A Piece of the Puzzle

Upon entering the service at church this past Sunday, everyone got to pick out a puzzle piece.   It was puzzling (ha ha) as to why we had to do that.  I had a smile arise from inside because I had an idea. 
A guest speaker (Brady Clarke) shared the strong message laid on his heart for the New Year, coming from places such as Jeremiah 29:11 (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord...) and John 14 (You will have trouble in this world, but take courage, I have overcome…red letters, so Jesus said).  The bottom line to the message concerned the puzzle piece.  Why would we get a puzzle piece, he asked?  In making New Year resolutions/setting goals, it should be the ultimate goal in our lives to live for the glory of God, not just to live long and prosper, as Trekkians promote.

The puzzle piece represents our lives. 



 

Look at mine:  it is ugly….brown with yellow dots.  If all I looked at was my piece, I would be so very disappointed. 

The speaker then held up the box.  When we see the whole picture of the puzzle we see how our little piece fits in.  This puzzle is a summer village scene, with many pretty buildings, people running around going about their lives, and beautiful nature portrayed.  (OK, so I didn’t really pay attention to what the scene was, but you get the idea.)   What we do with each piece of the puzzle we are given ultimately comes down to do we bring glory to God with it or not.

This is a lesson I saw on losing my son Tag, who was born silently in March 2004.  I had NO idea why God chose to take him home to heaven instead of letting us raise him here.  My arms ached to hold him and my heart broke.  But I chose to accept the piece of the puzzle I was given and bring glory to God through it.  The memorial service we had for him was truly a time of praise and healing for other people who had lost children to stillbirth or miscarriage, even abortion.  His intensely short life in my womb had ramifications I may never know about, but I know that Jesus has held my son these past almost 9 years and that I will see him again.  God has been so amazing to even give me dreams of him now in heaven.

My ugly puzzle piece is stuck in my Bible for a while at Jeremiah 29 to be a reminder to me this year of what my reaction needs to be about the puzzle pieces of life I am handed.

Here is link to sermon if you want to listen too:  http://www.classiccity.org/special-guest-speaker-brady-clarke-the-ultimate-resolution-123012