Lego Lessons

²³ The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
      He delights in every detail of their lives.

(Psalm 37:23)

I sat for several hours yesterday with my grandsons playing with the Lego building blocks at the kitchen table.  This particular building project had about 4 one gallon ziploc bags full of intricate parts in all shapes and sizes.  When it is all done, it will be the Batmobile...right now, it is a "form" of what it will become when it is done.  Needless to say, we did not finish the project, but we have a good start with a framework created to continue building upon at our next time together.

My oldest grandson could look at the illustrations, find the correct pieces and then place them together in order.  My youngest, bless his heart, picked up those that interested him, placed them together and occasionally asked his older brother to assist in "making them fit" to accomplish what it was he wanted them to do.  At one point, we needed the parts he had in order to complete the structure we were building upon.  It took some doing to "create" something he'd play with from that point on, but his brother tried.

At one point, my mom asked if I knew what time it was.  I don't make it a habit to wear my watch on weekends, so I really had no clue.  She announced that it was nearing 6 p.m.  We had been so totally absorbed in placing those pieces together that we had not even noticed the passage of time.  The moments had blurred into several hours of concerted effort to create the project.

That is kind of how things are with God and his children.  He nuzzles up alongside us and begins the process of working "from scratch" with lots of pieces that will become something awesome in the end.  He has all the instructions clear in his mind on how this gets accomplished, gives us the direction book to follow (his Word), and then helps us "fit together" the pieces in the right order.

At one point, we could not find the two pieces we needed to create the next level of gears that operate the steering system for this vehicle.  My grandson suggested we build it without those pieces and just see if it works.  I chuckled inside because I could remember repeated times when I had similar conversations with God about what he was "building" in my life!  I wanted to just plunge ahead "without all the pieces" and take my chances that things would work out all right in the end!

Isn't that so like us? We want to follow the instructions, but when the work of "finding the pieces" becomes too difficult, we just want to give up and move on.  Needless to say, being the type A personality that I am, I insisted that we find the pieces!  I think God must be a type A, too!

Life has a lot of pieces that need to get fit together in right order.  When we get outside of that order, things just don't work out as they should.  I don't think we realize that when we make those decisions to "not have all the pieces" or when we use "pieces" that really belong at a step further on in the project of life.  We just want an "end" to the phase we are in, so we grasp for what comes easiest to us.  

There is a purpose for each step.  One builds upon the other.  One step out of right order affects the outcome in the end - there is no escaping that fact.  Life is pretty "detailed" - the security of following each of the instructions we are given at each step of the way ensures that the "details" will create a good foundation for what comes next!  So, build on!