Do the words Assembly Required strike fear in your heart, or do you accept the phrase as a challenge to be conquered? Admittedly, as a person who enjoys the contest of piecing together puzzles, I achieve a sense of accomplishment when a finished product mirrors the image on the box and there are no remaining pieces unused. Now, had I read the words Assembly Required at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve with a child awaiting the finished product come morning, my feelings may have shifted from embracing the challenge ahead to one of fear and frustration. Growing up, I heard the humorous story of my sister’s third Christmas and the kitchen set purchased from Sears where the required assembly turned into a disaster and the unassembled kitchen ended up being stuffed into the trunk of the car to be returned ASAP! Perhaps that lesson resonated early and so any child’s toy I purchased was fully assembled.

Recently, while reading Charlotte Gambill’s The Miracle in the Middle, I was reminded of how often in life we desire the finished product but aren’t too keen on the Messy Middle required to achieve the end result. Gambill shares her story of Assembly Required, “Not too long ago I went to IKEA for a set of dresser drawers. I was in a rush and found one on a shelf that seemed to fit the requirements, so I put it in my shopping cart and headed to the exit.” If you’ve ever shopped IKEA, you know where this story is heading. “At the cash desk, a very unfriendly clerk asked me what I was doing…She proceeded to tell me I had to go to Aisle G, Row 24, for those drawers, as what I had in my cart was an already-built unit for display purposes only…I didn’t like her suggestion at all, so I persisted in asking if I could take the assembled drawers that I had already loaded…My problem was that I did not want to have to build something using the instructions. I wanted it to already be made. But if I wanted to have the desired piece of furniture, I was going to have to go to Aisle G, Row 24, and build it myself.”

The lesson Gambill is sharing through this narrative is one that I struggle with personally, even when I know that there is Assembly Required to cultivate a flourishing life. Gambill challenges readers, “The same principle applies when we follow Christ. We may occasionally have the blessing of something that has happened due to a God-intervention or provision. But the more we follow Him, the more we find that He will send us to Aisle G time and time again-as He wants to teach us, not do everything for us.” Sometimes I can be a little stubborn and like Gambill, refuse to return to Aisle G because that’s the Messy Middle! I want to be the finished flourishing product without the struggles and the pain that often accompanies the growth.

In the same way that I reject the Assembly Required path to my personal, professional, and spiritual growth, I see college students who are seeking the finished product as well. They desire to own the finished dresser, or the knowledge that comes from the content of a course, without engaging in the building of the finished product. Checking a course off a curriculum map or receiving a passing grade for a class becomes the desired outcome rather than building the essential skills necessary for growth which will ultimately lead to their success in the professional world. Skipping over the assembly process holds greater appeal than struggling through the material. As an educator, I am forever searching for avenues to engage students in the process of controlled floundering so that they can flourish in their God-given vocation.

Whether the Assembly Required message appears on the box of a child’s toy, the instructions for building a dresser, the assignments in a college course, or the journey to spiritual growth, we would all be wise to read the instructions provided by the manufacturer. And for the last scenario, the more we read from Scripture, “the more we look like the Manufacturer of this manual. The problem is that too many times we don’t want to read the instructions, so we put up poorly constructed marriages, faltering faith, or broken beliefs. We try to take someone else’s life off the shelf and copy that model to save us time and effort.”

Have you experienced a time when God was asking you to follow His instructions and spend some time in the Assembly Required portion of the process? What was the outcome when you allowed the time necessary for proper assembly?

References:

Gambill, C. (2015). The miracle in the middle: Finding God’s voice in the void. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.