My mom likes to put challenging 1,000 piece puzzles together. She had one with old-fashioned tea cups where almost every single cup had gold rims and small blue and pink flowers. Another one was a solid picture of sprinkled and frosted doughnuts which, quite honestly, just made me hungry. Her most recent puzzle is a football stadium packed with fans (Are you kidding me?). When she dumps a box out I can’t help but think it will never come together, because it’s just a jumbled mess that doesn’t look like anything promising. And yet every time, little by little, a picture begins to form. It doesn’t happen overnight and mom has to keep working at it, but each time the final picture is simply quite amazing.
Unfortunately, sometimes life can be a complicated puzzle. It just seems like a bunch of events that produce nothing but problems and chaos. But take heart, God is working in your life right now to bring it all together. From Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” God had you on His radar for a long time. Psalm 139:16-17, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me God! They cannot be numbered!” Grab ahold of this thought-you are always on God’s mind. He’s looking at all the seemingly impossible parts of your life and He’s fitting them together to create something beautiful. So stay steadfast and keep watching, because your life is a work of art in the Master’s hands.
For my mom’s 60th birthday, I wanted to do something really special for her so I decided to sew her a quilt. There was only one small glitch in my lofty plan: I didn’t know how to sew. Luckily, I knew someone who did. The Family and Consumer Science Teacher (Home Ec to me), was an expert. She opened her classroom for sewing nights and patiently taught me each step. Quilters seem to have their own foreign language. When I heard ‘Stitch in the ditch” I thought it was a reference to where I should throw the pitiful-looking thing I was making. My early work was not impressive! Sometimes I’d look at those frayed squares and crooked stitches and doubt that it was going to develop into something worth making. The waiting for a completed project seemed endless. Yet surprisingly, little by little, something quite lovely began to take shape. And finally, the completed work became a beautiful and treasured gift.
When Lake Erie gets waves big enough to surf, look for me in the biggest one. Surfing is fast, exciting, and intense. It takes a lot of practice to become a skilled surfer. You must learn the proper technique of standing, positioning yourself on the board, and finding the right wave. There’s even a correct way to fall! The experts describe in detail how to fall, and give specific instructions about getting back up again. It’s not surprising that in surfing it is predicted that you will fall a few times, and probably many times. But mainly, I like that it’s expected you will get back up.
Last year I went through what I’ll call my personal health crisis. I had a back injury that kept me ‘surviving but not thriving.’ It’s hard to think about the times when I couldn’t drive, when sitting in a chair wasn’t an option, or when the pain was at its worst and I just cried. But here’s the thing, even in the middle of this dark time, there was light. I saw it in the faces of people who wanted to help. My mom came and cleaned my house and took me to get groceries every week. Numerous friends called, emailed, and sent cards. Some friends and family stopped by for a visit and brought dinner. A variety of people were kind enough to mow my lawn and one couple just took the job over completely. And for them it wasn’t just mowing: Tom cleaned out my gutters (that doesn’t even get done when I’m healthy!), and Marilyn did numerous things around the house to make my life easier. I will be forever grateful for having such loving and caring people in my life.