When I was younger I was fascinated by puzzles. My first encounter was with the simple wooden school puzzles, but my very own first puzzle was about dinosaurs. For my five yearl-old self it was, hands down, the best puzzle of all time. Unfortunately, my mind cannot go back that far but I like to think I finished that puzzle in a mere day.
Puzzles transfix me in time and hours are like minutes and minutes like seconds.
Recently, my brother bought me a new special edition Thomas Kinkade puzzle of Beauty and the Beast. Oh Disney, in some regards you disappoint me, but Belle's character spoke to my heart at an early age. She became my favorite princesses because she loved to read and gave someone the opportunity to be loved and accepted.
Now, as I sit down to begin putting this puzzle together and attempt to place each piece in its rightful place, I start to make connections between life and this processes. I think about how patient we have to be as we encounter each puzzle piece and as we ask ourselves where will it fit. In a like manner we have to be patient in life as we find ourselves in situations that are not clear. If we lack the patience to take our time and fit the pieces together carefully we are likely to damage each piece. Similarly if we try to make the pieces of our life fit together when they are obviously not meant to we risk encountering much pain. Often, in futile efforts we try to place a piece of the puzzle in the wrong place pushing it and jamming it in until the piece itself is rendered useless. Sadly, when we finally realize we were rash in our pursuit and attempt to take the unsuited puzzle pieces apart from each other we are left not only with one damaged piece, but all those around it.
How many times don't we do that with our life? More times than I would like to admit, in my blindness and ardent desire to see the whole picture I have tried to make the pieces of my life fit in my own way without patience. I have opted to ignore all common sense and God's guiding hand.
So, it is better to take your time when you are putting the puzzle pieces together. Then, slowly but surely the puzzle will start to make sense and more and more of the puzzle will become one.
It is now my time to breathe and take in what is around me and focus on the beauty of life I often miss, so that even when there is pain and confusion and chaos in my mind I will take my time and stop rushing around just to see the whole picture. Glimpses are fun and getting some pieces wrong is not the end of the world, but if by being patient I can avoid not only harm to myself but to those around me then my pursuit will be to lay each piece in its due time slowly and gently.
