This was the first puzzle that I made this year. It was like a stroke of genius, all of a sudden I got this bright idea, to go to Wal-Mart and purchase a puzzle, because I didn’t really have anything else to do, and when you don’t have anything to do, you have to do something. I hadn’t finished a puzzle in a while; so I decided to make a puzzle. We have been having some very hot days. I mean, it’s been so hot outside that I had to do something indoors. So, while sitting around, unable to knit, and just having way too much energy, a puzzle seemed a good outlet, while not being so stressful. While out shopping, I went through the game department to find a puzzle, and I found 2. A beautiful Disney puzzle for Faith, my granddaughter; Snow White and the seven dwarfs, and I found the one above that I worked.
I felt enlightened; I also felt I had a purpose. I immediately began working it, and when you work a puzzle, the best way to begin is to separate the border flat edged pieces from the rest. Whether it’s 300 pieces or 2000 pieces, it’s always easiest to separate the border pieces, from the rest. At the same time, while separating the border pieces, I separate the various colors, like red, green, blue, white, or yellow, and place them each color in separate piles on my canvas. After separating the pieces, I bag the colors in small sandwich bags, according to color, and leave only the border pieces on the matt.
This is when it becomes fun. After having all the colors separated, I begin putting the border together. And once the border is complete, I rest. Whether it’s a day or two or three days before I get back to putting the rest of it together, I sleep well knowing that I have completed the border, and because I chose a puzzle that I want to see completed, I feel confident. I feel like I accomplished something, and truthfully, I did.
Because of the prices of groceries, or the cost of my monthly bills vs. the money that comes into our household, or whatever stress is bothering me, I spend time working through my issues while finding the pieces of a very unique puzzle. I do this so often now, I have managed to slow down the clock, and while I put a puzzle together, the time stops. The only sounds I hear are the gracious voices inside my head, praying for my family, praying for my friends, praying for our President, prayers righteously so, for our country. I cannot fathom the ramblings of commercial television. I cannot be inquisitive about the clothing that’s called fashion, and I especially cannot fathom the rate of interest on an automobile purchase. I enjoy hearing the tick tock of the clock. I love listening to children playing, and imagining what I would do were I to hit the lotto, but realistically, the chances of hitting the lotto which could very possibly range in an area of 18 million to 1… who has time to think and calculate those numbers?... but 1000 pieces in a puzzle, that’s calculable. Each time I find a place for a piece of my work, that number is decreased by one. And the odds of me being successful are better with each piece that I place on the matt. That’s like money in the bank, when you don’t go out with the credit card to purchase something that you thought would make you happy, you don’t spend your money because you hear the call of the commercial. You hold on to the life that is expressed in each moment, be religiously Thankful for each breath. Were you to be God, you’d say that time is halted. And while working the puzzle, the only thing in relation to time is the breath you make during the day in exaltation. It’s a process that our predecessors endeared, hence, they created the very idea of the puzzle. Recently I read that it was around 1930 that the cutting of puzzle pieces was made convenient by complex machinery, prior to that time, people actually cut puzzles by hand. Can you imagine?
So, while it seems a complex hobby, a relative improbability, even a frightening obsession, from the time you choose which puzzles you would like to see complete it becomes a challenge, pitting mind against matter. Laying caution to the wind and doing something that will allow your reality a bit of “peace of mind”.
So, go on out there, choose a puzzle, and work it like you have a renewed hope in your own mind. Be courageous and piece by piece, believe that you can, and you will.
I am going now, on to the next puzzle.
