I’ve recently had a lot of spare time on my hands, and in an effort to stop me getting bored and being tempted to push myself too hard, my sister sent me a jigsaw as a “get well” present. The subject matter of the 1000-piece puzzle was an “80’s” shopping basket – who remembers Cadbury’s Smash, or toast toppers!?
Another friend dropped round with a basket of small jigsaw boxes, each only 40 pieces, but each puzzle had no obvious edge pieces and had “hidden” within each puzzle “whimsies” pieces. Which do you think was the most difficult to complete?
When completing a jigsaw many people have a scheme for do so – find the edge bits first, then look for pieces of similar colour e.g. sky, sea, trees, buildings etc. You might sort the pieces into shapes and try and match them that way.
Whatever method you use, it’s always satisfying to complete a puzzle, and there is often a point in its construction when a critical mass of pieces has been correctly fitted and the remainder quickly fall into place.
Life for us can feel a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, confusing or overwhelming. Sometimes we might think it is the big things that are most important, like my big jigsaw. But the little things in life are still as important, like those small jigsaws.
Sometimes we might want to be with people of similar “colour” or “shape”, those we are most familiar with. However, for life to be complete we need to fit together with people of all shapes and sizes, all designs.
God created the world as a rich tapestry, a beautiful jigsaw puzzle, where each one of us is essential to complete the picture.
May you feel valued and be willing to take your place alongside others to make the bigger picture complete.