Puzzle-ing Days

I wish I could look on the cover of the box. Then I would know how it would all turn out, and somehow, I think that would be best for me. But then again, not really. I know better.

I love a good jigsaw puzzle -- looking at a pile of pieces, separating out the borders, and piecing them together. After the border is put together, then I can get to work on the inside pieces. There is enjoyment in picking up piece by piece, looking for familiar colors and patterns, and placing them together. There is satisfaction in seeing the varied pieces, in size, shape and color, gradually coalescing together to create a bigger picture, whole and defined.

Life is like a puzzle. Each one of our days is a piece, placed in just the right spot, by the hand of He Who Created the puzzle. He begins with the outside of the puzzle, framing up our lives with the assurance of His love. Then, piece by piece, He places each day within the confines of His love. Some days are monochromatic and mundane, others are colorful and busy, still others are dark and dreary. A piece here, a day there, the Lord settles them in one next to another, not always in what we see as order – left to right, right to left, up to down, and down to up. Sometimes, they are grouped together, giving us a glimpse of the whole, other times one or 2 pieces sit, connected, but not revealing even a portion of the picture.

We don't know the number of pieces in the puzzle of our life. God has numbered our days, and day by day, He places them, planned from the very beginning of time. He knows the picture; He planned it. He takes each day and all that it holds for us, and fits them together in just the right way to make you, you and me, me. Our stories are made up of a million pieces.

Most days, it’s puzzling to me. Once in awhile, I capture a view of what the whole might look like. In spite of my not always getting it, my faith grows and is strengthened, as I trust my life to the Hand of the One who loves me, “being confident in this, that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

That’s for you, too. He is at work in your life, dear reader, piecing the days together, as puzzling as they may seem. The good work He is creating in you, is a beautiful work -- the perfect work -- drawing you and others around you closer to Him and revealing His love to a broken world, through you.

Dear Lord, Help us to appreciate each piece – each day. Help us to accept that seeing the cover on the box would not be helpful to us, that if that was so, our faith would not be faith at all. Help us to give thanks for each day, whether drab or exciting, full of holes or of knobs, believing that each day is another piece of the puzzle that God is placing together for His glory and for our good. Amen.