I love to put puzzles together. Geeky hobby, I know. But, I am not ashamed to say I find it fulfilling.
Puzzle How-To:
Step 1:
Choosing the puzzle.
This is the best part. Your puzzle choice depends on two key factors: difficulty and reward. You choose the number of pieces and the design that will be the final product. HUGE decision.
Step 2:
Lay out the pieces, one by one. Sort them into similar patterns, colors or shapes.
Step 3:
Begin framing the puzzle with only end pieces.
Step 4:
Fill in the gaps.
Step 5:
Search for the lost puzzle piece under the table, chair or rug that has inconveniently ruined your perfect picture.
Step 6:
View your masterpiece.
Question: Why would anyone want to subject themselves to this process? It’s tedious, cumbersome, frustrating and impossible. When you are staring at 1000 mismatched shapes that swarm your card table, you begin to question your excitement in Step 1. You begin to feel overwhelmed. However, nothing will interrupt your commitment to making all the pieces make sense. You will make it work. You will make sense of the chaos. You will put in the hours, lose the sleep and turn off the cell phone. All for what? The brief 30 seconds you admire the product and then think what to do with it. Who created puzzles, anyway?
But…that moment when you match a piece to another. That moment when the chaos becomes order and it all makes sense. Wow, that’s beautiful. It’s a moment where you succeeded. You made sense of the disorder and begin to see the big picture. You immediately return to the chaos to find another “matching” piece. You know it’s out there. You know this becomes something beautiful. It has to. You look at the cover of the box and believe, hope even, that the irregular shape in your hand has a partner, has a purpose.
You’re thinking, “Blah, blah, blah. Ok, I get it. My life is like a puzzle and I need to find my purpose and allow God to make me a beautiful masterpiece. Heard it before.”
Look at the word “Masterpiece”. Compound word. “Master” and “Piece”. There are a lot of pieces to you. A lot of pieces organized into neat piles, processed and identified. There are many pieces of you that are lost under the card table hoping to find their way back. There are many pieces of you that are ready to conform and some that are unwilling to fit. Yet, the pieces all do make sense. Your disconnected, broken places make sense to the “master” of it all. He takes pleasure in your chaos. He marvels at your disarray and delights in the creation of you. No matter how broken you are.
Be at peace tonight that the pieces that comprise the whole of you are beautiful, dynamic and perfect. You are quite a masterpiece. Your purpose is found in the broken, lost places. That is when the Master can put you together. Make perfect sense of it all. Enjoy the process of you. The process to determining “what its all about.”
I told me dear friend today that I am a “need to see the big picture” kind of person. I like knowing why, how and when.
You know, I won’t see the big picture until I take my last breath or hear the trumpet sound. I might as well enjoy the quiet, miraculous moments when one piece meets another and I begin to know myself, trust myself and love myself a little more.
gracebrakes 