Missing Pieces
Scripture: For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
1 Corinthians 13: 9-10
Winter and Covid has yielded being shut in at home more than usual. I don't really mind it. In fact, I live with a bunch of homebodies who prefer home over any other place. We watch movies. We play games. We read books. We laugh and we look at screens. I however, I am the only one at my house who likes to work puzzles. I sit among them and do my thang!
My parents always loved working puzzles and I guess it reminds me of them. I find it strangely entertaining and comforting. I also analyzed it and realize that it is a personality thing too. You have a goal. It has many ways to solve it, but ultimately you work persistently until the task is done. It has a satisfying end. It is a very controlled outcome! Us goal-oriented people like puzzles! Puzzles are predictable.
My family has started poking at me every time I sit down. Someone will come over and look for like 5 seconds and immediately say, "The piece I need is missing." Then they quit and walk away! LOL It always makes me laugh and at times makes me wonder if maybe there is a piece that could be missing.
Life is no less puzzling; pardon the pun. When we pause to look around there is always room for feeling like there is a piece missing. Largely because when we see the tiny pieces, it is hard to imagine what the bigger picture might look like. God has no doubt proven to me over the years, that I do not need to know or see everything. Life can be so overwhelming!
I really need only to see enough to take the next step. If 15 years ago you had told me you will lose both your parents, have another baby, your husband will go into ministry, you will get a Masters degree and teach school, then resume an aviation career. If any human had said to me in 2007 by 2020 you will be an airline pilot, I would have laughed at them.
Now I see much more clearly that I didn't need to know all that. I can only look at one little piece at a time. The big picture is God's to see. Faith is about what is unseen. It is when life feels beyond your control that you should rejoice! For it is in those times when we see the glory of God. It is when there is nothing we can do but pray and trust, that faith draws the missing pieces together to make an amazing scene.
My aunt always taps on the piece she places into the puzzle. It is as if she is saying look, I found a piece! I do it too! Place the piece and tap on it! God is aware of our need for control and even more aware of our desperate need for dependance upon Him. Sit still and feel God tap the piece He just placed. If you look too closely it might not even look like anything at all, a blob of color or sometimes no color at all. But when you draw back and view the faithfulness of God over a lifetime, you will stand amazed at the scene God is piecing together.
Leslie Stephens
Winchester, TN
Prayer: Creator God, I am thankful that you are the great designer and that you see the big picture. Help me to have faith and trust in your design. Teach me to find rest in the unknowing. Amen.
Prayer Tip: Take inventory. Revisit the times in your life in which you have seen the faithfulness of God. It will be a big source of encouragement for you during difficulties.
