The Pitfall of Labels

I can’t finish an easy sudoku and it’s driving me nuts! I recently got back into sudoku and will attempt to do whatever one arrives in the paper each day. Each puzzle is labeled with its difficulty: gentle, moderate, difficult, impossible. Usually the gentle ones are straightforward and take minutes to complete. And the impossible ones are…impossible.

But every once in a while one will appear mislabeled to me. I will find that I speed through a difficult one having no hang ups, or—as in the case today—I will limp along attempting to finish an easy one.

Sometimes my life feels this way too. There will be tasks that my mind knows should be “easy” or “hard” or somewhere in between but for whatever reason they end up feeling a bit mislabeled. I can’t quite keep the house in order, though on most days everything is right where it should be. Or my mothering feels like a labor that I struggle through, begging God for every ounce of patience he can spare and send my way. Some things that I dread, and have labeled difficult, end up causing few disruptions to my life.

I like labels because they help me know what to expect. I like to be prepared and move accordingly. It is a strength and a weakness, as this affinity for labels and order makes me not great at accepting the unexpected.

But God tells me not to lean too heavily on labels. Labels can become a shortcut that allows me to detour around a reliance on God to guide me through my day.

Recently I’ve tried to stop looking at the label of the sudoku before I start it. To not walk into the experience with a preconceived notion of what it should feel like or how quickly it should get done. Because while many labels can be helpful they aren’t necessary.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

What are the labels in your life that are holding you back or keeping you from God’s design for you?