My
lack of patience is a strong deterrent to finishing a puzzle. Looking at all those disjointed pieces makes
my head swim in confusion. How do I know
which one to pick up next? If it doesn’t
connect to the pieces I already have put together, I can’t make it fit; so what
do I do with it until its turn comes? I
have to put it aside and will probably pick it up another hundred times before
I find where it actually goes.
Lack
of patience can also be a deterrent to finishing well in life. We have hopes, dreams and promises from God
that go along with the whole of our lives, but too often we try to make them
fit where they don’t belong. It’s not
that they are not a part of the puzzle.
We just need to connect a few more pieces together before their spot
will be ready. We have to leave that
confusing pile of pieces in God’s hands, and simply work with the one that fits
where we are right now. We don’t have to
worry about the pieces that haven’t found their place to connect yet. God has already taken care of that.
The
puzzle of my life has many pieces, yet it is just one small piece in the puzzle
of God’s purpose for the ages. The
pieces of the past are already in place.
I will take my place to ultimately join the past with the future. As I do, I fit into the pieces already in
place behind me. They form the anchor
with which I connect and I will become the anchor for those pieces yet to be
placed.
God’s
puzzle started with time at creation and will go on until the end of time. He has always had those who would hear Him
and obey Him, so the puzzle is constantly being worked on from dispensation to
dispensation, from year to year. Those
who allow Him to design them to fit will become part of His whole grand
purpose.
It
takes many pieces all around us to complete the work. The generation before us reaches to take our
hands and close the gap between us. Then
we must reach out to the next generation to finish our part of the puzzle with
no missing pieces. It doesn’t happen all
at once. It comes together piece by
piece.
[Just a little
note of encouragement to all the impatient people: Relax!
If we allow God to hand us each piece of our life’s puzzle one at a
time, everything will turn out just fine!]
