A couple of weeks ago I shared a post about our family Christmas season tradition of putting puzzles together. As the season comes to an end, I realize that I have had way too much time to think about puzzles as I finish the last puzzle of the season. Gray. Way too much gray. I’m getting gray looking at all of the gray pieces. Well… enough of the puzzle and on to sharing my thoughts about puzzles… again.
It’s that time of year, again, when we start looking at the new year ahead and thinking about what we want to accomplish. Setting goals helps to keep us on track. But there is more to setting goals than just writing them down.
I will openly confess that I am a little odd… especially when it comes to puzzles. My family gets the puzzle out and puts the box off to the side. I don’t like to look at the picture. I like to try to figure out what the picture is as I go. My family knows what it is and they use the picture as a guide when I am not around, but I don’t look at the picture. It increases the challenge and stretches my imagination and ability to see things that aren’t there.
Looking at the picture makes life easier. When you know what the picture is supposed to look like, it is easier to fit the pieces together. When we take the time to figure out what we want our life to look like it is easier to have a clear picture of our goals. Think through and pray about your goals for the year. Write them down and keep them in front of you. If possible, find pictures of those goals and put them on the fridge, bathroom mirror, television screen, or some place you will see them often. This will help you visualize your goals.
It is sometimes easy to set vague, unclear goals. Those are very hard to reach. The clearer the picture, the easier it is to find the right pieces. Setting goals for things we want to accomplish is a good start, but think about setting some goals for who you want to become. These are a little harder, but work on defining a clear picture of the person you want to be… or rather the person God is calling you to be.
This year, add some regular Bible reading and study to stay focused on the true image of who we need to be. Proverbs is a good place to start. One chapter of Proverbs every day. A short read and packed with character building wisdom.
I’d love to hear some of your goals for the year and maybe some puzzle assembly tips. Comment below. Thanks!
I am one of those who likes to look at the picture. My puzzle goal is simple—- put all the pieces together in their proper place, in order to view the bigger version of the picture. I have been trained in my life’s experience to use everything available to get the job done when I can. So I use the picture on the box.
In my life, at an early age( thanks to my parents) I had at least a vague idea that the goal of my life, was to put all the daily pieces together, in the order that God intended, so that I could see the bigger picture (God’s view of what He intends for His creation). As in assembling a picture puzzle, I have tried a lot of pieces that didn’t work. I was trying to put the pieces together according to my own idea of what life should look like… the result was … well, let’s just say ‘confusing, at the very least. Sometimes it takes awhile to understand, so I look for hints (the picture) to get a better idea of what we’re looking for. For me, God,s word, the Bible , is the small picture. As I work toward completion of my life, it is absolutely essential that I look at, and study, the picture God painted of what He wants me to look like. The Bible shows it.
My problem is that I tend to try putting the puzzle together according to my ideas of what I think it should look like…so far I have made about 24471 (days of my life so far) attempts to get the picture to look right. It’s still not done. I’m not sure how many attempts I’m going to get to make, but I’m going to keep looking at the picture… and when I finally run out time, Father will use the blood of Jesus to finish the job, and make me look like He wants me to.
Don’t take this analogy too far. When we talk about “jigsaw” puzzles, there nothing wrong with enjoying the increased challenge of assembling it without looking at the picture. But in life, it is definitely the wrong approach. We MUST look at the picture for guidance.
My $.02. 😊
I have an app on my iPad called Magic Puzzles. Among the many choices for jigsaw puzzles is a daily puzzle for a particular month. These puzzles do not come with a picture, so you can do just as you have described, putting it together and discovering what the picture is as you do.