Life as a Puzzle

Being sequestered in my home with pneumonia has given me the opportunity to start a puzzle I have been wanting to do. It is entitled Masquerade, by Lynn Lupetti.

I have spoken here a lot about the masquerade a trauma victim develops when the feeling of shame imposed on them is overwhelming. I picked up this puzzle at a yard sale because of the meaning it has for me on my current journey. While I sit with the many pieces, trying to fit them in just the right way and get everything correct, I think of the often used metaphor about life being a puzzle.  I see that it is going to take many pieces, a lot of time, and much patience to complete this picture.

Holding a piece in my hand that I cannot figure out reminds me that I am not going to figure everything out right away. It will take time. It will take patience. As the picture forms and the image becomes clearer, I will see where that piece goes and what the smallest details mean to the big picture.

Most often I want it to all happen instantly. I want this to be over. As painful as it is, I need to remember that by only looking at the final scene, I will miss the joy found in the small victories. The lessons that the Almighty Sovereign Lord of my life has intended for me to learn, to grow with. And with each piece fit in it’s place I will be able to see why that piece was important to the final image.

At this point there are many pieces still to put in place. There may be points when I forget what God, and I want the final picture to look like. Thankfully, I am never left alone to figure out what to do with all these pieces.

For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ ~Isaiah 41:13 NKJV

For today, with God’s help, I will keep picking up those pieces and gently placing them in the way that He tells me, the way that makes sense for all the pieces to work together for good, because I love Him and am called according to His good purpose. (Rom 8:28)

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. ~1 Corin 12:13 NLT

There is much work and many pieces to put into place before “The Masquerade” is finished, and with perseverance I know, someday it will be.