The Puzzle Called Life

At times do you see a box of puzzle pieces just waiting for someone to help you put them together or maybe you have started to put the pieces together? 

I know as a child, I enjoyed putting big puzzles together. Getting started on a 500 or 1000 puzzle was like a treasure hunt of a sorts, but at times it would get very frustrating when it seemed as though a vital piece of the puzzle was missing. When starting all puzzles though it is always best to start with the outer edge and work on it little by little—laying the foundation. Working on the puzzle a little at a time was fun and challenging, without a lot of unneeded pressure.

It is somewhat like the challenge that an artist faces when coming to a blank canvas. What the artist sees is not necessarily what everyone else sees. Here is a story of a man who was working on a master piece from his eyes:

The Big Picture
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

A high school hired my friend George, an artist, to repaint the school mascot – a yellow jacket – on a football stadium wall. This was a difficult task because the painting was so large that the painter could only see a small portion of it at a time.

George had to stand a distance away in order to see the whole picture and give directions to another painter. If George's assistant had tried to paint according to his own limited perspective, seeing only a small part of the picture, he could have made a mistake. By following George's directions, however, he helped create an image that delights school sports fans.

Our life with God is something like George's view of the wall. As we face life's challenges, we are not in a position to see the whole picture, neither of the world nor of our own lives. We see only a small portion. If we rely only on our limited perspective, we risk calamity. Instead, we can choose to trust God–the One who sees the whole picture–to direct our efforts. If we do, God can work through us to create something delightful.

Prayer: O God, direct us in living out the beautiful picture you envision, rather than following only our limited vision. Amen.

Just like this painting needed someone to see things from the bigger perspective, so also we need someone to help us put the puzzle together.  And ultimately this is where God and others of importants come in to aid us in putting the pieces together. After working days or sometimes weeks on a puzzle you see how portions of the puzzle are coming together and soon the puzzle would start looking like the picture on the box.  As you might expect, there was always that one piece or two missing, but in due time the pieces would find their way into the puzzle and the master piece would be completed.

God is the same way and He is the One who is holding the key pieces to our puzzle of life. He will put them in place when the timing is right.  Yes, we would love to know where all the missing pieces are, but the time is not right.  Only God knows when the puzzle needs to look like the picture on the box—enjoy the moment as God puts the pieces of your puzzle together!

 

The Lord said, "I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."

Habakkuk 1:5