Have you ever done a puzzle with a small child, say four-years-old or younger? Did you watch their intense focus to try and fit every piece in its' exact place? Maybe they had frustration when a piece just wouldn’t go! So badly you wanted to turn it or move it for them but you knew they would eventually figure it out. And when they did…when the puzzle was finally all pieced together, their look of victory was completely worth it.

Now take a walk with me back twenty years ago to the house that I grew up in. It was the coolest house ever, let me tell you. It had a big porch, complete with swing, to wrap you up on a nice day. The pool’s refreshing waters welcomed you in the NINE months of Alabama summer heat. I had a tree house that my dad and my grandpa built me that peered down at the trampoline below. We had a basement that was there for recreational purposes and often times a giant table, or sometimes tables, sat in the middle of the room. Ninety percent of my childhood there was a puzzle in progress on that table. Slowly as I grew up, more puzzles moved from the table to frames on the wall. Some were of sports, others collector’s items, but that wasn’t the point. The point was I have a memory of my family working together to do puzzles. When I was extremely small, too small for intense patterns, my parents always saved me the last piece. I had a huge sense of accomplishment every time I stuck that last piece in place to complete the picture.

Fast forward to today. I just finished my first year as a teacher where it is my job to allow kids to make mistakes and solve problems on their own, even if I already know the answer. Now my students are teenagers, not four-year-olds, but the method is still the same. If we can teach our kids to keep trying every way possible until they figure out the solution, we have taught them a lesson so valuable in this life. They’ll grow up and graduate high school, college, and eventually have their own children. I too, will eventually have kids of my own. I will then watch as my toddler tries to complete their first puzzle, turning and flipping the pieces every which way until they fit into place.

And I’ll smile.

Knowing that all those years ago, trying puzzles in the basement, taught me so much more than I realized. I know that there’s always a solution to the problem, you just have to keep turning and flipping until you find it. It may not be easy. You may want to give up. But when you finally place that last piece into its spot, it sure does paint a beautiful picture of this life.