I have come to know. There are people who love putting puzzles together and people who don't have the patience or the stamina. If you are not a part of the "I love puzzles" world, bare with me. The metaphor works for you too. Some of us who work on puzzles, start from the edges. My mother has always told me to find the corners and address those first. Either way, a popular mainstream strategy is to start from the outside and work your way in. And very few people start inward. It's harder of course.
But no matter the number of puzzle pieces (20, 1,000, 10,000 etc...) a sure fire way to break a puzzler's heart is to have them find out that there is a missing piece. I have spent days in a sort of disparity looking for a missing piece after weeks of constructing what I just knew would be a masterpiece of satisfaction. And when I couldn't find it, I couldn't bring myself to take a part what I had worked hard to piece together. But at the same time, I couldn't look at it either. It was unfinished and disappointing to say the least. At some point, I had to come to terms with realizing that it would always, no matter how hard I willed it not to, be incomplete.
Well, I happen to equate (you and me) our own journeys for wholeness as an intricate puzzle constructed by the Master (if and when we let HIM of course). For some of us, this is the struggle. We are our own person, wanting to find our own way. All along we search to find the ends and fix up the edges. We take a yoga or kick boxing class and/or start botoxing to keep up appearances and do what we can to address the outer us in order to convince those on the outside looking in that we are just fine. For others, the work is sort of scattered. We connect a piece here and a set of pieces there. We might find a love interest for a while. Take up a hobby for another spell. Start our work towards a second degree or begin listening to a new podcast or online self-help series. And all for the point of putting the complete puzzle together. Don't get me wrong, all of these things have their place and purpose. But finding wholeness is not one of them. And then there are others of us who's puzzles have been abandoned altogether. For those of us who are busy with children, partners, aging parents, consumed with jobs, mental struggles or all of the above it may have been a while since we were even able to attempt putting two pieces together. We just keep passing the unfinished work on the dining room table feeling guilty about the work that is yet to be done.
But the simple truth is, this stuff is hard. You are a complicated being. God made you that way. Trying to put yourself together is like a 5th grade art class attempting to recreate Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. No offense. But you alone are not that equipped. And if you were to watch the Master class starring God, he'd show you that to put you together, He'd start with the center piece. Why would He start anywhere else? When God made David a King, David asks, (1 Kings 3:9) "So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong." Even with that said, allowing God to start at the heart requires some work on your part. Acceptance. Acceptance that you cannot do it alone. And you certainly cannot do it starting from the edges working inward because this strategy will undoubtedly become tedious and tiring and won't ever bring about the result you are looking for. The truth is, without God and his masterful skills of performing a "heart transplant" (He replaces yours for His), there will always be a missing piece and therefore missing PEACE. Sure you will find spurts of happiness but chances are that feeling of unsettledness and restlessness will rear its head at some time or another. My sister of AJenkinstherapy.com said it best. God gives us access to PEACE. He gives instruction through Jesus Christ and how and when we choose to receive that piece (or PEACE) is up to us. So, still find yourself searching the sofa cushions for your missing piece (peace)? Let me give you a hint. Check the new testament.
Comments