And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15
Puzzles are an interesting pastime in my home. For most people, they’re a fun way to spend time together. The enjoyment happens when we’re thrown back to the happy, giggling days of searching for just the right thing during a fun filled game of I Spy. Checkups at the doctors were always much more exciting when scanning the room to be the first to find the item that was blue…or green…or yellow. There’s an enjoyment to finding a match without having to overthink.
When we’re looking for that color match, whether it’s for a puzzle or an I Spy game, we’re escaping from problems or boredom into a more relaxed state. This isn’t always the case with my family. I Spy, yes. They may be a little old for that now, but it doesn’t mean a more complex version doesn’t still get thrown into the mix occasionally. Puzzles, nope. They are viewed with contempt, dread, and absolute horror. If watching my family scatter as quickly as possible is my goal, then a puzzle would be my ticket.
Even though I enjoy a good puzzle every now and then, my island hasn’t seen the spread of pieces in years. In fact, the last time was when the big “Oops, did I do that?” took place.
My hubby happened to pull out something from the fridge. I’m thinking it might have been that powdery parmesan cheese. For some reason he decided to shake it over my puzzle. The lid popped off, and cheese was everywhere! What a mess. I stood there stunned while he stood there in apologetic horror; however, I saw something suspicious in the tiny gleam of hope in his eyes that the puzzle could now just disappear.
Unfortunately for my hubby, I’m quite compelled to complete the puzzles I start. I’m very methodical in my thinking and in the way that I build a puzzle too. There’s a system. First, all the pieces must be taken out of the box, spread out, and turned over. Then, the border needs completed. Next, colors need to be grouped together. Finally, we can proceed to put it together until EVERY LAST ONE is in its place. Therefore, yes, I needed to get in between the puzzle pieces to clean up the mess because they were already sorted!
How much would it have bothered me if, after all that, I was missing a piece? It would have driven me crazy! I’ve learned though, or am learning, two things. One, it can be put together many ways. Two, being short one piece isn’t the end of the world because it’s just a puzzle we’re talking about, right?
The problem is, we can do that with life too. We want all the pieces in life to complete a whole picture, so we need all the pieces to start with. Whenever we open a puzzle box, we expect everything to be there and fit together. When we’ve completed it, we want to fit it neatly back into that box. Wouldn’t that be the way things should go in our life too?
The answer I’ve found isn’t so simple. Just like the version of I Spy becoming more complex as my boys grow, life does too. Not everything can be a final picture and fit neatly into a box in order for us to move to the next one. The longer I’m here on earth, I’m more and more sure that we don’t ever fully close the box from one chapter to the next with all the pieces sealed up nicely and neatly.
After dealing with the continuous feeling of being short one thing during each situation I went through, I had a bit of a revelation. It wasn’t that I was short one thing, it was that one thing was the puzzle piece to start the next chapter. It might be the piece we take with us or the one already waiting for us that made us feel just one short in our last one.
Have you ever made yogurt? Believe it or not, I have. You can use a recipe to make raw yogurt or get a starter from someone else, but then you keep some from each new batch to have a culture starter for the next time it’s made.
This is what I’m saying…it isn’t that we’ve failed in the last mission on this journey in life if we’re short one thing. That one thing can’t be put into the old puzzle because it is needed to begin the new one. It’s needed for us to keep moving from one great adventure to another in life. The final piece completes the puzzle of our earthly life only when we come to the end of that time. The cool thing is, it’s still not over!
We don’t want to stop the earthly progression of life by worrying about being short just one thing or closing the box with all the pieces still in it. That piece could be something we’ve learned, and what a waste to seal it back up because we wouldn’t be on that forward progression.
I challenge you, if you haven’t already, to allow Jesus Christ to be your raw yogurt by asking Him into your life. Since the promise about Christ coming to earth came true from Genesis 3:15, don’t let it go to waste. Satan did “strike” or bruise Jesus’s heal when Jesus took the judgement we deserved by dying on the cross, and Jesus did crush the serpents head when He restored God’s relationship with us. Eternal life is waiting at the end of our earthly one!
Also, don’t let Satan lie to you when he tries to tell you you’ll never get ahead because you’ll always be short one thing. Remember, Jesus already beat him and He who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.
I challenge you to keep using that one thing your short to be your starter instead of your defeat for your next area of growth!