“Jesus knew where he had come from, why he was here, and what he was supposed to accomplish. He came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of the Father.”
Erwin W. Lutzer
On Christmas day we started to work on a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle of the nativity scene. While I made dinner, John sorted through all the pieces to find the ones with a straight edge to make the border of the puzzle. It’s easier to start from the outside frame to fill in the center pieces. Likewise, when we see the broader picture in life of why God created us, our purpose, then we can fill in the specific details in our life.
There was one problem though, we were missing a puzzle piece of the border. We hunted for it on the floor and on the top of the table, but we never found it. This frustrated us as we wondered how many other pieces of the puzzle were missing. The temptation was to throw the pieces back into the box and to give up, just as we started.
Life is like that. Sometimes there are pieces missing and we can’t seem to figure out what the piece looks like, or what it’s to be, let alone how it fits with the rest of our puzzled life. We may know the overall vision or purpose of our life but are missing the specific pieces to fulfill our destiny. When that happens, we can become discouraged.
Don’t allow the missing pieces to dissuade you from following God’s destiny for your life. Keep pursuing the next thing He shows you and place each puzzle piece where it belongs. Because eventually you’ll have the completed work of art that He created your life to be. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
“We know not what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.”
Willis J. Ray
Relevant Reflections:
What does the overall puzzle of your life look like?
What is the next piece of the puzzle God’s given to you to use?
