Each fall I divide my sixth grade Sunday School class into three groups to compete in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. As these 12-year-olds scatter into three circles on the floor, I explain that there is only one rule in our competition: to put together the puzzle without talking.The contents of one puzzle are deposited on the floor and Group One immediately goes to work. The group promptly sets up the box top that depicts the picture of the puzzle it is completing.
Then I move to the second group, dump the pieces on the floor and quickly give the group a box top. What the group doesn't know is that the box top is for another puzzle!
The third group is given the same puzzle pieces, but it doesn't receive a box top. Usually the kids in the group start to protest, but I quickly remind them there is to be no talking!
What follows is fascinating.
Group One is somewhat frustrated by not being allowed to talk, but it still makes steady progress. Group Two keeps trying to use the picture, but nothing seems to work. And since the kids in the group can't say anything, their frustration level soars. The group members look at me with pleading eyes. Soon, I see the wrong box top come flying out of the group!
Group Three is interesting. Because the kids have nothing to guide them, they do their own thing. The kids give up and just lie on the floor.
Am I a cruel teacher? No, there is a point that I make that day.
Life, marriages and families are like the pieces of the puzzle. The pieces are all there for us, but something is needed to help us bring order out of chaos.
There are a lot of competing blueprints and pictures out there vying for your commitment and mine. It only makes sense, however, to look to the God who created the family to learn a design that will work.
It's never too late to pull out your Bible and begin using the right box top.