Puzzle Pieces

After finishing Pride and Prejudice during my UK travels, I started on The Year Of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. It’s a book written by an agnostic who, although with Jewish roots, never took too much of what the Bible had to say to heart but decided to try out a little experiment. He decided to take one year and try, as best as he could, to live as closely to a literal interpretation of the Bible as possible. Now never mind the various problems, theological or otherwise, associated with the prospect but if anything I’ve enjoyed the book as he honestly *is* changed by all of this. In the 4-ish years since he went through the process I really don’t know if he has followed anything further or if it was just to write this book. Regardless I liked to see him at least become somewhat more open minded, and if anything that’s a start.

Now, the purpose of this entry is *not* to offer anything resembling a book report as this is much more in line of my last post. Anyway, I love the little nuggets of wisdom that drop from time to time with life and there was a passage that struck out to me. In one part of the book he’s wrestling with Biblical interpretation (more precisely, when should a passage be interpreted literally as opposed to figuratively?) and he relayed the following:

“The Joy and challenge of life-and the Bible-is figuring things out. ‘If a jigsaw puzzle came numbered, you’d return it to the store.’ Same with life” (the quote is from a rabbi friend of his)

I think there’s something to this. I know that one of the life frustrations I’ve experienced is wanting the jigsaw pieces numbers. I like having everything laid out and in a fashion in which everything is immediately understood and where the pieces make sense *right away* but life, and God, does not work that way. However, this *does* get played out in our lives. I mean I think most of us can, with a little 20/20 hindsight, see that the pieces do fit even if we didn’t quite see it at the time. The Bible has a good number of passages that state that God’s ways are certainly not man’s ways. I also know it’s easy for this 21st century Western mind to think in terms of linear pathways and instant answers but God doesn’t operate like that. Thank Him. It follows that He works in ways so beyond our understanding that it’s foolish for us to assume that He would arrange things exactly how we would do so. In fact, we (and I know this well) get in our own way all the time and louse things up so I don’t blame God for doing things in His own way, His own time, and towards His purposes. I can trust that.

So even though I may not know where all the pieces fit, and I’m sometimes not entirely sure what my finished puzzle looks like, I know it’s all about trust that God knows what he’s doing and *that* has to be good enough.

The wisdom of Mr. Darcy

One of the funny things about life is that you sometimes don’t understand the situations you’ve found yourself until some time later. This works in ways across the board and perspective offers a view usually of great benefit down the road. Now I think we usually relate to these times in big ways, but sometimes it’s in the unexpected moments.

I just got back from Scotland over the weekend (blog post to arrive…sometime later this month) and when I stepped on the plane I had a little bit more to go with my initial foray into Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. To the abject horror of many of my friends, I just need to say…I didn’t love it. I liked many aspects of the novel, and I’m glad I read it, but it just never grabbed a hold of me. I felt like she introduced too many characters right away for me to follow and it threw me off for so much of the book as I was constantly thinking, “Okay…which person is this again?” Alright, but now I’m getting off track because this post is not a book review…for the most part.

Now despite all of this, I was struck by a statement towards the end of the book that resounded with me. In conversation with Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy states, “Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure” and even though I’ve known that to be intellectually true for quite awhile, it really (and finally) entered my heart…on a United Airlines flight to London of all places.

I know I’ve had the tendency to be overly guilt ridden, and too tied and chained by my past in ways throughout my life. However, this has reminded me that it’s silly…really. It’s one thing to learn from the past but quite another to be hindered and crippled by it. I think I’ve been here for some time but it’s true; even though life goes in ways you wouldn’t like to see of it, the good memories very often, trump everything else. I really have great remembrances of people, moments, and everything in-between that have positively affected my life. Mr. Darcy *is* right and I like that I’ve reached that point where I’m no longer dragged down but am lifted up, and that’s a good place to be. I just thought I’d share.