Jigsaw
Recently, a friend of mine posed a question that captured my attention – so much so, that I decided to grab the question by it’s hand and take it for a little walk.
Have you ever worked a puzzle only to find that when the pieces start coming together you start seeing a picture you really don’t want to see?
Why yes B, I have. In my own life, there have been times where I spent much longer on a puzzle than I should have. Times where I tried hard to convince myself there were no missing pieces, or pieces that neither fit nor belonged. An imperfect puzzle, if you will. Admittedly, there were times where I would ‘cheat’, having shaved a bit off here and there in hopes I would make a piece fit. To make the puzzle whole.
Weird as it may sound, starting a brand new puzzle can be a difficult and trying thing. Here you have all these tiny little pieces with no real beginning. Just like anything that’s worth the effort – it requires effort. Slowly, intricately, you embark on a journey of building something whole from a thousand little scattered pieces. You set aside pieces that might match up later, or have a similar color/pattern. You take mental snapshots of different shapes. Slowly, methodically… it begins to form.
Upon completion of an intact puzzle, your patience and perseverance is hopefully rewarded with something pretty or at least pleasurable to look at – not something ugly. So what happens when you work halfway through a puzzle then begin to see something unspeakable taking form? Your first notion might be to push the thought of it away – it simply couldn’t be. You work through a few more pieces, and oh –
Couldn’t be. Hope it’s not…
Maybe the situation’s new to you and you’re shocked. Perhaps you’ve been there before and aren’t. Or, could be you’ve been there before, but you’re still shocked. You may ask yourself, how could something you’ve worked that hard on, invested that much time in – turn out to be a picture of something you don’t want to look at, for whatever reason.
Just a day in the life of a jigsaw.
Life of Bon 
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I really love what this blog is about. It felt like you were speaking to just me and to be honest, it scared me a little. Far too many puzzles in my life turned out to be ugly and not at all what the picture in my mind looked like. Then again, there are too many unfinished puzzles in my life and mind. Sometimes I would force the pieces to fit, only to have it come back and haunt me. I pray that I will be able to find the right pieces to finish my unfinished puzzles before I leave this life.
Love ya!
May 16, 2011 at 11:21 am
Thanks, Helen. The question itself had me in it’s grips when I read it – I, too, related with it. I think that even if only in a small way, we all can. Love ya 🙂
May 16, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Great blog post today!!! Sometimes it is difficult to see what the picture is going to be in the end but it usually all comes together, doesn’t it??? And the pieces fit right where they are supposed to fit!!!
May 16, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Thanks so much, Beth Ann. Yes, it usually does all come together in the end – although sometimes the outcome is on the fence. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely comment!
May 16, 2011 at 7:57 pm
As I think about what you say, I think my life has many pieces but think of it as being something to be assembled like a puzzle but getting possession of the evolution of our life so it does not become a puzzle. Unfortunately there are roads we travel and things we encounter that will ever remain puzzling. If our lives remain a puzzle we have failed to give it direction or failed to direct it and remain puzzled spectators, not the actors, of our own lives.
May 16, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Very interesting and thought-provoking analogy, Carl. I totally agree with you that it’s up to us to lend direction to our own lives. Learning from any past mistakes and paying close attention to current detail might also aid to discern possible adversities that could lie in the near future. Not always… but it can’t hurt. Thanks for your enlightening comment, and for taking the time to stop in. 🙂
May 17, 2011 at 7:35 am
I thought about this one a great deal since reading your post yesterday. At first I felt sad, anxious and ashamed over the puzzles I couldn’t complete. Whether it was because they were too hard or too ugly, I eventually gave up. My current puzzle looks so much like past ones that if left in my hands the pieces are doomed … they will be lost or damaged. My only hope to finish it successfully is to let God work it for me, hand me one piece at a time and show me where it goes.
May 17, 2011 at 2:32 pm
I just read this comment over and over. I admire what you said so, Elena. What an awesome thing, to have God hand us one piece at a time and aid us in our endeavor!
May 19, 2011 at 7:34 am