Puzzle Pieces

PUZZLES

       During this season of Stay-at-Home orders and attempts to combat an invisible viral enemy, many people have turned to jigsaw puzzles to pass the time.  Here's a picture of Larry proudly displaying a scene of dolphins and sea creatures that he completed. 
        After he broke the picture apart, I took a picture of the pieces laying on the table (below). 

         To me, that scattered mass of unrecognizable puzzle pieces is more interesting than the picture it had been.  The pieces remind me of some of life's unanswered questions, as well as representing things we search for in our lives, working to put them together to make a pleasing picture.  You can find a lot of deeper meaning in that jumble of puzzle pieces.

          Just this morning, I completed the final lesson in The Quest, a Bible study by Beth Moore. Near the end, I came upon a paragraph she'd written that is so applicable to this picture and the thought of jigsaw puzzles.  Beth wrote:

      "Those of us with quest in our blood will hunt the Word and world for thousands of scattered puzzle pieces.  We'll shout praise to God for every discovery and exult over each handful of pieces that fit together."

        I agree with Beth.  Each time I discover something new to me in God's Word or in this world He created, I get excited and grin from ear to ear.  It's a joyous feeling.  There's nothing quite like it and I love it!

        Still, as I've discovered in life events, there are some puzzle pieces that will never fit on this side of eternity.  We try to fit them together, but it seems there's always something missing.  That's what happened in my life when a senseless tragic event tore into our family.  I tried to put the puzzle pieces together, but they just didn't mesh.  It was frustrating and hard to deal with.

        After a year of futilely trying to make the pieces fit, I handed it over to God.  I gave up trying to make them fit and to understand.  It was a process, but once I accepted that I would never understand and the pieces would never fit, I found liberating peace.  I let it go and God's grace has filled the void.  

         I love the verse in Proverbs:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path" 3:5-6. 

         If you've been struggling to find answers to some unanswerable, sorrowful event in your life, bring your questions to the feet of Jesus and leave them there.  If He wants you to know an answer, He'll give it to you.  But, in many cases, there will be no answers.  Freedom can only be found in letting go, accepting what is, and trusting the One Who is in control.

      Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 13, that there will always be things on this earth that we cannot make sense of, but someday in heaven, all our questions will be answered and the puzzle pieces will fit together in a beautiful picture of God's grace and His will for our lives.  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" verse 12.