I AM A JIGSAW PUZZLE

My mother worked jigsaw puzzles.  There was rarely a time she didn’t have a puzzle started.  Putting together jigsaw puzzles has rules.  Rule 1:  Border first.  Rule 2:  It is okay to say you will only be a minute, when you know you will stand there and search till you find the piece that should jump right out at you.  Rule 3:  You never put the last piece in someone else’s puzzle without asking permission.

I am my mother’s daughter.  Sorta.  I agree with rules two and three.  Rule one might apply to a kid’s puzzle or a 300 piece puzzle, but – and my mother is spinning in her grave – I no longer put the border together first.  Those pieces go back into the box, until I have room on the table or until the rest of the puzzle is put together.  This started when puzzles increased to 1,000 pieces and larger.  A 1,000 piece puzzle barely fits on my card table and a 2,000 piece puzzle had to be worked in sections and assembled on the dining room table.  Even if I don’t put the border together first, I am my mother’s daughter.  I love to work jigsaw puzzles.

I am a jigsaw puzzle.  My life is being assembled one piece at a time.  It is a mix of bright, beautiful colors and dark, scary colors I wish weren’t there.  Words and pictures appear as I am assembled.  In the middle is a baby.  Darn, I was a cute kid.  From there pictures appear of family, good times and bad.  Then another face appears and I remember the joy of finding true love.  Children.  Friends.  Illness.  Death.  Work.  Moving.  Travel.  Church.  Swirls of color surrounding each as I aged and learned and moved forward or struggled and stayed in one place too long. 

When I see my puzzle, I realize there is one constant presence visible in each piece. 

You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.

Acts 2:28

A puzzle has an end.  The border will come out of the box, the last piece will be placed, and the puzzle will be complete.  BUT, the puzzle, of my life, does not have a border.  My puzzle will continue to expand and grow as pieces are added.  Some pieces will be bright and beautiful.  Some will be dark and scary.  No matter what, the presence of God will continue to be visible in each piece.