Puzzles are fun and low key. With time, methodical attention, and loads of perseverance, the picture takes shape, revealing its intricacies, detail, and beauty. But, it doesn’t happen in a flash. The pieces get sorted, flipped, and shifted.

Slowly, matches are discovered, and more matches, and more. Even though we have the picture of what the final project will be, we marvel in the transformation of each newly matched section revealing bits and pieces of what will be the whole.

But how many times does one piece get tried in how many different spots? How many times is that piece set aside because it’s spot still isn’t found? Moving it over here. Relocating it over there. Trying and trying on all sides in all the open spots. Forgetting about it, at times, or even knocking it onto the floor.

Life feels like that sometimes. Like we’re the puzzle piece being shifted around, never finding where we fit. We think, maybe, we fit pretty well in one spot, only to discover, nope, it’s still not right. We move around and try different things. Jobs, churches, houses, cities, clothes. Even friends.

It’s exhausting.

Especially when we still don’t find that spot that was made just for our piece. But, we keep trying.

Sometimes trying looks like doing nothing but sitting on the fringe, watching, praying, and waiting. Like that piece of the puzzle that’s sitting off to the side, just waiting. Occasionally, it gets picked up and tried in a new spot, or it just gets shifted around the table again. Sometimes we wade into something new and try it out, and sometimes we discern from a distance.

The puzzle piece doesn’t fret.  (Mostly because it’s an inanomate object and can’t, but for the sake of my little analogy I’m going to give it personality.) Rather, the piece knows it has a perfect spot where it was made to fit. In time, that spot will be revealed.

We can move around our puzzle boards of life with the same confidence. Through prayer and faithful obedience to what God puts on our hearts, we can maneuver through life, trying new things, checking out new places, and returning to the side of the board knowing that God does, indeed, have a spot that He’s made just for us. When that spot is prepared, we will fit into it beautifully and more of the picture of our life will be revealed.

And it’s okay for our puzzle to come together slowly. It is not a race. No one else can build your puzzle for you or dictate the speed at which you complete a section. It is, however, always nice when someone comes along and helps with sections of the puzzle, but that might just be a different post.

For now, don’t give up. Your puzzle of life isn’t yet complete. You’re spot WILL be found at just the right time and in just the right place. Keep building.

#liveyourfaithboldly #loveonpurpose