I love puzzles—any kind of puzzle—and I wonder sometimes if that is just a quirky thing about me or if that is something innate in every person to varying degrees. Do other people have this insatiable need to intentionally take on problems to solve? I mean, seriously! Take jigsaw puzzles for example. Who honestly thinks that dumping out a thousand-piece problem to solve is the launch point for a really good time?
There are few things that I find more satisfying than tackling something that is completely unorganized, disarrayed, and perhaps even completely unknown and ordering it into something that is whole, beautiful, beneficial, and available. This is why I love studying the gospel. This is why I love discovering truth.
Completing a puzzle is a process. It begins by framing the puzzle with what is already known (or is easily known) to you. You look for the pieces with corners and straight edges. Then you move on to parts of the puzzle that are easily placed because their context is easily discovered. The more you familiarize yourself with each puzzle piece, you start to notice both similarities and differences, and each can be subtle or glaringly obvious. Individual sections of the puzzle might come together easily, but might remain unattached to the frame until you realize that the one puzzle piece that you overlooked a hundred times is the missing link and it instantly pulls the section into the whole. Many pieces will look like they are the “perfect fit” for another and it’s a long process of trial and error to rule out all of the imposters before you finally find the correct one. Other times, you will get on a roll, making connection after connection, and the pieces, almost literally, fall into place. As the puzzle progresses, it emphasizes what is missing without even trying. And when it is finally done, there is a peaceful satisfaction and enjoyment that comes with seeing the outcome and understanding the process that got you there.
What I recently came to realize is that puzzles are an exercise in persuasion. Puzzles are solved as quickly as the person putting the puzzle together notices the information inherent in the pieces of the puzzle and as quickly as he is willing to be persuaded by that information. Each puzzle piece tells you where it is supposed to go, but, to begin with, the solver is not attuned to what the puzzle piece is communicating. It takes deliberate, thoughtful, and focused consideration of each puzzle piece, as well as the ability to zoom out and mentally place each piece within the context of the whole. But, even when you notice the information that each piece provides, if you aren’t willing to be persuaded by that information and act on it, you won’t start to make enough connections for the puzzle to actually come together. The more willing you are to be persuaded by and act upon the information, the faster the puzzle comes together.
Persuasion happens at different speeds based on the willingness of a person to be persuaded.
Personal experience leads me to believe that this is exactly how revelation works.
Some revelation comes slowly because we are not familiar enough with the information itself or the information surrounding it. It’s there, right in front of us, but we either don’t recognize it or we don’t understand how to put it into context. We have to carefully notice things that are right before us and develop a familiarity with them that increases our awareness of how they relate to each other. This can take a lot of time if we either fail to notice the information or fail to attempt to act on the information we do notice. Sometimes the only way to tell if a piece of information is correct and “fits” is to just try it out.
As we gain more and more information and act on it, the process of assimilating that information becomes faster and this happens on both micro and macro levels. On the micro level, what starts as a long study of each individual piece of information morphs into very quick realizations of where each piece fits. You notice yourself saying, “Oh, this goes here! And, then, that goes there!” And on the macro level, as entire sections of seemingly unrelated subjects coalesce, in one satisfying moment of intellectual triumph, the one missing piece of information to link that section to the whole is found.
My favorite kind of revelation happens when I am willing to be completely persuaded by all of the information available to me. I wish that I could say that this kind of revelation happens more often than it does. However, when it does, a huge volume of information is brought to my attention and is immediately, instantaneously, and perfectly put together in my mind. I think that this is what the scriptures refer to when they talk about our understanding being quickened. I call these experiences “downloads.” They happen so incredibly fast that I am forced to admit that my own physical cognitive abilities had virtually no part in them. It’s very hands-off, on my part. The Lord takes the reins and what he reveals to me is amazing in both quantity and quality.
For several years now, the things that I have learned about “gospel” and “non-gospel” topics, alike, have felt like one massive jigsaw puzzle with no borders. But that’s ok because I have found that the best puzzles are the most challenging ones. They mean the most to you when you are done. Discovering truth means the most because discovering truth is what makes you capable of obtaining the most happiness. It is the most challenging, yet most rewarding, puzzle of all.