Puzzles: Figured Out One Piece at a Time

 

Puzzles: Figured out one piece at a time

Puzzle, according to Webster’s dictionary can be a verb (V) or a noun (N). Puzzle as a verb is to “cause someone to feel confused because they are trying to make sense of something”. It can also mean “to think deeply about something difficult to explain.” Puzzle as a noun is “a game or toy designed to test ingenuity or knowledge”.  Puzzle, puzzling, puzzled & puzzles are all alive and well here at the CDN!! I realized I’ve been walking around with a puzzled look on my face a lot since I arrived. I’m usually deep in thought about some puzzling concept about scripture, prayer, community or religious life which I’m trying to understand. Like a puzzle (N), each piece needs to fit properly in order to make sense of the big picture that is being built. I happen to like puzzles (N) and was happy to see that I could work on a 1000 piece puzzle(N) while here at the CDN, at the same time as I’m working on a religious life, theological and/or prayer puzzle (V).   I’m blessed that Cathy A., Lorraine, Siobhan & Tram are here to help, literally and figuratively, with some of the puzzles (N & V). Piece by piece, after 10 weeks, the puzzles (N & V) are beginning to come together.  But like all puzzles (N & V), they each take considerable work and can be difficult at times.   

When working on a puzzle (N), I usually try to connect the whole frame before moving on to the center. But with this particular 1000 piece puzzle (N), I could not find two pieces of the frame. I was stuck looking through the box of pieces over and over again without success. It wasn’t until I stepped back from the puzzle (N) that I was able to see I had put two of the pieces in the wrong order, thereby creating gaps in the frame. I now understand why the canonical novitiate is a year. It will take lots of time and lots of deep work to set the foundational framework in place. Lesson learned!  One puzzle completed! On to the next 1000 puzzles! Blessed puzzling! If the disciples could be puzzled, I don’t feel so bad J!

The disciples looked at one another puzzled. John 13:22