Hi Friends. I hope you’re doing well amidst the craziness of the world these days. I am fine and have been finding ways to stay connected, be productive, and pass the hours at home. I’ve spent part of my weekends doing jigsaw puzzles for the last several weeks. If you’ve known me very long, you likely know I love jigsaw puzzles. Here is a post inspired by the most difficult one I’ve done to date: Jigsaw Lesson.

Last weekend, as I was spreading out the pieces for the puzzle, I felt like God spoke to me about these days we’re in and life in general. So, I decided I’d share what I heard in case it encourages someone else too.

Here is what the table looked like when the lesson came to mind:

That is all of the pieces for this puzzle, and I didn’t think they would all fit on the table. Normally I don’t start with pieces inside the border if I can avoid it, because it makes it hard to work on the picture. There was no way to fit the pieces all on the table without putting some inside the edges, and it struck me as amazing that all the pieces I struggled to fit on the entire table would eventually fit inside that border. Pieces were fit in every possible space around those edges, and it was nearly impossible to walk around the table to work on the puzzle without knocking pieces to the floor because they were so close to the edge of the table.

So what?

As I was looking at the situation, it struck me that the puzzle was very much like my days. Sometimes it seems like there is no way in the world all the pieces and things I have to (or want to) do will fit in hours of my days. It seems I’m often losing pieces under the table or knocking things off because the margin is just too full of things I’m trying to fit. How on earth will they all fit in the day?

Each thing in its place. The only reason all 1000 pieces of that jigsaw puzzle fit and made this lovely picture is because each one was in the right place.

So often I get my priorities out of line. I get a piece out of place and it throws off everything else. So, the only way to fit everything that needs to go in the day, is to make sure I get all the bits in order. Some are obvious, and there is only one place they could possibly go in the puzzle. Others take a bit of trial and error to get into the right spot. (I have repeatedly had pieces in the wrong places over the past few weeks of doing puzzles, and as much as they look like they go there, I am kept from finding the right piece for that place and all the surrounding ones until I recognize the mistake and move the piece.)

It is also possible to have pieces thrown in with your puzzle that don’t belong. I did a puzzle recently that I borrowed, and it came with two extra pieces from other puzzles that had gotten mixed into the box. Sometimes the things we are trying to fit into our day, aren’t really ours to fit and we have to let them go.

How are your days? Are they overflowing with things you feel you just can’t fit in? Are there pieces that need to be set aside? Are there pieces in the wrong place blocking the others from fitting in just right? I’d love to hear your thoughts.