I love jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles to me are relaxing and help me decompress from what life can bring during the day.
If you have ever done a puzzle, and I am sure you have, then you know they are easy in the beginning, right? You put all the border pieces together and form the frame. After that, it tends to get harder. I can spend quite a bit of time looking for the next piece that fits.
My daughter, on the other hand, has a gift. She will just walk by the table, look at the box, pull out one piece and immediately know exactly where to place it. It’s incredible! She can see the whole picture and knows instantly where that singular piece fits in.
Isn’t that how God is? He has the whole view of our life. He already knows what the “image” is – the final picture. He knows where and how each piece will connect in our lives to create the picture. Most of the time we try to force pieces to fit where they don’t go. We get frustrated when it looks like a piece should fit and it doesn’t. (I admit that there have been times where I have wanted to grab that pair of scissors and make one fit!)
What about when you finish the puzzle and there is one piece missing? We see it as frustrating and incomplete in a negative way. The truth is God knows where the missing pieces are in our lives. He is waiting for His time to place them into the whole puzzle of our lives to fulfill His purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
If you are struggling to find out how the pieces fit together or where they go, place your trust in the Maker of the final image. He knows. We just have to trust. Maybe, just maybe, at the end of the storms in our lives or at the end of our lives, will we be able to look back and see how all the pieces fit.
His grace for my shame
His death for my blame
His stripes for my pain
And the pieces fit
His joy for my grief
His hurt my relief
My doubt his belief
And the pieces fit
– Considering Lily; “The Pieces Fit”
Raelyn Pracht 