There's A Heaven Above You

Have you ever absentmindedly done something until you had that, "aha!" type moment? The one where you recognized something that was right in front of you or realized the significance what you already knew? Yeah... I think its safe to say we've all been there once or twice.

I used to absolutely LOVE puzzles! Anything from 1000 count to 10,000 count was my idea of a good time. I would snag one of the unused card tables and set up camp in my room, just working a little here and a little there. I would always start with the edge pieces like any true Pro-Puzzler will tell you to do, and I would slowly go from there. The puzzles with only 1000 pieces would take no time at all, but the larger ones had the capability to turn ugly.

Don't tell me... a white cow in a snowstorm?

One puzzle in particular was particularly tough, seeing as how it was of a field of random flowers that were all mishmashed together. There was no rhyme or reason to much of anything in that puzzle, and it didn't help that I couldn't find the original box to get an idea of what it was supposed to be. I likely worked on that puzzle for a solid week before I got anywhere with it or even could figure out what it was.

Allow me to sidebar here and ask what percentage of a puzzle you would normally need to figure out what it was supposed to be a picture of? Fifty percent? Sixty percent? Two-Thirds? Three Fourths? The entire gosh-darn thing?!?! Usually I can figure it out with less then Sixty percent or so, but for this one it took me till I was at about Eighty percent. Why? Cause after a week of puzzle making, I was more focused on how the little individual pieces fit together then what the end result was going to be.

Oh Duh! It's A Bear!

When my, "aha!" moment came during this particual instance, I realized that I had way more then I actually needed to know what the big picture was gonna be. Sure I didn't have 100% of the puzzle, but then again I never really did "Need" it all to know what was going on.

Life can also be likened unto a puzzle.

I particularly say this when it comes to faith and belief in God, Jesus Christ, and our purpose here in life. I personally feel like each of us are slowly but surely filling in our puzzle, gaining pieces every day through experience and work trying to put it all together. Some of us have pieces others don't, but we are all still trying to know exactly what the picture at the end is gonna be. Some have the general picture, some have lots of the details, some are a couple piece short of a puzzle.

And Some Are Playing The Wrong Game Entirely... And Not Very Well, I Might Add

Straight from the gospel of Elder Donohue, I think God sometimes works with on an individual basis giving us just enough to believe. We can then choose to act on that belief that we have, what we THINK the puzzle is, before he will either confirm or deny that its whats really going on. The picture at the end wont change based upon what we think it looks like, but we can come to know the truth... the truth of what the picture on the puzzle is, and the truth of what the puzzle of life is.

A talk from Elder Marion G. Romney of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gives some input I particularly liked when talking about coming to know some spiritual or life truth, or in other words a testimony:

“A testimony comes when the Holy Ghost gives the earnest seeker a witness of the truth. A moving testimony vitalizes faith; that is, it induces repentance and obedience to the commandments. ... An honest seeker hears the message. He asks the Lord in prayer if it is true. The Holy Spirit gives him a witness. This is a testimony. If one’s testimony is strong enough, he repents and obeys the commandments. By such obedience he receives divine forgiveness which remits sin. Thus he is converted to a newness of life. His spirit is healed.”

I can testify that the picture to the puzzle of life is well known by the Holy Spirit, and that as we earnestly seek to know the truth of whats going on, He will tell us through our thoughts and our feelings what things are true. In accordance with that, He will lead us to those things that have eternal importance in the "big picture" we sometimes have scattered around us and not yet put together. He will give us more pieces then we had before and then help us put those pieces together.

 Moroni 10:3-5 is quite possibly my favorite in a long line of scriptures I know and love. It is talking about the Book of Mormon particularly, but it also goes with any spiritual truth...

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.