Puzzles and Life

Forrest Gump famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” And he was right. We don’t know the future. We simply take things as they come our way.

I would also say that life is sometimes like a puzzle. My wife is really into putting puzzles together. Two Christmases ago I gave her a puzzle table that is currently set up in our upstairs room with a partially assembled 1000-piece puzzle. How she has the patience for that is beyond me.

I know how she goes about the process. First you find all of the edge pieces, and you build the border. Then you fill in the middle. To seek to do a puzzle any other way would probably lead to frustration and failure.

Sometimes life feels like putting together a puzzle from the middle out. That is especially true if you are not seeking to follow the Lord. His Word, His commands, His direction, is the border around life. Once that is intact we are better able to fill in the rest of the pieces. But if that border is missing, life can get off the rails quickly.

So many people are convinced that following the Lord is a chore. They believe that He wants to take away our fun. He wants to make us subservient and remove joy from our lives. But in Psalm 119:35 we read, “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.” The psalmist claims to “delight” in obeying the Lord.

I’ve heard it said that the center of God’s will is the safest place to be. I’m not sure that is correct. It is not always safe to obey the Lord. But I am sure of this. The center of God’s will is the best place to be. I pray that you will find that place, and that you will delight in obeying the Lord, no matter where He leads.