It’s Coming Together

I woke up one morning with the thought, “My life feels like a puzzle.”

I enjoy working on jigsaw puzzles. For me, the process of putting together a puzzle is quite interesting. I prefer 1,000 pieces. I feel a little excitement when I begin. Like most people, I start with the border. I go through the pieces to find all the border pieces and assemble them. That is the easy part.

After that, a different feeling starts to settle in. The excitement wanes and I begin to wonder why I enjoy this. The remaining pieces make me feel a bit overwhelmed, as though I will never figure it out. For much longer than necessary, I stare intently at the box top, studying the picture of what the completed puzzle should look like. Eventually I decide which interior pieces I would like to start with based on how easy I think a particular section will be. I start to sift through all the pieces again.

After finding several potential pieces for the section I’d like to work on, I start to try them and see if they fit. It feels like an endless task that will take forever. Even though I have the picture to guide me, what happens is that I try several pieces before finding the right one that fits perfectly. It can be frustrating. Occasionally, I pick up a piece for the first time, try it, and it fits. It almost feels like a miracle. Those victories are few and far between. Still, I am encouraged to press on and complete the puzzle.

At some point, I give up and decide I will try again tomorrow. The next day, with a fresh mindset on tap, I start the process again. I am full of optimism because of the progress I know I’ll make. It turns out to be a repeat of the previous day. I make progress, but it seems small. I tell myself that I will not be defeated. I will carry on.

After several days of this, at some point there is a shift. I can see how much I’ve completed, and it starts to feel great. I work faster toward completion because the more I work on it, the easier it gets. Finally, I get down to the last piece and feel proud of my accomplishment. I stare at it and feel amazed at my work.

When comparing my life to a puzzle, I started to think about the biggest differences between the two. In life, we do not get a picture of what the finished puzzle will look like. We have no idea how many pieces the puzzle has, or any details at all. Depending on our mindset, we can only trust that the journey of completing the puzzle will be the most amazing journey, leading to the most beautiful, completed puzzle ever; or it will be a terrible, stressful journey resulting in an ugly picture that we don’t want anyone to see.

As humans, I imagine that we all fall somewhere in between those two mindsets at any given time, depending on the puzzle pieces (life circumstances) we are currently working with. This is where the importance of my faith journey truly matters.

The only guide that I have is God. Although at times the path is painful, I feel so much joy knowing that my only task is to trust God completely and be led the way that He wants me to go. I do not need to see the full picture because I trust that what God is putting together is amazing and beautiful. I don’t have to try several pieces that I’ve created on my own to find the one that fits perfectly. When I am walking the right path, God gives me the right piece the first time. It is up to me to trust what He has given to me, and to put that piece in its correct place. I am certainly not perfect, so I have tried on many occasions to create my own pieces and make them fit. God did not intend for them to fit, and I am learning that it only delays what He is trying to do in my life. I have finally accepted this, and it makes the journey so much easier.

I just had a funny thought. If you do not know me personally, you may be picturing me at home with a blanket that I’ve knitted covering my shoulders as I sit at a table surrounded by my five cats while I work on a puzzle of the lighthouses across America. Of course, Wheel of Fortune is on TV in the background. I can assure you, that is not me. Not sure why I felt the need to clear that up. My mom enjoyed working on puzzles so maybe this is something that I got from her.

At any rate, I hope that sharing my perspective will help you in your journey; or at the very least entertain you for a few minutes. Hopefully, things are great for you right now. If not, I pray that you can trust that what God is putting together for you will come together perfectly.

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