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.

Forcing and Flowering

Dear reader, I wrote this some time ago, and was thinking about it today, needing to remember for me, that God is at work and He is growing me. I wanted to share it with you, praying that whomever reads it, will be blessed.

A forced bulb must first spend a period of time in a cold, dark place before it blooms. So, too, God oftentimes calls us into the darkness first before we bloom to our fullest.
When you force a bulb, you take the bulb that you desire to grow, plant it in a shallow dish filled with soil or a bed of rocks, and place it in a cool place, like a cellar or refrigerator. The purpose of the cold dark time is for the root system to develop. The bulb appears to lie dormant in the lonely, isolated environment. After the allotted amount of time, you bring the bulb out.
On the outward appearance, there seems to have been no progress. In fact, it appears as if nothing at all has happened, and perhaps the time has been a waste. No surface growth. No flowers. No evidence of “green.”
However, over days and weeks, growth becomes evident. At first, stubby little shoots force their way out of the bulb, and grow taller and taller, reaching toward the light. Eventually, buds and then blooms appear, accompanied by a lovely, sweet aroma. If the bulb does not spend time in the cold, dark place first, the experts say, it does not grow as intended. The potential is there, but the growth and the bloom is not.
God knows what we heed to grow spiritually, as well.
I believe that God works on developing our spiritual root system of faithfulness, perseverance, steadfastness, trust, dependence, and wisdom. He desires to grow us to be more like the loveliest of flowers. In God’s infinite wisdom, from time to time, He hides us away. He plants us in a fertile soil, which may not look all that fertile on the outside. He takes us, and puts us in a “cold, dark” place of affliction. We may experience loneliness, suffering, depression, rejection, fears, or abandonment.
It is in this place of affliction or despair that God is doing his greatest, silent work.
When He begins to pull us out of this “place,” it appears to us that we have not grown. Like the bulb, we feel dried up, ugly, without any purpose or potential. We are just bulbs, still sitting in the dirty soil, with no outward change. Perhaps we are not even aware of the strong, wide spreading root system that has been developing below us, grounding us and creating a firm base for our eventual, growth.
Slowly, reaching toward the Light, we begin to grow. The fresh green color may catch us by surprise, as day by day, week by week, we begin to get taller and stronger. We begin to bloom and glorify God, just as He had planned for us. The aroma that we emit is fragrant and reflective of His aroma.
“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:2-5. (NIV)
In remembering this, we can rest more quietly knowing that, in submitting to God’s plan for our lives, He has something for us, beyond what we would have ever imagined. The small, ugly bulb does not think or know what it will become. It submits itself to the One who plants it, trusting Him for the outcome.