The Best Puzzler in the World

I hate puzzles. I just don’t have the patience for them. My mom gave me a beautiful puzzle of classic books on a shelf for my birthday this year… and I gave it back to her. Isn’t that awful of me? I tend to be brutally honest with my family. I just don’t like puzzles.

So when Maria pulled out a large puzzle for me to help entertain the kids while she is at work, I bit my tongue. I decided to give it a decent try. Not surprisingly, Carlo has the same attention span that I do when it comes to puzzles. He would diligently labor over the pieces for about five minutes, complain over the impossible task, and then bounce off to some other more enticing activity until I persuaded him to come back and give it another shot.

I may not like puzzles, but I am even more opposed to screens consuming childrens’ time and as my mom would say, “melting their brains.” So I did everything I could to keep those boys engaged in the puzzle (which meant keeping myself engaged in the task as well).

I discovered that I felt less frustrated and tense when I concentrated on one manageable thing at a time. I became the color organizer. I made piles of the pieces according to color. The more familiar I became with the pieces, the more specific the piles became. My trained eyes could tell the difference between sky blue and river blue, meadow green and tree green, mountain rock gray and river rock gray. My organization made it quicker for the boys to find matches to the section of the puzzle they were working on.

I will admit that there is sense of satisfaction when you finally find the piece for one stubborn portion of puzzle, when it finally falls into place and the picture makes just a little more sense, becomes a bit more complete. Davide loves that moment. He will cheer and jump and high-five. “Woohoo!! Yes! This is the future!” He exclaims in English, “I am the best puzzler in the world!”

Davide knows that puzzler is not a word. An Italian kid invented an English word. And I love it. After seeing him in action, I have to agree, Davide is the best puzzler in the world.

It was a few weeks ago that Davide finally put the last piece into place and the puzzle was completed. But I’m still thinking about it. I think my resistance to puzzles might have some parallels to my life struggles.

For some reason I get this idea in my head that I need to “have my life figured out” right now, whatever that means. I get frustrated when I think I have the right pieces, but it turns out that I’m trying to shove sky blue into a spot that needs river blue. I try over and over with different puzzle pieces in my life… change my major six times… get reassigned on my mission… transfer universities four different times… break up with boyfriend number seven… move places and live in five different homes in 2023 alone… yeah I just can’t seem to settle on the right pieces.

You know what really helps when working on a puzzle? Looking at the big picture on the box. That image of what it’s all meant to be is a game changer. I can’t imagine how long the puzzle would’ve taken if we never got to see the picture, if we never knew that the pieces piled on the table were meant to take shape into grass and cows and trees.

The great news is that Heavenly Father is a puzzle master. He is the REAL best puzzler in the world. In His mercy and love, He has provided us with the big picture, the image on the box, so to speak. When using an eternal perspective, we can look at life through the lens of The Plan of Salvation.

Understanding where I came from, where I am now, why I am here, and who Heavenly Father intends to help me become gives me real understanding and purpose in my life.

“You are and have always been a son or daughter of God with spiritual roots in eternity.
“… Understanding this truth—really understanding it and embracing it—is life changing. It gives you an extraordinary identity that no one can ever take away from you. But more than that, it should give you an enormous feeling of value and a sense of your infinite worth. Finally, it provides you a divine, noble, and worthy purpose in life.”
—M. Russell Ballard

While our Loving Parents have an eternal, generalized Plan for their children to be redeemed and glorified through Jesus Christ; God also has a personalized, individual plan for each of us. God is a master puzzler, and He knows how each of our plans weave together in the grand workings of the universe. We are in good hands.

Something that helps me get a glimpse of the big picture of my own personal puzzle is to take a look at my patriarchal blessing. This is a special, personal blessing from God that baptized members of the church receive from a patriarch when they feel ready for it. It is personal scripture, direct revelation from God to you. My patriarchal blessing reminds me of the things that matter most, and reassures me that it will all work, that God knows what He is doing with my life even when I don’t.

Working on the puzzle with Davide and Carlo helped me realize that the puzzle doesn’t need to be finished for it to be fun! In fact, the point of the puzzle isn’t to have a beautiful picture! If we wanted a painting, we could have ordered a canvas-printed copy. The point of the puzzle is to work it out, to enjoy the process, and to learn and get better along the way.

I still have a lot to learn and a lot of loose pieces in piles on the table of my life. I may not know exactly where each piece goes, but I have an idea of the big picture, because Heavenly Father so generously provided that for me. I don’t have to worry if it will turn out beautiful, I already know that it is extraordinary! So my task right now is to enjoy, well, puzzling.

“Moments are the molecules that make up eternity!” -Neal A Maxwell

Lately in the puzzle of my life, I’ve been seeing a lot of pieces with sunflowers. To me these heliotropic flowers symbolize a life that is Son-centered, always facing Jesus Christ. Things make more sense when I’m focused on the Son.

Grandma Anita might just have a heart attack if I actually sit down to work on a puzzle with her when I visit home this fall -she always has a puzzle going- but maybe I will, just for the sake of it. I think puzzles might be growing on me. Could I last more than five minutes trying to fit shapes and colors into spaces without getting agitated and walking away? Maybe. I learned a few tips from Davide, so I might be a better puzzler by now.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9