Author Carol James has visited the blog many time in the past. It’s a joy to welcome her back again and learn about her new book, Christmas Lights and Moonlit Nights.

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As I sat studying the nearly completed puzzle, some gaping holes stared back at me. No matter how many times and ways I tried, the remaining pieces on the table in front of me wouldn’t fit the empty spaces. They must have been from another puzzle. And to top it off, the box lid had was missing. Despite the hours of diligent work combined with trial and error, I was no closer to knowing what the completed puzzle should have looked like than I’d been before I started.

I’ve always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles. I love finding that singular treasure that has the special combination of “innies” and “outies” and colored designs that make it the one and only piece that fits into the waiting gap. I love the sense of accomplishment and victory gained when each piece is correctly placed, the guesswork is over, and the whole reveals a beautiful masterpiece.
In contrast, little is more frustrating to a puzzle solver than lost pieces that leave gaping holes.

Christmas Light and Moonlit Nights

In Christmas Lights and Moonlit Nights, Jed has his life planned. All his pieces are fitting together perfectly. A Navy SEAL, he believes God has called him to be a warrior, to fight evil, and he’s willing to sacrifice his desires for a family and risk his life if necessary to fulfill his calling. He’s decided to never marry or have a family. His work is too dangerous.

Jed’s approach to life was somewhat like working a puzzle. He thought he had all his pieces, everything he needed, in hand. When put together, they’d make the life he wanted and treasured. The life to which he was called.

However, when he meets Leah, some of his pieces no longer fit. So after years of planning and arranging, he realized his puzzle, like mine, was flawed. He was faced with the choice to make this flawed, incomplete puzzle work, or find a new one.

When A + B doesn’t = C

We often approach life like Jed did. We want everything to work out the way we think it should. The way we’ve planned. But life isn’t a math problem where A+B=C. Or a puzzle where all the pieces fit and make a beautiful picture.

In First Corinthians 13:12, Paul tells us, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Paul reminds us that our current ability to understand and perceive the divine is clouded. Yet, that cloudiness doesn’t indicate a flaw or an omission. It simply means that, as solvers, we are limited by our abilities to perceive reality, no matter how badly we want to solve the puzzle.

So what do we do when life presents us with a puzzle we can’t solve? When some of the pieces seem to be missing or the box lid has been thrown away? While we may not be able to visualize the image of the completed puzzle, it exists. The fault is not in the puzzle, but in the limitations of the the solver.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Our job then, like Jed’s, is to trust. To trust the One Who is the Master Puzzle-Designer. The One Who choreographed and knows the solution.

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Read more of Jed’s story in Christmas Lights and Moonlit Nights