Puzzled By Life

My family is big on puzzles, whether it is riddles or actual physical puzzles, we like the challenge of figuring things out. We currently have three different, 1000 piece puzzles in the works in various parts of our home. The living room has a lovely Native American puzzle, the family room/basement has a Thomas Kinkade puzzle and the sunporch is hosting a way too colorful puzzle with a vast array of candy pieces scattered to the four corners. Truthfully, that one makes my eyes hurt.

I’ve realized that often times I get fixated on a particular puzzle piece, convinced in my own mind that it’s a particular thing, failing to give it a chance at being anything other than what I’ve perceived it to be. Typically what happens is that I’ll get to where that one piece is not fitting anywhere in the section it “should” go in, and then there’ll be a huge tada moment when I realize that geez, it wasn’t part of the horse at all; it’s a rock on the riverbank (or some equally absurd thing).

Likewise, I’ve often come to realize that there are times where I have to step back away from the puzzle and give my eyes a chance to refocus. Sometimes I’ll hold a piece in front of the box, eyeing the whole picture and finding out where this one piece fits into all that.

Life is much like a puzzle at times (or a box of chocolates, but that’s another story). We often fixate on the smaller parts of life, the things we don’t have, the promotion we didn’t get, the refrigerator dying, and we become bogged down. We can in fact get so wrapped up in the small things, that we totally miss out on the big picture of life. Sometimes we need to walk away, give our eyes and hearts time to regroup and refocus, and then look back at the big picture and see where we need to focus.

When we begin to look at the little things that are right, that is when we begin to cultivate a grateful heart. Sometimes we don’t even stop to think that the kids are healthy, even though the car is old-it’s paid for, there is money for groceries and we have a roof over our heads.

The same is true with homeschooling. Don’t get so fixated on the things that your child struggles with, that you miss the things they are excelling in. Step back on occasion and take a look at the big picture, and watch as some of the pieces you’ve fixated on become something new and exciting in the eyes of your child!

Joesette Huffman is a dynamic speaker, blogger, wife and homeschooling mother of two. She is active both in the online homeschooling world and in her local homeschool community and church, as well as a volleyball coach and co-op leader. You can find her weekly at Learning Curve.