Putting It All Together ...by Sr. Monika

Life is just not easy. Life is life--with its challenges, problems, peaks of enjoyment, and depths of despair--no matter what lifestyle you choose or where you live. I happen to live in a monastery, and I know this lifestyle is no refuge from the “cares of the world.” So when I need a refuge, I turn to a jigsaw puzzle and let the puzzle process teach me its wisdom.

When I take refuge in a puzzle I find that the subconscious part of me is putting together a puzzle of its own. The problems and challenges I face consciously are being worked out unconsciously. I come away from the puzzle with a plan for the project, a better handle on relating to people, or a way to contend better with the next step of my interior journey.

Back in 1989 I put together a “Flat Banana"--a virtually all yellow 500-piece puzzle. Little by little the pieces began to fit together, and I was hooked by this puzzle’s particular attraction and challenge. When I tried to use logic or effort to get these yellow pieces to come together, the puzzle resisted me. Time and again my own exertion proved fruitless. When I gave up, the pieces sometimes came together as if by their own power. The puzzle worked itself out as I sat beside it in expectation. I began recognizing subtle but critical differences in shade and shape. It is no coincidence that I happened to be sorting out material in my personal life at the same time I was playing with, sitting with, and working on the yellow puzzle.

For me, working on a jigsaw puzzle is an avenue of allowing right-brained creativity to anoint my otherwise left-brained life. The puzzle process is a fitting metaphor for my experience of the human journey with and toward God. When visitors come to our monastery seeking temporary refuge from “the world,” I welcome them. But when I need refuge, I go to the puzzle and let it fit me together.

 [Partial reprint of an article I wrote for the June/July 1989 issue of Sisters Today, a now defunct magazine--Sr. Monika]