The Puzzle of Today
“We may make our plans, but God has the last word.”
Proverbs 16:1, Good News Translation
This was the verse that stayed with me when I lived in Australia and was praying about what mission trips I was going to take traveling along the Queensland coast and then to different regions in south-eastern Asia.
We may make our plans, however, God has the last word. The final word. While we build up our ideas, however, God’s reality (and what the future will actually hold) are very different things.
I enjoy assembling a good jigsaw puzzle (especially one that depicts dogs). Recently I upped my jigsaw game: after opening the box and looking for the “edge” pieces, I do not allow myself to look at the lid again until it has been completed. I have stopped referring to the picture on the lid.
This has changed my puzzle technique and my approach!
Now, I assemble the puzzle without knowing what the final picture will look like. Yes, I might know it’s a Parisian scene or a dog park or something else, and I have an idea of where elements may be, but I have no specific idea about where the little details on each piece fit in (and to be honest, even what I recall seems to move around at times).
What I have discovered is that I must trust the process. I find elements that look similar and slowly put together an apple tree or a wooden bench or a taxicab. I might think it that a piece belongs in the bottom right of the frame, but eventually, I discover its true location. I discover that the bigger picture (quite literally) is not what I thought it was.
This change of habit reminds me of a spiritual lesson for it challenges my tendency to want to know every step and plan the minutiae. Instead, I learn the fun of the process. I do not need to know the final picture to do what needs to be done. The future will be revealed. Eventually, I will realize where the apple tree belongs.
Using the picture on the lid makes it easier, but real life does not come with a depiction of what lies ahead. Without the picture as a reference, it is a bit more like reality: in the world in which I live it is God who has the final word, not me. And I may be surprised. I can make my plans, but God has the last word.
And that frees me to play the part I need to play today. The rest is up to Him.
