Unlocking Life's Puzzles

My daughter gave me a puzzle box for Christmas. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. And it’s the most intricate puzzle I’ve ever had to solve. Clue after clue led me along, but I had to look for each one.

Each clue was there, but it was up to me to put them together. Finding that first clue was the hardest. I wasn’t sure if I could do this at all. But once I unlocked the first latch, I was hooked! I knew I would find the others. So I kept looking.

When the second latch clicked open, I was super excited. I’ve got this! I thought. But the next latch wasn’t so easy. There were new clues, and some of the old clues that I still needed to use.

I set aside the puzzle box for a day and picked it up again the next. I was determined. Then…

Yes! Latch three was unlocked!

But now the fourth… that final latch. It was the most complex riddle of all, with clues strewn all over my desk from my previous revelations.

I set down the box. I picked it up.

I set it down again. I picked it up again.

I went over clue after clue, trying various combinations and strategies.

Three days later, I was still stuck!

I told my son, “I can’t do it. I’m giving up. I’ll put it back together so you can try.”

“You can get it, Dad!” my son said. He was confident. He was bold. He wasn’t going to let me give up.

Sunday afternoon, I looked at the box again. I was still stumped, just like before.

I took a nap.

When I woke up, I saw an unexpected (and unrelated) email in my inbox. It was the solution to a problem for work that I had also been trying to solve. Suddenly, there was the answer I was looking for! It turned out I had already solved the problem on an earlier try; I just didn’t know it until that email arrived. Praise God!

I picked up the puzzle box again. I had a new confidence.

I could do it. My son was right. I just had to press on.

I pressed a combination of levers, which I had done many times before. All of a sudden, the latch opened. I gave the box a twist, and the prize was revealed!

I couldn’t believe it! I had been working on that puzzle box for a week, when suddenly, it was solved!

It was like those “overnight success” stories… the ones that take twenty years of hard work, when suddenly everything falls into place—a twenty-year ‘overnight success’ story!

I tell you this story for one reason: to give you HOPE, ENCOURAGEMENT, and DETERMINATION to press on with the mission God has placed on your heart.

You see, God is on a mission, and He has a mission for you, too! Believe it or not, God wants you to know His will even more than you want to know it!

If you seek Him, you will find Him—if you seek Him with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13-14).

This story isn’t about a puzzle box. It’s about you, jumping into God’s plan.

Keep seeking Him, keep finding Him, and keep pressing on with the mission God has placed on your heart. One day—you’ll see—that prize will be revealed!

Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God's name so Christ may be seen! Learn more at https://ericelder.com