Puzzle Pieces

I have a love-hate relationship with puzzles.

I enjoy them. Kind of. I love finishing them. Hate the process. It’s frustrating. It always sounds like a good idea but then once I get into it, I’m second-guessing my choice. 

I know the pieces go together, but I don't know how. I'm suppose to enjoy putting them together.  I force pieces to go together because I desperately want them to fit, but ultimately I know they don’t go there. I’m only fooling myself. 

There is a thought that crosses my mind every time I sit down to do a puzzle: There is a piece missing. I’ve got that one puzzle box that was shorted a piece and I’m not going to be able to finish this thing.

I start to put the pieces together and I really start to get somewhere. I’m on a roll. Things are good. And then all of the sudden, I hit a lull. A place where every piece I try—and I’m positive I have tried them all—doesn’t work. I can’t figure it out.

This sounds likes familiar territory—a place I’ve been many times in life. Overwhelmed. Confused. Not sure what is missing. I know all the pieces are there, but there is this nagging doubt at the back of my mind. 

There is a piece missing.  

But I’m learning that, just like with the puzzle, all the pieces are there. They are on the table. 

However, life has a way of blinding you. 

Sometimes the only pieces you can see are the one’s that don’t fit.  It’s easy to overlook the piece you need when you are dead set on trying to force the one you think fits. 

In this place of mismatched pieces and frustration over trying to figure it all out, God has whispered to this weary heart, "...When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2b). 

The Rock that is higher than me. Higher. 

Higher sounds good when you are low. It sounds like a place I want to go. A place I can see from and get a better view of my surroundings.

I think of Him offering His hand to pull me up to this place of safety, up out of my doubts and questions about missing pieces. 

His answer for me His Presence. He wants me there with Him. 

But I’m learning that not only does He desire me to be with Him, similar to the way I want to be with my child when they are hurting, but also He has another purpose in me coming to the Rock. 

It is the combo of His presence plus His perspective. He wants to show me a few things while I’m up there. He has invited me up to be with Him, but also to help me to see what He sees. His perspective of all my life’s pieces—they ones that went together easy, the ones I’m forcing that just aren’t lining up, and the ones that I’m sure our missing.  It’s up here with Him that I can really see the pieces are all there (2 Peter 1:3).

It’s my limited sight that is the problem. I can’t see. I can’t understand. 

I see individual pieces. He sees a finished puzzle.  

I can’t visualize how they go together, but He KNOWS how they all fit. 

And the great thing is He has given me the invitation to come up there with Him so I can know. He wants to show me.

I think of His vantage point up there on His high Rock and it motives me to seek His presence, His perspective. I want to know His secret of how it all fits together. 

I love that He invites me up there with Him. Not only does He offer me safety, security, and protection in His presence on the Rock, He offers His perspective, which I’m learning, is the piece I think is missing. Understanding and wisdom of how all my life’s pieces fit together. Asking and seeking His purpose for each piece. 

As a result of time on the Rock, I can learn to not fret over those pieces that are giving me such grief. I can trust, in time, those pieces are going to come together. Not only come together but be an amazing part of an incredible picture. 

When my heart defaults to an overwhelmed state due to trying to put it all together, I’m heading to the Rock for His presence and His perspective. 

I’m thinking you can’t always choose your pieces, but you can choose your perspective. 

I’m choosing to go with the Designer’s view. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product!