The Great Search
Over the past weekend, we have been wading through a ridiculous amount of Lego. A friend of ours dropped of a few old crates which made all of us very excited. As I let my eyes wander over this immense haul, my eyes caught something.
It was the Millennium Falcon window piece.
Now for those readers who are neither Star Wars or Lego enthusiasts, the Millennium Falcon Lego set is up there as one of the great classics.
I was faced with a choice as I held that window piece in my hand. Either I let it go because of the immense effort that would be required to search through this huge amount of Lego to find all of the pieces, or we could do it. If we let it go, we could just get on with our lives but maybe feel regret for not jumping in, or we could risk spending the next few days on all fours searching.
We chose to do the later.
I don’t know how many hours we spent over the next few days searching and searching and searching for the 1300+ pieces that were all mixed in together. It was a long, frustrating and painful process. It was physically draining. My eyes grew more and more tired as the hours dragged on. My knees became red from being on them all day. My back began to ache from being in a constant hunched-over position. But after three days, we did it. It was finished.
The search was over.
We had conquered the Lego pile. And we were the proud new owners of the Millennium Falcon. Although there were a couple of pieces missing, but none that a quick search on Bricklink won’t fix, it looks fantastic. It is now the pride and joy of our kids. As we finished it, we were filled with an overwhelming sense of achievement. There were times we found ourselves regretting this decision to build it. There were times we felt like giving up because the search was too hard. But it was all worth it.
It made me think about the searches we go on in life. The people, the experiences, the possessions, the meaning we chase in this life. We can find ourselves searching and searching to find what it is we are looking for. What might it be for you? In the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, King Solomon writes about his own great search for meaning in this life and says this in Ecclesiastes 2:3 -
‘I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.’
His conclusion, if you read Ecclesiastes is that so much of this life in meaningless. Which makes searching seem like a bleak endeavour doesn’t it – like wading through a never-ending pile of Lego, just to find a single 1x2 beige clip. But look how Jesus answers the quest of the great search in Mathew 7:7 -
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.’
Keep searching. The end result is truly amazing and worth it in the end.
This reflection was first published by Orange City Life.
More Reflections.
Often, we build something up so much in our minds, that the experience we want becomes almost unattainable. We romanticise what we think it will be like and we think “If I can just do this one thing or tick this one experience off my bucket list, then I will be able to feel a sense of fulfilment that I wouldn’t necessarily have had otherwise”.