I was looking over my vacation photos tonight of my grandchildren and I and my eyes rested on a photo of my hands and my granddaughter’s hands on top of a colorful bow tie puzzle. We worked on the puzzle for several days laughing and talking while we sorted the little pieces and fitted them together.

As I studied the photo I immediately thought of how our lives are like a jigsaw puzzle. “There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle,” Deepak Chopra. That’s an interesting thought. God created a puzzle of life and we all have to find the space where we perfectly fit. We can look at a puzzle as a metaphor for life, a symbol of challenges where the pieces of our lives fit together to create a picture. All the pieces of the puzzle represent the journeys of our lives.

“Every day is sort of a jigsaw puzzle. You have to make sure that you’re putting the most important things first,” Julia Hartz. My granddaughter and I put the edge of the puzzle together first, making a frame for the other pieces to join. I think the puzzle’s corners are the anchors of our faith in the frame of our life’s puzzle. All our experiences, both sorrowful and joyous, are a kaleidoscope of puzzle pieces.

God made each of us unique and gave us different skills and talents. Sometimes our puzzle’s pieces fit together perfectly. Sometimes they don’t fit at all. Every piece, even those that are hard to fit, contribute to the beauty of the puzzle. Over time as we travel through life’s opportunities and challenges, we see the complexity and beauty of our life as we begin to fill in the frame.

I love this quote by Greg Dutillly. “You see, every piece of the puzzle is required to complete the scene, while some have rough edges and some smooth, they all have value. Being grateful for each piece is not always easy, but it is necessary.” Life requires patience and persistence, just like completing a puzzle. We all have to learn that every experience and every relationship are important to forming our puzzle pieces.

The journey of our faith is a puzzle that is put together by God’s hands. He guides us and shapes each piece of our life with his grace.

“If we take the puzzle pieces God hands to us and obey his instructions today, he will take care of tomorrow.” — Lynette Hagen