Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during October 2021]

Are you a dissectologist? It’s nothing to get cut up about; it is, apparently, the technical term for those who enjoy the challenge of completing jigsaw puzzles. The name comes from a 17th century London mapmaker who cut one of his wooden maps into individual country shapes and invited his friends to reassemble the map that he had dissected. The idea caught on and these puzzles were even used in schools as a teaching aid for geography lessons.

Do you enjoy spending time poring over those beautiful pictures that someone has cut into a multitude of pieces just so that you can put them back together again? There are many reports of the benefits of being a dissectologist, including improved mental acuity, memory retention, visual perception and dexterity. Doing jigsaws is not necessarily a solitary pastime; working as a couple or a group can develop team skills, patience and tolerance of others’ mistakes.

In a complex jigsaw puzzle every piece gets scrutinised in detail: what shape is it, how many tabs and sockets, any distinguishing features, what colours are prominent? We try to memorise the requirements for each piece as we search for a match. However, once a piece is in place all those details get forgotten, replaced with a new set of criteria.

Each piece relates to its neighbours; having a complete picture is important. If just one piece is missing then the whole is incomplete; it offers no satisfaction that 99% of the pieces are present and correct. This reminds us of the parable of the lost sheep:

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” [Luke 15 v4-6 NIVUK]

We too can identify with the feeling of finding that lost piece that completes the picture.

Of course, the principles of puzzle solving are not limited to the two-dimensional pieces of wood or cardboard. Think of the complexities of erecting flat-pack furniture, rebuilding a car engine or assembling a space station. Some fettling of the pieces may be required to achieve a perfect fit.

Do you recognise yourself as a piece in God’s plan? Your individual characteristics may be exactly what is necessary to match with those around you. Those sharp edges and uncomfortable tabs are part of an overall system that locks the whole picture together. No piece is a picture in itself but without you, the picture is incomplete.

Are you willing to let God adapt you and fit you into place? Are you willing to relinquish the focus so that the whole picture can be seen? In this week’s ‘Yours’, Helen wrote about “All parts working together” – an essential requirement for a complete picture. The apostle Paul wrote some words which are appropriate both to jigsaw puzzles and also to our place in God’s plan:

But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. [1 Corinthians 12 v 18-20 NIVUK]

Praise God that there is unity in our diversity!

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