The nine goes here, the three goes there. Now what? I am stuck. I set the puzzle down and come back to it the next day. Eureka! There it is. The solution presents itself, and soon all the boxes are filled.
Sudoku? A waste of time, I used to say. Now I have become a devotee. I am told that we get a boost of positive feeling upon solving a puzzle (thus the popularity of crosswords). It is also good clean escapism from the storms and stresses of life.
Sudoku focuses the mind in a very interesting way. To solve it, you must simultaneously see narrow and wide, relate parts to wholes, and use both logic and spatial awareness. You cannot guess, as there is only one solution ( a good tonic for the unhelpful relativism that says anything is a solution). This process makes creative, lateral thinking work together with strict logical thinking. It marries the right and left brain.
If you can be trusted with little, you can be trusted with much. (Luke 16:10) Doing an activity that is low-stakes and “little,” we prepare ourselves for the higher-stakes “much.” By allowing ourselves a puzzle, can we see the possibility that every number has a place, that everything belongs, and that everything will fit? Could I train myself not to worry in this way?
Help me to trust that everything in life will fit into Your one solution. Amen.
