Life is like a puzzle

I like doing puzzles. Call me old fashioned, or maybe just old, but I really like puzzles. I've liked them ever since I was little. I used to sit and do them for hours with my grandparents. There are some inside jokes in my family about some ridiculous things I have said while "puzzling." Puzzles and I, we just go way back. And while I had abandoned them for a while, they have recently found a way back into my life. 

Forrest Gump told us that life is like a box of chocolates (you never know what you're going to get) but I'd like to think that life is more relatable to a puzzle. Life is kind of like a puzzle; you sort of know what you are getting yourself into. You just don't know the specific logistics. Like how long it will take to put together, and you don't have an absolute guarantee that all the pieces are in the box. There is both predictability and unpredictability. I guess there is that with a box of chocolates too, but I think a puzzle is a better representation.

Lately, my life feels more than ever like a puzzle. And in this puzzle, I seem to be missing the picture. You know the picture you look at it to help you know what image you are putting together? Well… I can’t seem to find it.

I'm a big picture person. You give me a task or assignment and I see the big picture first. I see the end product and then I sit down and put together the little details and plan to put it all together. Similarly, that’s how I like to do my puzzles. I look at the big picture and frame the outside and then put together everything in the middle. I think that’s how most people do puzzles; it makes sense. You get the frame put together and then you can piece all the centerpieces together. It's a whole lot easier that way. 

But what happens if you open a puzzle with no image? With no guide of how the finished product to look like? You can still put the puzzle together. You can still make it work. It's just a whole lot more work. 

If I got a puzzle with no representation of the final image, I'd probably not do it. Or I'd return it. Try again with a new puzzle. But when it comes to life, you can't just get another one. Or opt out. You gotta keep going whether you like it or not. 

I'll be honest and say right now I am a little confused on the big picture. I can kind of make it out and piece together the framework, but its difficult. Maybe its the fact that I am graduating and will soon be in the real world or maybe its because I feel like God has been overloading my plate lately or maybe its other personal matters, but I just want to finish the outside edges. I want a point of reference. Doesn't the sound fair? 

But then I got to thinking; maybe that’s the big picture for now. What God wants the most out of me now is not look for the picture, to not look for the framed edges… but to start with the very inside and work my way out. It's easy to just run to the finish line when it’s a straight shot, but it’s a whole lot harder when you don't know where the finish line is.

And maybe the biggest lesson of all is that of faith. Faith when you don't see the finished product. Faith when you don't see yet the big picture. Faith when you just have pieces.

Having faith is sometimes so hard. But at the same time, its what you cling to the most in moments of uncertainty. The moment you lose faith is the moment everything truly crashes and burns. 

I believe God is molding and shaping my faith in immeasurable ways right now. Sometimes I have my moments. Sometimes I tell God that I've gotten his point and its time to reveal the big picture. Sometimes I ask why He's hiding it from me. Or sometimes I wonder where He is hiding it. 

And sometimes I wonder why I am wasting time looking for the big picture when if I just kept working on the pieces, the image will come together.  It may be challenging, but it will be all the more rewarding. I just need to keep trusting and working on myself. The inner most parts of my self. God is clearly trying to get me to face the hardest parts of myself, and to cling to Him. To cling to the truth that He works for the good of those who love him.

Life is a puzzle of endless amounts of pieces and we will spend our whole lives putting it together. And actually, because we are all only human, our puzzles will never be complete. We will lose a piece, we will put pieces together that don't get together, and we will break pieces. Sometimes we will also put ourselves in a frame because a frame is more comfortable. A frame makes us feel in control. A frame makes things easy. But a frame also creates limits.

But maybe life is a puzzle that is better off without the frame and the outer pieces. As we work from the inside out, without expectation of a frame, we can grow exponentially. We can grow in endless directions.

It also makes sense to why we would want a guide. We want a tangible guide that we can pull out of our pocket when things don’t make sense. Today I’m remained that I’ve got faith to guide me. And I’ve also got faith that all is made clear in due time.

Life is a puzzle. A puzzle without a tangible guide and without a frame.

Embrace it. Have faith in the process. There is an eternal one guiding us every step of the way.