I’m building a log chair.  Should be a rather simple process of putting a bunch of sticks together right?  But you see that one short log spindle laying on the ground in front of the chair?  That one piece has caused the whole log chair to not fit.  The small spindle was cut to fit on the left arm side.  When placed in the holes cut specifically for it, it fit!!  It fit perfect!!  But every one of the other spindles and logs were suddenly no longer tight.

Still in a delay and waiting on building the log house, I chose this log chair project as an afternoon chore.  A simple design, small logs and limbs readily available, the building task was begun.  But instead of a quick construction of my own chair, it became a time when I scratched my head, measured and re-measured.  This fitting together of several log pieces has become perplexing,confusing, and……..a mystery.

How can one piece cause all the others to not fit?  How can all the pieces of the chair fit tightly, until I add the one single perfectly cut piece.  Then the chair is as “loose as a goose”.

Honestly I never figured it out.  Maybe the holes were cut at an angle, or the spindle was bent, or my measuring was off.  What ever the reason, it didn’t fit.  So,……… I got rid of what I thought was the perfect fitting log spindle, and replaced it with another.  Lo and behold if the chair  now fits perfectly together all over.  The connections are tight.  I’m on my way to having a tight fitting homemade log chair.  Never quite figured out the mystery, but the chair is being completed.

⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  Ephesians 1:8-10 NIV

Friends, if I can’t figure out the mystery of my log chair, then this spiritual MYSTERY of how God wants to Be in our lives is even more complicated to explain.  Through Christ, God “constructs” a perfect fit for us to be with Him.  Our own way of thinking sometimes causes us to try to add what we think is a “perfect fitting piece” to our spiritual life.  But that seems like when our whole spiritual existence becomes “loose as a goose”.  Solution???  Better to let God do the measuring, the carving, the whittling in our lives.  Better to let God have control.  Why God would send His Son into the world for little ole me and you is….. well, it’s a mystery.

I love a mystery.  When the mystery is being lived out daily, maybe I need to focus more on the mysteries and not necessarily trying so hard to solve them.

I’m now looking forward to sitting in my log chair pondering life’s mysteries.  Knowing and believing my God has all the solutions gives me a relaxing fresh breath of life.  It’s still a mystery………

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wildernesspreacher, “scratchin’ my head as I go through life”.