The Pieces Fit

I think it’s happened, folks.

I think we’ve met a puzzle that we’re not going to be able to complete.

It’s a cool puzzle—

One that I’d like to add to my orange fish collection.

A friend sent it in the mail after buying it at Five Below.

She saw it while shopping and couldn’t resist picking it up.

I couldn’t resist starting it once we received it.

But now, I’m not so sure that we’re going to finish.

 

You see, the pieces don’t snap together definitively.

One piece might go in four or five different places,

Yet they all look right.

 

For awhile, we could look at the back of the puzzle to tell if the pieces really fit together.

Gradually, though, that method stopped working,

So we’re left with no way of knowing if the work we’re doing is right or wrong—

Until we come to a hole that cannot be filled because there are no pieces of that shape to fill it.

 

At one point, we had 23 pieces left.

And we had 23 holes.

Great!

Except.

The pieces didn’t fit the holes.

 

So out came the solid blue pieces of water

Until we had 48 pieces and holes.

 

And so the work has continued for days.

In and out.

Out and in.

Head down in defeat.

A wave of hope and determination.

Dementors sucking puzzle hope from our spirits.

Another wave of hope and determination.

Walk away in frustration.

And…you get the point.

 

Many years ago, I was introduced to a song called, “The Pieces Fit” by Considering Lily.

 

The song begins, “I was like a jigsaw with pieces missing, square peg, round hole. I’d try to climb ladder but always slipping, high jump short pole. I was stained till he came to cleanse me. I was torn till he came to mend me. It was a match made in heaven from the moment we connected.”

The chorus continues, “His (Jesus’) grace for my shame, His death for my blame, His stripes for my pain, and the pieces fit. His joy for my grief, His hurt my relief, my doubt His belief, and the pieces fit.”

 

Friends: There will be many things that seem to fit in our lives.

There will be many times when we think we’ve gotten it right only to realize we are wrong.

But when we truly understand the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ;

When we truly embrace God’s desire for us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God;

When we truly hear that Jesus declared the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love others as ourselves;

When we truly realize that taking care of children, widows, and the poor really is more important than amassing great fortune,

Then the pieces really do fit.

 

I don’t know if we will be able to finish the puzzle or not.

We may have to raise the white flag of surrender.

Even so, our self-worth is not based on whether or not we can finish the puzzle.

Our self-worth is based on being children of God

Who work and laugh and try and pray and pull others into the fold along the way.

 

Oh God: With you, all things are possible. Even surrender. Help us to know when to keep going and when to let go. And thank you, God, for making the pieces fit. Amen.