Solving puzzles
I’m not one to boast or be given to overstatement, but I do believe that a Nobel prize is heading my way, because - drumroll please - I, yes, I, have found the key to world peace. I share this stupendous news humbly, but with my discovery might mean that chap in North Korea will no longer be a threat, (except to hair stylists globally who quietly weep), politicians will actually agree about something.
And here’s the true glory of it: all of this will be achieved without an accelerating arms race, a summit of world leaders, or a flurry of activity from furrowed-browed diplomats.
All that is required is this: world leaders gather, not just around a conference table, an agenda, or a proposal, but simply…..
….a jigsaw puzzle.
One with at least a thousand pieces will suffice, although an epic ten thousand piece specimen featuring a single panda would be even better.
I stumbled across this momentous insight during a recent Christmas family gathering, one that brought together people who are not used to being in close proximity, which can be awkward. Maintaining interested conversation from Christmas Day to Boxing Day can be hard when everyone is not used to being together for so long. It’s not that there is animosity, but small talk can run dry, which can then lead to petty irritations surfacing. The pressure is heightened because the expectation for family gatherings (especially at Christmas, when everyone is expected to be gleeful all of the time).
Working together to build a jigsaw requires gathering, collaboration rather than competition. When the puzzle is completed, it’s not that I win, but rather we win. We pool our efforts in the pursuit of a mutual goal. You see what I don’t notice, and we are all the better for it, as yet another bit of that 652 blue sky is slotted in place. In the process of construction, sometimes painful, appreciation is shared when one person spots that tiny piece.
And if you think I’m losing my mind, consider the picture that the New Testament gives us of the church. It’s a jigsaw puzzle, says Paul. Alright, he used a slightly different metaphor - the human body, (perhaps because Hamleys wasn’t around back them), but as Paul describes the Interlocking wonder that is the human body, he calls each one of us to play our part. Armchair critics aren’t much use. Spectators aren’t in mind here only participants. In the body, we’re not uniform, but called to be united; not consumers, but sharers in a common Kingdom vision.
In our broken world, it might be our mutual temptation to wonder if this fractured, broken planet can ever be righted. And we can wonder about whether the church can really make a difference. The challenges we face seem insurmountable.
But for all our bumbling attempts, God still is, God still has a plan, and still wants us to play our parts. The puzzle might seem to have too many pieces to ever assemble, the task impossible, but we serve a God who does what can’t be done, at least in human terms.
So let’s go ahead, and take our places around His table. Pick up a piece. Do you know what? I think it belongs…….right there.