Karen’s Notes
Celebrating Nine Years of Sharing from this Glory-Bound Lady
Volume 9 Number 19
Post # 420 “Easy To Assemble, So Read the Box!”
May 13th, 2026

Here’s something of which I am absolutely, totally, completely, devotedly sure.
Any product that comes unassembled in a box that is labeled “Easy to Assemble” doesn’t mean it. The product designers are lying. Yes, I do believe it is a conspiracy to make us men look bad in front of our wives.

“Easy to Assemble,” it read. If it weren’t for the fact that it would have been a bad testimony, I would have sued that company and the engineers that designed that child’s swing set on the basis of fraudulent advertising. It caused me to smile today. At the time of working on that swing set, I don’t think I smiled. In fact, I am quite sure I wasn’t smiling.

Bear with me. Let me lay out the story.
Over forty-five years ago, Karen and I bought our little boy a swing set. In addition to the two swings and a slide, it had the alphabet written on the legs. The “design” of the set allowed the alphabet to be going upward from the ground or downward from the top. You just had to be sure that each leg was connected correctly. This “Easy to Assemble” labeling was absolutely not true. We spent the afternoon trying to understand the directions, find the parts, and assemble what seemed to be ten trillion nuts, bolts and screws. I’ll share the rest of the story in just a moment.

If you were in any of Karen’s retreats, you might have heard the story. One retreat had the theme of “Handmade by Design.” First, think of this wonderful verse.

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

Here’s what Karen wrote in one of her illustrations using Jeremy’s swing set.
In keeping with the theme, if you wanted to bake a cake, you would follow the recipe. If you wanted to build a house, you would follow the blueprint. If you wanted to make a dress, you would follow the pattern. The directions must be followed if you want the finished product to turn out correctly. Sometimes directions can be confusing when assembling things. Steps might be missing and sometimes parts are not included.

God is the Master Designer. Just as there is a purpose for a cake, or a house, or even a dress, God has a purpose for you. He made you! He has given you the blueprint, the Bible, for His directions for our lives.

And now for the rest of the story.
Remember, the swing set was designed so that the entire alphabet was written on each of the four legs. The letters could go from ground to top or top to ground. They had to be placed early in the assembly process.

Finally! It was finished, EXCEPT. All the alphabet letters ran the same direction on three of the legs. Not on the fourth. As we stepped back and looked, there was the obvious leg with the letters running in the opposite direction. We decided not to disassemble it. Rather, we kept it just as it was and used it as a point of humor when our friends saw it and later as illustrations concerning God’s Word.

“Easy to Assemble” is not always the case. However, we can rejoice that God’s Word, though profound, is His letter to us. We can read it. We can believe it. We can embrace it. We can live it out in our lives with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

I am glad that God’s Word has clear directions. The Master Designer has created us and communicated with us. Aren’t we blessed?