Lessons from the Puzzle (Fitting the Pieces Together)

I keep looking for the magnet that is somewhere buried within this puzzle. It keeps drawing me to it even though I really do have many other things that need to be done. My 90-something Grandmother was here yesterday. She watched as we all frantically hunted for just the right piece to put in place, but she never tried to put even one of the pieces in place. She appeared to be studying us more than she was studying the puzzle.

I thought to myself that since she has had so many years of life experience, she should surely know the answer to my riddle – “WHAT is it about the puzzle that is SO addictive?!” So, I asked her. Her response was funny to me. She said, “I don’t know. I don’t have that problem. I have lots of other problems, but I don’t have that one.” Again, it showed me how we are all different.

My Dad on the other hand, would work a while and accomplish much and then say, “Enough is enough.” I would say, “You’ll be back.” And in a few minutes he always came back. I think if I had quit, he wouldn’t have come back. So, maybe it’s not so much the puzzle that was the magnet for him, but it was me. Maybe I was the reason he kept coming back? Although, I left a time or two to do some laundry and he was still working on it when I came back. So, even though he made out like he could quit at any time. I really wonder. He is an addict too I think.

Here’s the lesson that hit me this morning after spending the day with my Dad and StepMom and then later with my Mom – all working on the puzzle as if we couldn’t get enough: We know all the pieces are there (or at least they were when we started – a kid or animal may have run off with some since then), they just aren’t in the right spot. It’s not like we have a bunch of unrelated pieces to different puzzles. They all fit in there somewhere. They all belong to THIS puzzle. It’s just a matter of finding how they fit together and which one goes where. That’s the trick. Each piece is different – no two are alike. They fit in different ways and have different colors. But, they all fit in the same puzzle.

This morning while I journaled, I got another small clarified glimpse into my life. For a brief second, things became clearer. It was as if a few more of the pieces of my life fell into place. I somehow got those pieces turned just the right way so that they fit together. And each time I find a place for one more piece, it makes me want to try even harder to get the next piece in place.

When I look back over my life, it seems as though one day I woke up and my life looked like a puzzle I had just opened and poured out of the box (My Sister helped me to see it this way). All the pieces were there, but they were a jumbled mess. Some were upside down and all I could see was the brown cardboard backing. Others were hidden under the other pieces. But, they were all there.

At times I could pick up one of the pieces and look at it really closely and figure out what that one little piece was supposed to be. That made it easier to place it in the right spot within the bigger picture. Sometimes, just that little bit of clarity would help me place those two or three pieces into the even bigger picture of my life.

What I do know is that all the pieces are there. My middle son, Mason, has ALWAYS loved to sneak one piece of the puzzle and hide it somewhere until we’ve finished every thing else. We always thought that a piece was missing. Sometime during the night or when no one was looking, Mason would put the final piece in the puzzle. He has always been my practical joker. I think he could see just how addicted we were and that we would drive ourselves crazy looking for that piece even though it was no where to be found.

I trust that God does not have that same sense of humor. All the pieces to my life are there. And if I look at the pieces closely enough, I’ll be able to see exactly where they go. Ok, so sometimes I have to look at the picture on the box to figure things out. But, isn’t that what God is for? I can go to Him and ask Him to clue me in. He may not speak to me in an audible voice, but He has promised to give me everything I’ve asked for. And if I ask for clarity, I will get it. It may not be in the way that I expected, but I will get it.

The problem I used to have was that I didn’t realize that I needed clarity. As a matter of fact, I was so busy blaming every body for taking my pieces or dumping me out of the box, that I never realized that all my pieces were there. When I finally realized that the pieces are there, and that I just needed to turn them around and get them in the right place, my life started getting better and clearer. The greatest part is that the more pieces I put in place, the fewer misplaced pieces there are left. It also makes finding the spots for those pieces a lot easier too.

I’m beginning to look at each piece a little differently. I’m examining it more closely and then asking for clarity as to where that piece might fit. I try to turn it around and look at it from many different angles. The more pieces I get in place, the more the big picture comes into view. Eventually, it all begins to make sense. I trust that the other pieces will all fall into place.