Sometimes I think of life as a giant puzzle – you know, the 1,000 piece kind. We mortals take life one day at a time, but obviously we cannot see the future, and most of us don’t take the time to look behind us. So we wander blindly through life, wondering if any of it makes sense and guessing at our choices. Oh, we can find the corners easy enough, and sometimes a pattern of a tree or face will stand out starkly, but we really do not get what it is we are trying to accomplish or if we are becoming a thing of beauty or not. Sometimes everything just seems so… random.
And then something happens that reminds you we are not alone.
I have a fellow teacher whom I adore – really. She is sweet, great with her students, and would literally do anything for anyone. Metaphorically, I think she probably suffers from an enlarged heart. I have been aware of her efforts on behalf of a lifelong friend, a woman who has about seventeen strikes against her and cannot seem to get it together in this thing called life. Poor decision has been heaped upon poor decision.
My coworker believes that a true friendship is something of a commitment. You don’t abandon people because they do stupid things or create stress in your own life. You go the distance with them and do whatever you are capable of doing to make their journey just a little bit easier, even if that means simply walking beside them on their own tumultuous journey.
She and I have had multiple discussions about her friend and her latest mess-ups. My coworker has cried on my figurative shoulder over her frustrations in attempting to be a constant in her friend’s life, but how things seem to get worse, not better. One by one, mutual friends have distanced themselves from this one who can’t seem to get it right because they just do not know how to help anymore.
The biggest heartbreak, of course, is when innocent children are involved. My friend’s friend has several children, the youngest being less than two years old. My coworker was frantic when she discovered that her friend and this precious toddler were facing homelessness.
Being the savior she is, she and her husband decided that they would do whatever it took to give her friend and child a place to live and hopefully help find gainful employment. The problem with moving her to our town is, there are almost no jobs. OK, then maybe they could take the child for a while to help ease the burden of childcare.
Before that could happen, and through a series of incidents, social services became involved and the child was placed in foster care. My coworker was saddened that she would not be directly responsible for the child, as she had grown quite fond of her. But she also knew that in the long run, it was probably for the best as she herself has a full-time job.
My friend, my golden-hearted coworker, kept staring at the puzzle piece she had been handed. It didn’t look like anything at all, and she couldn’t make sense of it. No recognizable picture yet. Just an ugly, gloomy puzzle piece. More than once she has been tempted to toss it back into the box and say, "let someone else figure it out."
About October, another puzzle piece was handed to someone entirely unrelated to the situation. I was surprised when my sister-in-law showed up to church with a child I had never seen before. Turns out she had applied to be a foster parent and had finally been approved and given her first child to care for. Chelsea (not her real name) was enchanting, with her long, dark curls, and big beautiful eyes. Her little arms reached out to hug anyone who came with reach. My husband’s family gladly welcomed her in and we held her and loved her all through the holidays and at every gathering.
You have guessed where this is going…
A week ago, I am getting ready to leave church and my sister-in-law off-handedly asks me if I am acquainted with a particular teacher at my school. Of course I was; the very friend I have introduced you to! As my in-law is laying out her story and telling me that this friend of the mother would like to spend time with Chelsea, comprehension dawns like brilliant sun. My eyes got wide as I realized how my worlds had suddenly collided. This child was the child I had heard so much about. Of course! “This is HER!” I blurted out. My sister-in-law looked puzzled. “I know all about this child!” A joyful laugh began to bubble up into my mouth and I could not stop the grin now spread across my face. “You’ve had her all along, and I never connected the dots.”
A warm glow spread throughout my being as I suddenly realized what God had been up. My friend had laid her puzzle piece down alongside my sister-in-law’s piece, and suddenly we see a picture emerging. The puzzle is unfinished yet, the picture still hazy, but beauty is evident, and I breathlessly await the finished product as an outside observer.
I fidgeted the next morning as I waited impatiently for my hall mate and friend to arrive to work. Finally, I heard her voice and the click of her light switch. I headed down the hall and walked in just as she was setting her things down. “If you’ve ever wondered if there is a God in heaven who sees us and cares,” I said without preamble, “You will rethink that when I tell you my story.” Her face became riveted on mine at my tone. As I told her what had transpired the day before and how, without knowing who she was, I had been loving all along the child she was so concerned about, her eyes filled with tears and she pulled me into her embrace. We were both weepy as I continue, “What are the odds that she would land in my family? God saw it all and took care of her even when we didn’t know it.”
You know what I think? I think we stare and stare at our puzzle pieces with their bland colors and unrecognizable features and we think life is unfair or too difficult, or sometimes even not worth living. “Why do I get THIS piece, God? Why can’t I have the piece my neighbor has, or my sister, or my best friend? Why THIS one? Don’t you like me?”
I think God just smiles at our limited perspective, not mockingly but tenderly, because he’s holding the box. The box with the cover that shows the completed picture. He knows exactly what it will look like when it is finished and he knows it is glorious.
So if you are standing in a puddle of discouragement, holding an ugly puzzle piece that is not the one you would choose… be patient. There are more pieces coming. With each piece will come clarity. Your pieces will suddenly take shape and form and become the masterpiece you had been praying for.
God knows.
He created the picture just for you…
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