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Life is a Puzzle With Difficult and Missing Pieces
The other day I was sorting through some of my grandmother’s puzzles. The largest puzzle of the bunch is a 2,000 piece puzzle of the Dolomites in Austria. It is a beautiful mountain scene with a small community snuggled at its base. This particular puzzle is a challenge because of the large number of pieces and the large areas in the puzzle that are made up of mountain, sky and trees, with very few pieces that can be fitted together easily. The church and houses are fairly easy to put together, however, they make up a very small fraction of the puzzle.
I’m still working on the puzzle. By the way, fitting the pieces together is going extremely slow. Sometimes, I even find myself getting upset because I’m not able to find an exact piece for an exact space! One space is absolutely driving me nuts! I’ve been trying to find the piece almost since I first started putting the puzzle together! Funny how one little piece in a puzzle can make you feel like pulling your hair out! Who knows, maybe the piece is missing. So I may never find that piece by the time the puzzle is done. It may have to simply be a missing piece. Anyway, I definitely need to relax about it!
At the same time that I started putting the puzzle together, I was also trying to put together some of the pieces in my life! Pieces that don’t make sense to me, pieces that I want to put into the empty spaces in my life, so I can see the complete picture and have everything fit snuggly and all together.
As I went back to working on the puzzle, I remembered another piece in the puzzle that had been driving me crazy! I looked for it for a couple of days, but could not find it. Then one evening, I looked straight down and saw the puzzle piece! It was right in front of me!
Isn’t that like life? Sometimes we search for the answer and it is right in front of us! The whole time we are hunting in far away places, asking others, reading books, and other material, trying to try to figure things out! When all we had to do was be quiet for a little while... before God. The piece we needed would have fallen into place.
Of course, we all want to see the big picture for our lives and the reasons why certain things go wrong or awry, but sometimes we never find all the pieces. We won’t know until we come to the end of our lives and stand before God.
Because I have struggled with this issue of difficult and missing puzzle pieces in my life, I decided to share some practical tips that have helped me give those difficult and missing pieces to God. Maybe the tips will help you, too.
What to do about Difficult or Missing Pieces of Life’s Puzzle.
1. Remember that when the puzzle box is first opened you can’t see the whole picture, but God does. Psalm 139: 16 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”
2. Remember that the puzzle has sides and fits together in God’s own design and time, not ours. So it is best to take a deep breath and give it to Him. Psalm 37: 23-24 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.”
3. Nothing fits together outside God’s perimeter for our individual lives, so it is futile to run here and there looking for the answers to the puzzle, when we need to be waiting before Him and concentrating on what He wants for our lives. Psalm 27: 14 “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait I say on the Lord!”
4. Remember that every one’s puzzle is different; so don’t try to fit other’s pieces into your puzzle. God gives individual answers to individual people. Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
5. Expect there to be missing pieces and learn to live with it. You’ll only produce baldness by pulling your hair out, not answers. I Peter 5: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
6. Be grateful for the pieces of life’s puzzles that fit and be satisfied with what God shows you. He still knows best. Hebrews 13:15 “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
7. Be more patient, some things take more time and come harder. Easier said than done, but it is good advice. James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing or your faith produces patience, But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, lacking nothing.”
8. Remember God is the glue that keeps your life’s puzzle together. Psalm 18: 2 "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Life Is...
Life is... Life is a challenge - meet it.
Life is a gift - accept it.
Life is an adventure - dare it.
Life is full of sorrow - overcome it.
Life is a tragedy - face it.
Life is a duty - perform it.
Life is a game - play it.
Life is a mystery - unfold it.
Life is a song - sing it.
Life is an opportunity - take it.
Life is a journey - complete it.
Life is a promise - fulfill it.
Life is beauty - praise it.
Life is a struggle - survive it.
Life is a goal - achieve it.
Life is a puzzle - solve it.
Courtesy: paversnest.com
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