Life is Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Don’t you hate it when you work for hours on a jigsaw puzzle only to discover that you are missing a piece (or two)?  My son and I worked on a 750 piece puzzle, 100 chickens and a worm, and the final result was two pieces short of a masterpiece.  Frustrating!

I started reflecting on how life can seem like a jigsaw puzzle. God sees the finished masterpiece, while we are only able to give our attention to a few pieces at a time. We struggle sometimes to see how the pieces in our life fit together. What is our life’s purpose?  How can we use our gifts, skills, talents to make the world a better place?

When you start on a puzzle, it can feel overwhelming.  All these pieces…how will we ever make sense of them? In my life as a mother, wife, friend, sister, mentor, business owner, I can sometimes feel scattered and overwhelmed. How do all the pieces in my life come together? How do I manage my obligations and keep my priorities in order?

At the beginning of a puzzle, progress can seem very slow. You look for connections, patterns that will help you make sense of what you are seeing.  I think life is like this too.  We can start to reflect on the threads of our lives, the patterns of what God has been doing.  For example, through the years I have had experience as a leader and teacher; I have organized events, mentored others, done some speaking and writing, and taken an interest in health.  Now I find many of these “pieces” of my life coming together as I move forward with my home business and share health and wellness with others.

In working on this chicken puzzle, I was sure that certain pieces were going to fit in a given spot.  I pushed, twisted and tried to make the pieces fit where I thought they should go.  They just didn’t fit.  Ever do that in life? I know there are days when I try to force a particular outcome only to be frustrated later because my choice was not life giving and did not bless me or others. I rushed forward, impulsively, without taking the time to pray or reflect first.

My son and I chose to work on the chicken puzzle without looking at the box and the picture of the finished product.  This meant we had to keep our options open and keep examining our groupings to see how they might fit together.  For me this was an example of how I need to remain open to God’s direction and guidance.  I can’t see the future or the “finished product”, but I experience peace when I trust God to be the one to “put the pieces together”.  I can enjoy the journey, the process of life, the good companions and the surprises around every corner.  I can be amazed each day as the masterpiece takes shape and I get glimpses of the finished product.

Christmas is a time to remember that God chose to enter into our puzzle, to help us make sense of all the pieces.  Jesus came as a baby, born in less than optimal circumstances, and trudged along, slowly, for 30 years allowing the pieces of His life to come together in the pattern that the Father had ordained. When it was time, He used all of his life’s experiences to fuel His ministry.  He may not have always understood how the pieces of His life, and eventually His death, would come together to complete the Father’s will, but He had complete confidence in His heavenly Father to guide and care for Him, and through Him to guide and care for each of us.  

Does this analogy speak to you?  Are there other similarities that you experience?

In what way does your life seem like a jigsaw puzzle?