On my list of things to do, working a puzzle is not one of them. But due to the pandemic I chose to work a 1,000-piece puzzle at home. I thought, how hard can this be, since the puzzle was offered to me already in multiple baggies arranged by color, and 1 baggy with just the border.  So, I got out my card table, the picture of the puzzle, and began the task. Except for 1 piece, the border was done quickly. I did not work on it every day, just occasionally. I would put a piece in here or there. Some days I could only find a few pieces after hours of searching. It was becoming a very frustrating task. The pieces I just knew would fit, did not, and other pieces kept falling off the table’s edge. I was even offered a magnifying light to help find the correct puzzle pieces, but I wanted to do this without help. When I did find a piece or two that fit, it reminded me of hunting Easter eggs as a child.  It was exciting for the moment, but then back to the hunting again. My thoughts were constantly “I must finish this whole thing so I can get this table put up and out of my way.” Well, 7 long months later and after searching and finding the last 3 pieces on the multicolor tone carpet on my hands and knees. It was done! WOW! Now, I could see the “Big Picture” and it was absolutely, beautiful. The puzzle was called, “Cottage by the Sea.” Close to the cottage there was the most beautiful lighthouse shining out upon the water for boats to see their way in.

When looking at the “Big Picture” I thought about God’s plan for our individual lives. As we journey through this life, we do not always see what is up ahead. At times we may think we know what direction to go, what pieces of the puzzle best fits here or there. We may even get too close to the edge going our own way that we slide off. The good news is the Word of God says in (Jeremiah 29:11) “For I know the plans I have for you, “says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” So how do we know what His plans are? It is in the daily coming to the table, falling on our hands and knees in surrender, trusting the Holy Spirit’s magnifying light to guide us away from the table’s edge so that piece by piece we are becoming our Heavenly Father’s absolutely beautiful “Big Picture.”