Crosswords and Crossroads

Crosswords and Crossroads

The Sunday paper lay on the table, opened up to the puzzle page for the day… Sudoku, Word Search, Jumble…  and, of course, the ever-beguiling Sunday Crossword.  Confident I could throw down a few quick answers, I grabbed a pencil and read the first clues.
1-across:  1941 film director H. Bruce _____
12-across:  Belgium’s Nat. flower, briefly (2 wds)

OK, I’m sure all the cinephile euro-botanists are laughing at me right now, but come on… does anyone really know this stuff?

Some clues cast doubt on whether there was even a correct answer or not.
23-down:  Accessible by ladder, maybe?
Let’s see… that narrows things down to about a billion possibilities!

Further down I found this case-study in absurdity:
75-across: Something that goes with  83-down
83-down:  Something that goes with 75-across

The only answer I was really sure of was that I would never figure this thing out on my own!  I needed Google... I needed a crossword dictionary... I needed advice from the word-puzzle-guru, herself -- my mom!

Do you ever have similar hopeless feelings when you’re looking for direction in life?  Like there are too many difficult questions or possible scenarios, and you just can’t put the pieces together on your own?  Seeking answers from the Lord may feel a little like doing the Sunday Crossword at times.  We desire a fast solution that's clearly spelled out for us, but it’s usually not that simple.  It can take a while, and we may need to dig deep for answers.

The best news is we don’t have to do this puzzle alone -- in fact, we shouldn’t do it alone!  We can look for wisdom from above in the Bible.  We can seek advice and counsel from Christian books or websites, or from godly friends and family.  We can ask others to pray with us for God to reveal His will for our lives.

Proverbs 3:6 says, “Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”   My reference Bible footnotes the first part like this:  “Seek His will by seeking His wise aid.” 

Think about it - this verse guarantees a solution!  No matter what puzzle life can present, we’ll never be stumped if we seek help from the Lord.

- Ron Reid 

 For further reference: Dr. Dave wrote an article on this topic years ago, and eventually developed it into an entire course entitled, Christian Decision Making.