The Cracked Acorn: Puzzles

I like winter much better; come winter when I am bundled up in my parka, gloves, and heavy clothing, but there comes a time when I will think “Summer is much better!” Escaping my season’s problems I retreat to the “World’s Smallest office” and open a 500-piece puzzle entitled – White Roses at Portland Head, Maine. It is a little bigger than past ones and has lots of blue skies, the ocean, and moss-covered rocks along the shoreline. It requires some time to get the boundaries started and then hours of searching to match colors and different shapes.

The dictionary word PUZZLE means not only a game but: to baffle or confuse mentally by presenting a difficult problem, maybe a toy that requires ingenuity and assembly of many parts, and to be in a state of bewilderment. Solving a puzzle requires deep thinking and skill for its solution. There are Chinese puzzles, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, number puzzles, and word puzzles. There is the SALAMANDER puzzle where each piece is the same shaped sized lizard-like piece.

A good puzzle can cause us to mull over, ponder, chew over, reflect, ruminate, speculate, contemplate; each puzzle can disguise its self as a mystery, a paradox, enigma, conundrum, a maze, labyrinth, and a teaser and a question; it leaves us to solve, work out, rack our brains, crack, resolve and decipher; all this goes together very nicely to give you a delightful and exciting experience.

When problems crowd into our lives, a simple puzzle could offer mental calm. Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

The NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION uses PUZZLE in two Scriptures.

Mark 6:20 – “because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Acts 5:24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.”

“God’s will is like the picture on the box top of a great jigsaw puzzle. And each person is engaged in the discernment process around a specific topic. Some may have a few of the pieces in her or his hand. Bit by bit, then, we share the pieces of the Divine puzzle, placing on the table around which we have gathered. We take turns handling the pieces, twisting them, gathering them, moving them together or apart, wanting to make sense of them.” -a comment about puzzles from an INTERNET BLOGGER.

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs and works His sovereign will.  – William Cowper (1731-1800)