I love putting together puzzles. Not 1000 piece ones where all the pieces look the same--I don't have the patience for that--but ones where the picture is of some tropical island that I'd love to be on at that moment are fun for me.
Recently, as I was reading in John 15 about the vine and the branches, the old analogy about puzzles came to my mind. You know, the one about how we are all pieces to the puzzle of God's kingdom and we have to work together for the puzzle to make sense. Or that God can see the big picture and we can only see the pieces. But then I came to verse 11 where it says:
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
I began to think about this idea of completeness and the pieces of the puzzle. What if each piece represented something challenging in my life? Maybe this piece is someone who is getting on my last nerve and this piece is a financial issue or a health problem or a family situation. What if each piece was God trying to teach me something--patience, love, mercy, trust, faith, forgiveness. Without each piece, I cannot be complete. There would be big holes in my puzzle and although I might be able to get the general idea of what the picture was supposed to be, it wouldn't be complete.
Are you following me here? I can choose to ignore the lessons God is trying to teach me and in essence throw away those pieces or I can embrace them, learn from them, and include them in my life. While I might still be able to manage a fairly good life with the former choice, my joy will never be complete. Completeness can only come when I make a conscious decision to make those pieces a part of the puzzle.
I don't think I'll ever look at a puzzle quite the same. And although that tropical island sure sounds good right now, complete joy in a mansion built just for me sounds a whole lot better!
