Last week, we covered three lessons we can learn from fixing puzzles: celebrating the small victories, navigating surprises, and having patience. Today, I’ll be sharing two more lessons we can learn from fixing puzzles.
1. Trial and Error
Just like in life, fixing a puzzle requires a bit of trial and error, especially if you’re working on a difficult puzzle or one you’ve never fixed before.
My mom and I recently fixed a 1,000-piece puzzle together. (Although, in full transparency, my mom fixed most of it!) To say it was difficult would be an understatement! It was a scene of kids sledding down a hill in the winter. Fixing the children was the easy part since they all had different-coloured snowsuits. It was all the snow that surrounded them, as well as the dense forest behind them that felt seemingly impossible.
Making mistakes in life is nothing to be ashamed of as long as you learn from them so you don’t repeat them. It may be frustrating to try multiple ways or directions and still not be any closer to a resolution than when you started. But as Thomas Edison wisely said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”
With God’s help, our mistakes don’t have to define us or be our final destination. We can choose to keep on trying because God’s grace is always sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).
We can choose to keep striving towards what God has in store for us rather than dwelling on what didn’t work out.
Will you keep striving forward?
2. All Things Work Together for Good
Have you ever fixed a puzzle in which the pieces were just… weird? The ones that bend and turn in multiple direction and are all different sizes? It seems hard to believe that all those unwieldy pieces fit seamlessly together to form a picture.
Our lives are often exactly like that. Those seasons that don’t make sense, that difficulty you never expected to walk through, that plan or opportunity that would’ve changed your life had it not fallen through – those are the weird pieces. Just by themselves, they don’t seem to fit anywhere or contribute anything valuable to the grand picture. They don’t even look like they belong to the same puzzle.
But, eventually, along come those other pieces that surround it and give it a place. Piece by piece, you start to see the picture taking form. You begin to understand why that one piece is shaped that way.
You realize why God let that difficulty take place or that person walk away. You understand how that circumstance you hated was actually the hand of God protecting you from far worse. Hindsight allows you to see how each puzzle piece needed the other.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
God is working everything in your life together for your good. You may not see it yet, but I promise it will be worth it in the end if you trust Him.
Conclusion
Trial and error are natural parts of both life and fixing puzzles. With God’s grace, we don’t have to let our mistakes finish us. We can choose to keep trying while asking God for strength.
Lastly, don’t worry about that one weird puzzle piece or that difficulty in your life. We serve an all-knowing and incredible God Who loves us. He will work all things together for our good.
Let’s trust Him together.
-Olivia
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