Thursday, March 26, 2020

Broken Together.


Do you like puzzles?

My mom has always loved them. When were kids, she would pull out 5 or 6 puzzles and excitedly declare a rainy Saturday "puzzle day!" - (an exclamation that was often met with whining and bored sighs -- sorry mom!).

Growing up, I never really cared for puzzles. As a chatty, busy child I thought they were 'too boring', as a young adult I couldn't be bothered to stay still long enough to complete one and as a young mom, it was hard to justify time in a day to not be doing housework or something else more productive!

With each new age, I am made more aware of how wise my mom is; God has gifted her with a strong sense of good discretion, and I have really learned from that. She has advised me in things like getting better sleep, having simple faith and not being too busy with my spare time. In each new season of life, I find myself thinking "man, mom was right about that, too!".

Turns out...she was also right about puzzles!

With a little more time spent at home right now, I'm currently working on a large, 1000 piece puzzle (start small, right?!); which, when finished will be a beautiful canvas painting of 2 yellow birds, sitting on a tree stump, filled with wildflowers of all sorts. It's a beautiful and challenging puzzle and I'm actually really enjoying it. I even view it as a source of relaxation and self-care. A time to sit, be still, even hear God's voice as I take in the quietness.

Last night, I was trying to fit together pieces of a large, brown, stump, finding myself getting more and more frustrated, losing sight of why I'd even started...then something struck me...

...It occurred to me that this beautiful puzzle would never come to be without 1000 broken pieces.

A thousand small, seemingly insignificant on their own, little puzzle pieces.

...And it made me think of us. Our countries, schools, churches, families - the communities we're a part of - we're one potentially beautiful picture that can never fully come together without each individual little piece.

When I look at a puzzle box, with all those broken, mixed up pieces, I see a challenge. I see a lot of work and sometimes, I just want to close the box and do something easier.

Meanwhile, God looks at those same broken pieces and sees potential. He already sees the clear, finished image. He looks at millions of broken people, every day and He loves them. He doesn't see broken, He sees useful.

So one piece has got jagged edges and one piece is loud and full of color and another piece may just be indistinct and plain...every single piece is needed.

And most importantly, like a puzzle, each piece is most valuable when connected to another piece.

Like Jack Johnson said, we're better together. When a plain piece of a brown stump, connects to a bright yellow piece, and then another, and another - and you start to see the image of a bird come to life - each individual piece starts to have more meaning. You suddenly put so much more value in that plain, brown piece that has no clear image. You start to remember that it's a little part of something bigger.

The really good news here is that, God knows the plan. The Maker has seen the original image and knows where each piece goes.

So let's take a lesson from the little puzzle piece. Let's trust the process of being built. Let's connect with each other, sync up and create something beautiful. Let's hop in the box, mix up with each other and trust the Hand that's putting it all together.

We may be broken, but let's be broken...together.

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