We ordered a jigsaw puzzle to work over Christmas, especially since Melody and family were going to be with us for over two weeks. Mark made significant progress on December 22, Melody worked it off and on until she left on January 2, and June and I finished it on January 16. Did I say that the puzzle was a bit harder than we thought it would be?

If you study the picture, you’ll notice a lot of oddly shaped pieces, curving rows, and difficult color patterns. For example, does this part of a tree go in the upper left or upper right of the picture?

Here are some lessons learned:

• Perseverance: all puzzles require starting by faith, putting in one piece at a time and persisting until the finish. With this one, I had to make a decision after everyone left whether or not to finish it (it was less than half done). I remembered a story told by a Navigator decades ago. A former Marine, Bob said he had committed to a project with his son: I think it was building a model ship. Bob said the project proved to be way harder than he had thought and would take significantly more time to finish than he had allotted. The solution? “I had committed to finishing the project, and so I finished.” I thought it would be worth it to Melody, especially, now back in China, to finish. So we did!
• Attention to detail: as I said, the pieces were oddly shaped, and it turned out at least two pairs of pieces were nearly identical. So much so that they were interchangeable. I was looking for a particular piece, and the only one I had of that size and shape wasn’t right. Finally, I found the missing piece…already in the puzzle! In the picture below, I was looking for the top piece with the bottom piece in my hand. The top piece was hiding on the other side of the puzzle from where I had a hole. See it? I didn’t discover another mismatched pair until after the puzzle was completed.

• Proper placement: there’s another lesson there besides attention to detail. Something in the wrong place throws everything off. God gives us many gifts, but if we get the order of things mixed up, tragedy follows. For example, we can’t live long in this country without money, but when acquiring money becomes the goal rather than the means, we’re in trouble.
• Pattern: having the box with the puzzle’s picture on it is indispensable. We build according to the pattern. When we teach disciple-making in a church, we talk about “Profile of a Disciple.” What does Jesus say a disciple looks like? How can we get there from here? I will share Jesus’ definition of a disciple from the Gospel of John in a subsequent blog.

We haven’t put the puzzle back in the box yet. There’s a place for it in the den, and I think I’ll leave it on display for a while. After all, it taught some valuable lessons!

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like…a willingness to stick with things…we find ourselves involved in loyal commitments… (Galatians 5.22, MSG)

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6.9, 10, ESV)

Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8.5, NIV)

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. Philippians 4.9, NIV)