Day 28: The Missing Peace
My hubby loves puzzles.
He likes the mess of them~all those pieces scattered across the table.
One by one,he begins putting the mess together,searching until he finds the perfect fit for each piece.
Now me?
I dislike puzzles.
Too much mess.Too many pieces.Too overwhelming.
It doesn't feel fun or relaxing to me.
My siblings loved puzzles too.
As a child, I would sometimes “steal” two puzzle piecesand hide them until the very end.
Then, when everyone was searching for those last missing pieces,I could casually place them into the empty spaces,knowing exactly where they belonged.
But what fun was that?
I missed the JOY of the PROCESSbecause I already knew where my pieces went.
And isn't LIFE sometimes like a puzzle?
Whether we like or dislike the PROCESSdoesn't change the fact that there are PIECES we simply cannot understand.
And what if there were no box cover?
No picture showing youwhat the finished puzzle was supposed to look like?
Hmm...
A puzzle.
A question mark.
A problem.
A dilemma.
A mystery.
The UNKNOWN.
All you can see are little PIECES scattered in a messy pile,and you don't even know where to begin.
The truth is,
we don't.
But GOD does.
GOD sees the picture on the boxthat we cannot see.
HE knows where every PIECE belongs.
And HE is fitting each PIECE together,one by one,in the way HE created it to fit.
And usually in ways far better than anything we could ever imagine.
And all HE asks us to do is~
TRUST HIM in the PROCESS, even when we don't like the PROCESS.
HOPE IN HIM,
BELIEVING HE is doing somethingeven when we cannot see what HE is doing.
BELIEVE
that HE is creating something beautiful out of what looks like a mess~
something that one day will make sensewhen we finally see the finished picture.
Oh, how I wish sometimesHE would simply discard certain PIECES.
The painful PIECES.
The disappointing PIECES.
The PIECES that don't make sense.
The PIECES I would never have chosen.
Yet perhaps without them,the picture would not be complete.
"For now [in this time of imperfection]we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma],but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality]face to face.Now I know in part [just in fragments],but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by GOD]"(1 Corinthians 13:12).
Just fragments.
Just PIECES.
That is what we see now.
But GOD sees the whole picture.
So maybe the question isn't~
How do I figure out where all these PIECES belong?
Maybe the question is~
What PIECES am I still holding onto that GOD is asking me to surrender?
The PIECE of disappointment.
The PIECEof rejection.
The PIECE of hurt.
The PIECE of fear.
The PIECE of an unanswered prayer.
The PIECE of a relationship that doesn't look the way I thought it would.
The PIECE I keep trying to force into a place where GOD has not put it.
Hmm...
Maybe I can begin to appreciate puzzles after all.
Not because I suddenly enjoy the mess,
but because the mess reminds methat I was never meant to figure everything out.
For isn't that LIFE?
From here to there.
Living in the middle.
Living between what GOD has promisedand what we can presently see.
And when JESUS is in the middle,the middle doesn't have to destroy our PEACE.
Because JESUS IS THE MISSING PEACEin every pile of missing PIECES.
And HE is never missing.
HE is present even in the middle of the mess.
Therefore,
"we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen"*(2 Corinthians 4:18)
And we surrender every puzzle PIECEto the ONE who already sees the completed picture.
The ONE who knows where every PIECE belongs.
Because,
"We know that in all things GOD works for the good of those who love HIM, who have been called according to HIS purpose" (Romans 8:28).
All
"FOR THE GOOD"
(listen to the song below)
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