When You Don’t Know Where the Pieces Go

There are many great things about babysitting. You have an opportunity to invest in someone’s life for just a few moments. There is an opportunity for you to be the “cool” and “fun” person for the day. You are genuinely wanted and needed by another person. Plus, no matter how great or badly the day goes, you can always give the kids back without feeling guilty!

The best part about babysitting is watching the little kids play and have a good time. It is always rewarding to watch young children try to figure things out and then come to you for help when they can’t figure it out. Talk about feeling needed! I remember those special ball-shaped toys that had different shape cutouts. The object of the challenge was to take the shapes and place them in the specific cutouts within the ball. It’s all well and good when you know your shapes, but it can be pretty frustrating when you don’t! Trying to stick a square piece into a star-shaped cutout doesn’t work out so well.

Our life is much like this giant puzzle where we frustrate ourselves by trying to place pieces where they don’t belong. I experienced a lot of missing puzzle pieces through my college years. I met my wife at the beginning of her sophomore year of college. We began to seriously date throughout the year with thoughts of beginning a life together following graduation. We thought the puzzle pieces of our lives were fitting perfectly into place – go to college, get an education, meet a spouse, and get married. After a year of dating, however, God drastically changed our plans. My wife found out she would have to stay an extra year to complete her degree, adding one more year to her college plans. I thought I could ease our disappointment by getting a job near our college in South Carolina, allowing us to get married the summer before her final year of college. I soon learned that God had a different puzzle piece. I was hired by a company in Pennsylvania, which happened to be the absolute last place I ever wanted to live. This change of plans caused our wedding date to be pushed back two years.

During the time of these changes, I didn’t know why God was rearranging our plans so drastically. I was too busy trying to place my puzzle pieces into a spot where they didn’t fit! During this trying time, my wife showed me a key verse she found while doing her devotions. Psalm 18:30 says: “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”

At that moment, I realized that God was trying to teach me something big. This whole time I was trying to create the puzzle of my life without actually knowing the end product. It’s like trying to put together a puzzle, but not having the picture – or even all the pieces to go by! It just doesn’t work.

Psalm 18:30 was written by a man named David during a time when he didn’t know the answer to the circumstances he was facing. At this time in David’s life, he had just been told that he would be the future king of Israel yet he was spending his time running for his life, hiding in caves, and trying to survive from a king that wanted him dead. It would have been easy for David to cry out, “Why am I going through this, don’t you know I’m a future king?” But David knew there was a bigger plan. David understood that God alone held all of the pieces to his life and He knew exactly where they would fit to create a masterpiece.

When life is confusing and circumstances unexplainable, remember that God holds all of the pieces to your life and knows exactly where they are going. Trust in God, no matter how difficult, and understand that He is creating a perfect masterpiece of your life.

…………………..