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Excuse the proud grandmother anecdote, but I think there is a message in it. Ben and I live next door to Zak and Julianne, and because we are so close, we can help out whenever the busyness of life makes a glitch in their schedule. And I do know how great it is that all 5 of our grandchildren live within 15 minutes of our home. We don’t take it for granted. Tuesday there was just such a glitch, and so 6-year-old Calvin came over for a bit. Calvin likes doing puzzles and has been really good at them from the time he was a toddler.
Anyway, I asked Calvin if he would like to do a puzzle with me. (I am a grandma that prefers quiet games.) He said “Yes, I want to do a 1000 piece puzzle.” What? No way is a six-year-old able to do a puzzle of that size, so I began to try to distract him with all the smaller puzzles we have in the closet. 50 pieces. Even 100 pieces seems doable, knowing his skills. But he insisted. Being a puzzle person myself, I just happened to have a brand new 1000-piece puzzle of colorful butterflies that I very reluctantly opened. Past experience with grandchildren, cats, and dogs made me think that this may be a big mistake.
Calvin said we should begin by finding all the straight pieces. Off to a good start. And for the next 90 minutes we worked on the puzzle, almost completing the frame. Here is the message for me that I thought I would share with you. Too often my default position in life is to think about all the things that could go wrong. The messes that might be made. The pieces that might be lost. But, what if God is merely offering me an opportunity to experience something new and wonderful like 90 minutes of quiet with a precious person?
Hmmm…If you need me this weekend I’ll be working on a puzzle.
See you Sunday,
Lori
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