The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

It was a busy week so on this particular Friday night we just hung out together at home. We didn't want to watch TV or a movie (again), so I went to my everything cupboard (every mom has one of these, don't they?) and pulled out an unopened Star Wars puzzle. As I looked at this 300 piece puzzle, I pondered how I came to be in possession of this brain teaser as we are not Star Wars fans. But here we were. We were going to put this puzzle together. We started on Friday night; I ran out of steam after four pieces but the Little One had a method for solving puzzles, so she stuck it out a bit longer.

Saturday was a full day for me. As I left the house I looked at that incomplete puzzle and wondered if and when it would be completed. When I came home Saturday afternoon, the puzzle had taken shape - the border was completed, and the empty spaces inside were being filled in. It was more than fifty percent done and I was impressed. It turns out, that the puzzle drew the other family members in so that they felt compelled to complete it.

By Saturday evening we were all making slow and steady progress. (I connected four more pieces!) The background noises of living went on as each person took turns doing their part to complete this puzzle. By 11:30 on Saturday night, we completed the puzzle and discovered that the unopened puzzle came with 299 pieces, not 300. We felt oddly dissatisfied, deflated and unsatisfied because we would not be able to fill in that last piece. We knew the shape, knew its color, knew the direction it should go in, but none of that mattered because that piece, that last piece, that piece that would have made our puzzle a completed masterpiece was missing.

There are many people who are missing a piece of the puzzle in their lives. They have formed borders - they think they know who they are. They have filled in a considerable amount of their empty spaces with relationships, jobs, trips, hobbies. Their empty spaces have also been filled with lies that diminish who they are, that makes them doubt themselves; that build walls that hinder their growth. But one important piece is missing. The piece that is shaped just for you, in the right direction; the last piece that would make you the masterpiece that you are supposed to be. That last Puzzle Piece is Jesus. He made you for a purpose, on purpose with purpose. He knows where He fits in your life and that He fits perfectly. He came so that you might have life and have it abundantly. You were not meant to go through this life missing that last piece of the puzzle.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. John 10:10,11

My puzzle piece in my Star Wars puzzle is missing, but yours in the form of Jesus is not. He's there, he's available and ready to fill that gap in your life. Won't you let Him?