Many people grumble that January is a depressing month. The Christmas decorations have been packed away, the tree taken down, the Christmas cake has eventually been finished and the days are still dark and cold.
In my family, January sees the start of another round of birthdays and the inevitable question, “what do you want for your birthday?” to which the reply is often, “I have no idea.”
One of the stand by gifts – providing the recipient enjoys completing them is a jigsaw puzzle.
I am one of those people who enjoy jigsaw puzzles!
How do you complete a jigsaw puzzle?
My routine is – find all the edge pieces first, (after commandeering a suitable surface on which to make said jigsaw).
Having completed the edge, then after examination of the picture on the jigsaw box, I try and separate out pieces of similar colour, or design that would appear related to each other.
If I manage to get different sections of the puzzle completed I then might separate the remaining pieces into groups of similar shapes – often skies or large expanses of water.
Depending on how many pieces are in the puzzle or how detailed or not the picture is, I might just spend a few minutes each day trying to fit pieces, or get totally absorbed in it for hours.
Sometimes our faith can seem like a jigsaw.
Do we find it easy to start with the basics?
Is our faith resting on a stable surface or are we likely to drop pieces along the way?
How do we make sense of the confusing or complicated bits? Does it help to take an overview, to refer to the “picture on the box” – the bible.
Do we take it in small chunks and come back to it, or sometimes find something that speaks to us and really get absorbed in it?
Whatever way you find most helpful I pray that you will enjoy the process of finding the right pieces and joining them together to make the beautiful picture of faith complete.