puzzle pieces

On New Year's Eve, the kids, my mother-in-law and I poured a jigsaw puzzle's worth of pieces on the table with hopes of completing it as the evening went on.  We knocked-off the edges right away, and then tried to tackle the middle.  We were quickly overwhelmed.  The puzzle was a picture of Mount Rushmore, and the majority of it was grey, tan, brown.  It was hard to get our bearings, and it wasn't as much fun anymore.  We found ourselves spending a lot of time studying pieces but barely making a dent in the big picture.  We decided to go back to our game playing and put the puzzle back in its box.

It reminded me of an analogy we reflected on in our children's ministry this past month.  The kids were tasked with completing jigsaw puzzles without the lid that showed them the picture.  They made some progress but, as predicted, wished they had the lid.  Our storyteller went on to describe a time in her life when she just couldn't understand the circumstances around her, when she couldn't see what God was doing in her life.  And God gave her that analogy.  He reminded her that He had the "lid" and that He knew exactly what picture He was creating with the pieces of her life...even if she was overwhelmed, or confused, or the pieces she thought should fit didn't fit where she thought they would.

That analogy, combined with a wonderful sermon series on Hope our pastor preached during advent--helped Dave and me to hear God saying to us that even though we don't know all that is going on, or what picture He is fashioning right now...He does know.  He has a plan.  He is making something beautiful...and we are to just wait and see it enfold.  It was one of those cool times when hubby and I both heard God saying the same thing to us.

Dave and me at Disney World--12/29/10

Some of the "pieces" we are dealing with--especially regarding Dave's ongoing back troubles--don't fit with the picture we'd like to create with our life.  We'd like him to be able-bodied.  We would like to be able to do everything we want to do as a family.  We would like to do away with the disappointments, and discouragement of his condition this last year and a half.  The pieces are confusing, and at times it's hard to get our bearings.  I'd like to put a piece of pain relief in the puzzle here, and a miraculous cure in there.

At this very moment, I am typing from a hospital waiting room, where Dave is undergoing a CT scan.  He had a bone scan on the 23rd, and it showed a "mass" in one of his rib-vertebrae joints.   We are hoping that this is the beginning of a solution for him--but have to admit our minds have wandered some to the potential scary we could face.

Yet, we remember that we don't know the picture...and who are we to try and force our choice of puzzle pieces into the places we think they should go?

And while it's tempting to want to quit and put the puzzle back in the box--I know that our God is putting a Big-G-Good picture together.  So we're trusting Him with the pieces we don't understand and embracing the journey.