It’s Puzzling

Scripture: Ruth 1:16-19

Introduction

January is Brain Teaser Month and January 29 is National Puzzle Day. Life is not a brain teaser to God. He is never puzzled by our circumstances or situations. He works out all the details of our lives, and nothing is by “happenstance.”

ACTIVITY #1—Puzzle Me This!

Pick up several kid puzzles at your local Dollar Shop. It is important they be complete, but not have too many pieces. Give each group of women a designated amount of time to work together and complete their puzzle. Let them know that the first team to do this, wins a prize.  What they will not know is that you have swapped a few of their puzzle pieces out with another group’s puzzle. Once they realize what has happened, encourage them to seek out their original pieces from another group and to return the pieces they have “mistakenly” been given to another group. The group who finishes their puzzle wins.

ACTIVITY #2—3 Lies and 1 Truth

If you have a small group, all the women can participate as “lie tellers.” If you have a larger group, you might choose 4 or 5 ladies to be “lie tellers.” Each “liar” will be asked to share, as convincingly as possible, three short stories from their lives that are NOT true and one story that is true. At the end of each woman’s turn the group will have the opportunity to determine which story was true. If the “liar” can fool the group, she will be given a pitcher of water while the group declares that her “pants are on fire”! Often, during this activity, women will discovery things they never knew about each other, even if they have known each other for years. Allow time for these moments. For the ladies to share their surprise and to ponder what it is to discover new pieces to the puzzle that is your group.

Scripture

Ruth 1:16-19

Watch the Bible Project’s summary video for the book of Ruth @

https://youtu.be/0h1eoBeR4Jk?si=5yD8yJ4679sM9Zkq

It’s Puzzling

I have a love-hate relationship with puzzles! I love starting them. Searching through the box for the smooth sided pieces that will make up the edge. The excitement of finding a piece with two smooth sides; a corner! However, I hate the point where all the edge and corner pieces have fallen into place, but the middle is a mystery. It is ironic how much this mirrors my faith journey.

One of my favorite Bible stories, since I was a girl, is the story of Ruth. A young woman, choosing God’s best way, finds her prince charming, and lives happily ever after. It is a fast-paced story; taking less than an hour to read through if you do not get distracted. The fast pace of its readability is misleading. An hour of reading represents a lifetime of mystery. A lifetime of seeing the edges and corners but not knowing what the middle holds.

The first few verses of the book do not even include Ruth. It is about a family that left everything they knew (including the faith community that had sustained them) and relocated to where they thought they could find food. After settling, the father of the family dies, leaving Mom and her two sons. One of the sons meets and marries Ruth. Ten years later, he dies leaving her a widow. Okay, STOP and read that sentence again.

TEN YEARS LATER!

In those ten years she would have settled into life. A sad life, however, because she had no children during this time. Each year that passed without children must have seemed a little more hopeless. A decade of accusing looks, rude questions, uncomfortable family dinners. As bad as it was things got worse. Her husband died. And then Ruth made a choice to leave everything familiar to care for her widowed mother-in-law.

The story is not over. To reach a happy ending, takes time and requires patience as each piece falls into place.

In many ways I feel like my story mirrors Ruth’s. My heart’s desire since childhood was to be a wife and mother. I spent years longing for what I thought my life should be only to be disappointed. In the middle of the mystery God called me to officership. To many it seemed like I was choosing a life alone, but I knew that I had been called and needed to be obedient.

The story was not over. There was a fulfilling of my heart’s desire. But the ending took time and required waiting as the pieces fell into place.

Maybe you are in a season where the edges and corners of the puzzle all seem to be falling into place, but the middle is a mystery? Maybe you are trying to make the pieces fit? Let us make this our day-by-day, moment-by-moment prayer!

Trust God with your whole heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Proverbs 3:5-7 (The Message)

Closing Activity

Provide small magnet sticker to each woman. Have them take a piece of the puzzle that they completed in activity #1, turn it over, and write one word that reminds them of God’s great faithfulness during the mystery of life (grace, joy, hope). Place the magnet sticker on the opposite side. Encourage them to take it home and put it someplace where they will be reminded daily of God’s great kindness, even when the future seems uncertain.