Missing Pieces

Yesterday, I did the unthinkable. Well, at least for me, the mom who likes everything organized and tidy. While cleaning my laundry storage shelves, I grabbed the bag of mismatched puzzles, put together the puzzles with all the pieces, and then THREW AWAY THE LEFT-OVER PUZZLE PIECES. I had been holding onto these pieces for years…hoping that the missing piece would show up…afraid that if I threw away the puzzle then I would find the piece. So there they sat – lone pieces, taking up space.

Throwing away those pieces was freeing. As soon as I began, I wondered why it took me so long to let them go. Why had I held on to them for three years? 

Life, especially our past, are like those pieces. How many years do we cling to bitterness, grief, or anger? We grip those pieces of our puzzles, hoping for that last piece – the one that would explain why something happened, or the one that would justify our feelings. We look and look, and through not letting go those missing puzzle pieces color today.

In this earthly life sometimes the pieces won’t be revealed. We won’t know how everything fits together. Yet someone knows — our heavenly Father. He knows how all the pieces intersect. He’s holds the “box”, the big picture of our lives.

There are times where the puzzles of the past need to be let go and released to the Father. In that letting go, the seeds of hope can begin to grow. In those moments the hope is not in what is seen….or remembered….or learned….but is in a present, a future in Christ.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

What puzzle pieces are you clinging to today? Are there some pieces that you need to just let go? Our Father in heaven is so good. When the past is released, He fills that gap with joy, hope, and peace. My future is in Him, your future is in Him — In Christ. Not on yesterday’s worn pieces.