. But keeping my mind’s eye on the final product, I persevered!

The next thing I learned was: You must have some form of strategy; even if the strategy changes over time. This gives you an immense sense of control (even if it might be a false one at times). Sorting the pieces into going on the perifiry and those used to build the inside, then sorting the pieces according to matching colours and even later the same-shaped pieces… There was still NO picture, but I felt more in control, more inspired and more positive that I will get through this! When feeling overwhelmed, I went back to strategising and looking desperately at other clues, other possible solutions, ANYTHING to keep my hope alive and keeping me from throwing in the towel! And that kept me going.

Lesson no.3: You can’t always rely on others. In the beginning there were lots of volunteers to help, eager little (and big) hands wanting to help build this lovely puzzle… but in the end, I was all alone, having to finish this off without any help. I needed to do all the work myself, having to find it within myself to push through, despite it being hard, time-consuming and lonely! I am definitely a team player, but in some sports, it is all up to you and you alone. YOUR determination, YOUR courage, YOUR positive attitude and no-one can do THAT work on your behalf, only you, yourself. And you will reap the fruits of the work you have put in… physically, but definitely also mentally!

Then there was the lesson of one piece at a time…. Despite my best strategies and plans, there were times when literally NOTHING wanted to work out, piece after piece I tried, but to no avail! But then, one piece at a time, revealed what the next piece should be and stringed together, they slowly but surely also covered the empty spaces, filled the gaps. This torturing slow process was definitely not as I planned or as quick as I would have liked it to be. But by eating the “elephant” in bite sizes, got me through those difficult parts where all the pieces had the same colour and I had no idea which goes where!

No. 5: Making mistakes is part of the success! That seems like an oxymoron, but it is so true!! With every piece that DID NOT fit, I was closer to finding the one that DID fit. And if I knew where it did not fit, I could also try it in another similar space where it just might fit. No wonder Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

And then last, but definitely not least: we don’t always see the bigger picture, but Someone does. If I did not have the picture on the box, I would have been completely lost and would probably never have finished it. But luckily I could constantly go back to the picture, being reminded of what I am working towards, even if what I saw in front of me, was just a pile of coloured cardboard pieces. God knows where He is heading with “my picture”. I just need to trust Him to guide me in the right direction because He sees the end product while I only see the mess in front of me right NOW. Keeping faith that all these pieces WILL in the end fit together and form a beautiful, perfect, complete picture!

And as an afterthought… Get rid of that which is not helpful and don’t try to fit in where you were not meant to be. As I was building the puzzle, this one funny-looking piece kept on popping up. It kept on irritating me as it did not seem to fit anywhere and kept on distracting me, but I was too scared to throw it away. In the end, I discovered, that it was not part of my puzzle and trying to force it into my puzzle, would have been a BIG mistake. Instead, that piece, was a crucial piece to complete another precious puzzle…

So, as we are knee-deep in some of the most difficult times we probably will have to face in our lifetime, don’t forget the simple, but very valuable lessons to be learned from The Puzzle. I leave you with the picture of the puzzle as a reminder, that one day, we will all fly high in the sky again – free and fearless in our colourful, unique balloons.