When I was young I went to a friend’s house and he was doing a jigsaw where every piece was the same colour.
Quite a tedious jigsaw in my opinion. So to be funny, when he was out of the room, I took one piece and hid it under a little decoration on his mantlepiece, (above the fireplace), and all my friends giggled.
A few weeks later our friends were there again, and his jigsaw was complete. Except for one piece! And he was explaining that somehow they had lost one piece. Suddenly I remembered the piece which I had hidden. And sheepishly I lifted the decoration and passed him the piece.
I felt so bad, I had completely forgotten the hidden piece almost the second I had put it there. (None of my friends remembered either.) And I realised how frustrated he must have been trying to find that piece. And how bad he must have felt having worked so long to complete the puzzle, and then being unable to do it.

Practical jokes can go so wrong can’t they.
That was one thing God had to teach me when I became a Christian. (Years after the jigsaw thing).
Proverbs 26 has a very important verse for me…
Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbour and says, “I was only joking!”

The other annoying thing we, (ok, I), do is come along to someone doing a jigsaw, and we see them pick up a piece and we point … “that goes there”… then the next piece, … then the next. Then for some reason they often want to take a break and go and get a coffee or go for a walk!
As much as we think we’re helping, they don’t want our help because they’re trying to do it themselves. And they’ve already done so much of the puzzle, and we end up robbing them of that immense satisfaction of finishing something difficult and knowing you did it yourself.

I wonder if, as parents, and as disciplers/mentors we can sometimes do the same thing?
We interfere too much, telling them what to do, when actually they’ve got this.
It might be easier for them if we help, but are we robbing of them something bigger?
If they get through it, just them and God, they’ll grow. And they’ll know they can do bigger things next time, just them and God.
By all means keep an eye on them in case they do need and want help, but sometimes we should just watch from a distance and pray for their success and growth. But let them learn in a way that they’ll never forget that lesson, not in a way that just makes them dependent on you.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it

Remember the lesson of the Prodigal Son?
The father could have said, “No, you can’t have your inheritance. That wouldn’t be good for you. I’ll keep building it up for you until you’re ready.”
But instead the father let his son go. He let him learn his own life lessons.
It was risky. His son might never have come home. No Facebook and mobile phones in those days. That could literally have been the last time he ever saw or heard of his son again.

And when the puzzle did get to be too much for his son, he did go back home. He did ask for help.
And the father poured out his love for him, and helped him get back on track.
(Remember that too if you’re the jigsaw doer. If you’re the one doing the jigsaw by yourself and it does get too hard. Reach out. God will provide someone to help you).

Yeshua did the same when he sent out the twelve.
He paired them up, but then sent them out by themselves and waited for them to come back and then he talked about what they had learned. He didn’t go with them.
Instead of watching Yeshua cast out demons and healing the sick, they learned that they could do that too!

So if you’re an interfering helper … let them go. Make sure they know that you care about them, and that you’re here if they need help. But let them learn by themselves whenever possible so they get the maximum out of it, and so they learn to not be totally dependent on you for everything. Then when you are gone, they’ll be OK.
And in fact, by then they’ll be raising up the next generation of jigsawers.