Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

• Hebrews 12:1-3

The thought of perseverance to win the race reminds me of something I did with my boys during the month of December while they were growing up.  We put jigsaw puzzles together.  We might not be fixing our eyes on Jesus, but we fixed our eyes on 500 puzzle pieces or one thousand puzzle pieces.  We had that perseverance to run the race and complete the puzzle.

Of course, I had one irritating child that would steal a puzzle piece early in the process and hide it.  A week later we would start crawling around on the floor looking for the lost puzzle piece and when he thought we weren’t looking, he would pull it out of his pocket and say, “Here it is.  I found it.  And I finished the puzzle.”  I was irritated.  His brother wanted to kill him, but we put that puzzle back in the box and got out another.

The point was that we did not get all those questions about how many days until the guy in the red suit shows up or the constant shaking of the boxes to figure our what each person had.  And they did not stop at their presents. They shook everyone’s presents.  Those presents that were not theirs they shook extra hard, just in case they might be able to break something.  But we were wise to their ways.

Most of the month of December was spent putting puzzles together and not fighting.

So, at Thanksgiving, I bought a jigsaw puzzle.  They say that the first of various holidays after the loss of a loved one is the hardest.  They say to not feel trapped into doing the traditional things, but I find the traditions comforting.  My only problem is that this 500 piece puzzle was completed in five days.

Hey!  Without two boys to watch, my eyes were on the finish line with no distractions.

And the weirdest thing, one of the border pieces was backwards.  If your display of the image is the full puzzle, there is a puzzle piece backing visible near the upper left corner.  The piece fit perfectly, just the painted side down.

Even with that anomaly, it took me hardly any time to finish the puzzle.  Next year, I may buy a couple of puzzles.

But tying this to the Scripture, I did the puzzle thing with the boys to keep them focused on something worthwhile rather than mischief as the holiday approached.  I had learned in my walk with Jesus that as you keep your gaze on Jesus, everything else fell into place.

Now the holiday season is over.  I hope you had a cheerful one.  And now that the distractions of the holidays are over, keeping our eyes on Jesus can be a great way to start the New Year.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.