Crossword Puzzle Spaces

“Give yourself permission not to know and be satisfied knowing the One who does.” By Joyce Meyer, “I Dare You.

As I was going through some old journal notes a while back I ran across one I had written 19 years previously. Reading over the note brought back many memories of the uncertainties I was facing back then. It was a time when I was searching for all the answers. Even when answers came I still wouldn’t accept them and went on searching and seeking.

I could have used Joyce Meyers challenge or advice back then to give myself permission not to know and to be satisfied with knowing the One who did. Unfortunately I probably would have looked past her words like I was looking past many other things thinking I needed to find my own answers or solutions. The crossword puzzle pieces of my life were not filling in the way I thought they should. I was trying to fit 6 or more letter words into a 5 letter word space, Jesus.

As much as we would like to fight the truth we were not designed to know all the answers. If you go searching in the Bible there are a lot of scriptures that talk about knowing this and that and a few other things. However there are others that talk about only knowing some things only in part. Paul had a lot to say about it in 1 Corinthians 13 that is better known as the “love” chapter of the Bible.

In verse 9,10 and 12 he said, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

In other words we need to stop trying to rack our brains and come up with all the answers because we don’t need them. Our satisfaction needs to come from knowing the One who has all the answers, Jesus Christ.

This past weekend my husband and I took two of our grandchildren up in the woods on our annual trip through the timbers. The yearly challenges of seeing how high up we could go before the snow made us turn around and who was going to get the first deer award for spotting the first deer along the road had to be answered.

Grandpa managed to get the “first deer” award in the form of a goofy hat with the year 2009 written by his name. Challenge number two came many miles down the road as we hit the snow we were searching for at the very top. As we walked around through the beautiful meadows up there my granddaughter and I took a close look at God’s artwork.

All the questions a kid could possibly ask could have flooded the quiet atmosphere high on that mountain top. Questions such as why does the pine tree look like a giant puzzle piece or what was making the sound in the trees and where does the wind start. However she was satisfied with knowing that God made what she was seeing and feeling and that was good enough for her. We even jump up and down on the ground to thank God for the earth He created too that we were given permission to walk upon. (Sorry people if my jumping caused a little aftershock of an earthquake in the neighboring states of Oregon. It was good we were in central Oregon, it gave the aftershocks time to work themselves out. Ha, ha)

The time is now to write out our own permission slips to excuse ourselves from needing to have all the answers and start seeking the One who does, Jesus Christ. How or why God did this or that are answers we don’t need to have when it comes to God’s artwork and it pertains to our every day lives as well.

Erasing the answers we tried that didn’t fit until the erasers falls off and the paper is torn ends with being satisfied that God is the one with all the answers. Stop trying to fit those 6 or more letter words into our crossword puzzle spaces only Jesus needs to be. Not every question has an answer but every act of faith and trust in God carries its own solutions.

Its time to write in ink, “I’m satisfied Jesus knowing you are the One who knows. That my partial knowledge is not a reflection of my own stupidity but of my wisdom to trust in the one in charge and that is You not me.”

I love you Jesus!


Copyright 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing