An icon from icon theme Crystal Clear. Русский: Иконка из темы Crystal Clear. Česky: Ikonka z ikonkové sady Crystal Clear. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Puzzle Pieces

Puzzles are made up of many different pieces. Often we can’t see where they all fit together right away. Our relationships and interactions with people are very similar. Sometimes it is clear to us that a certain person crossed our path or a certain event occurred for a specific reason. The puzzle pieces seem to fit together and make sense. At other times, we see no purpose in an interaction we have had with someone and are eager to discard that piece of the puzzle. We deem it useless.

I have often thought that this is a dangerous practice because what we fail to realize is that God is often giving us pieces to more than one puzzle. Now this may seem confusing and difficult to us, but we are not capable of seeing what is in the heart or mind of God. He has a picture of the many puzzles of our lives that we can’t begin to fathom. He works in ways we cannot begin to comprehend. We have often times not grown to the point where we can see the importance of the various pieces of the puzzles which make up our lives. So instead of discarding puzzle pieces that we cannot make sense of, we must trust that many of the pieces we are being given do, in fact, belong in our puzzles. It is just that we cannot fit them into the puzzle yet in ways that we understand. So we must trust that He is a work on the puzzle in ways unknown and be careful with all of our puzzle pieces.

This often becomes clear to me as I write. Many of the things that I reflect on seem to fit together, but others seem to have no place in my current understanding. What I have come to understand is that I must preserve the thoughts as they come to me, realizing that as they come, they form part of a picture that I may not yet be able to see. Perhaps this is because I have not matured to the place of being able to understand them yet. Perhaps it is just not the right time for me to see the picture yet. Perhaps it will all become clear at a later time. Or perhaps, it is not me who is to see and understand it at all.

The Word of God is much like this. We often receive pieces of it over time. Sometimes the words make perfect sense. Sometimes we find them confusing and have trouble putting them together to form a picture of God that we can readily understand. What we must realize is that it may be later in our journey that things will begin to come together in a way that we can “see”. And in contrast- there are some things that we may never be able to see and understand at all because God chooses to reveal certain things to some, and other things to others for reasons we cannot possibly comprehend. This is part of the mystery of God. But because He knows us, and understands us, and holds all the pieces to our puzzles, He will provide all that each of us needs exactly when we need it, in His perfect time. Amen.