PICKING UP THE PIECES


Once every couple of years, I decide to put together a puzzle.  Being iced/snowed in for a couple of days seemed the perfect time to start another one.  It looked easy enough---looks can be deceiving.  It took more than a couple of days to finish this lovely winter scene.  Once the pieces are all on the table face up--I am on a mission to get it put together.  Once finished, I spend~ perhaps 30 minutes looking at the completed project and then systematically take it apart~with no two pieces left connected.

This puzzle was filled with whites, reds, and blues.  Subtle differences in the shades are the only clue as to what belongs together.  The shape of the pieces must fit nicely together.  Beginning with small bits and pieces of the scene--before you realize it the big picture begins to form.  There is one down side to puzzles---if one piece is lost---there is a void in the picture.  A hole left in the otherwise peaceful~beautiful scene.

The rug under the table where I worked on the puzzle is multi-colored.  It has white, red, and blue in addition to yellow and brown.  A few pieces were accidentally brushed off the table onto the rug in the process of shifting 1000 pieces around to find matches.  The time finally came when there a few holes left, but no more pieces on the table to fill in the gaps.  A thorough search of the rug revealed several pieces that blended into the rug perfectly and missed my notice when concentrating on the pieces in front of me.  The puzzle would not have been complete had I not found, picked up and inserted those pieces.  The missing pieces of the puzzle were the key to finishing a beautiful scene.

This is a wonderful analogy for a number of subjects rolling around in my head.  The one thought that kept bubbling to the surface was life.  Each and every day is a piece of the puzzle which forms our lives.  It takes each and every piece to complete the picture of our trek through life.  If you look closely at the finished puzzle, you will notice a couple of barren trees---not so beautiful when taken alone~but an intricate part of the entire scene as a whole.  Some pieces of the puzzle we would really like to do without, but the scene is not complete until each and every piece is in place.



This reminds me of a passage from The Shack.  The Holy Spirit is showing Mack the beauty of the tapestry of life and the world as seen from above.  When viewing it from ground level it seems to be a hazy kaleidoscope of color and mist which makes no sense.  From God's view, it is breath-taking beautiful.



So--keep putting your puzzle together--remember each piece is important to the integrity of the beauty of the whole.  Even when the pieces seem unnecessary--unneeded--unwanted---once completed God's tapestry of our lives is a magnificent work of art.


11 He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does. 12 So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive. 13 All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.
14 I know that everything God does will last forever.
 You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it.
 And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him.
Ecclesiastes 3:11-14


12 comments

  1. I remember the day I had a jigsaw puzzle. On the box was a picture of a beautiful green cockerel. I eagerly opened the box and emptied all the pieces on the table. To my dismay they were all yellow and different sizes. Crunchy too!

    There is nothing more frustrating than when you finish a jigsaw puzzle and find a piece missing. Today I finally finished a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle I git for Christmas – and guess what. There’s a piece extra in the box.

    So if any of you out there have a jigsaw piece missing from your puzzle, maybe it’s the one I’ve got!

    Which reminds of something I read somewhere … life can be a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Full of doubts, fears, frustrations and confusions … as well as good times too. If we were to put God right in the middle of our life our jigsaw puzzle would be complete. And what a wonderful picture it would make!

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An EXTRA piece would send me over the edge, Victor! Crunchy pieces- sounds like your chips got into the puzzle box!

      YES, God in the middle- exactly!
      Blessings. My Friend!

      Delete
  2. Puzzles...this blog brings back so many memories...as children, my cousin and I would race to see could put the most together...my grandmother always had a puzzle going...when we had Christmas at the cabin at D’arbonne Lake, everyone would join in to complete the fun. Puzzles of life can be different yet the same. Pieces get lost, then found. Some pieces get slightly damaged around the edges and make that part of the whole picture a little wrinkly. But guess what, God loves us if we’ve got all the pieces or if we are missing a few or if our puzzle of life is a little wrinkly. Thank goodness, because some days my puzzle has all the pieces face up, but they don’t seem to be fitting together. That’s when God steps in and encourages me to keep putting together one piece at a time. Thanks for this beautiful reflection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AHHH, Vannie, your thoughts are the perfect synopsis of what I was trying to say. Thank you!
      Blessings, My Friend!

      Delete
  3. Beautiful post!! I think we all need to stop a bit and think about all the pieces of our life. The good, bad and the ugly...and what we could, should, would have done, the people placed in it, the missing parts and realize that God's hand was in all of it, whether for teaching or correction when we took the wrong path or just the joy of living in His beautiful world. Good words, Loralu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you & every day has God in it!
      Blessings!!

      Delete
  4. What a beautiful and thoughtful post. Picking up the pieces, alot of that goes through my head too. Smiles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, always picking up the pieces!
      Blessings!

      Delete
  5. Wonderful analogy, Loralu! We can't see the entire picture of our lives, but it is so reassuring to know that God does.
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!