Saturday Scriptures #5-Puzzle Pieces of Life

Is Your Life Puzzle Missing A Piece?

absfreepic.com

God made my life life complete

when I placed all the pieces before him.

When I got my act together

he gave me a fresh start.

Now I'm alert to God's ways;

I don't take God for granted.

Every day I review the ways he works;

I try not to miss a trick.

I feel put back together,

and I'm watching my step.

God rewrote the text of my life

when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

(Psalm 18:20-24  The Message)

One of the great pleasures of retirement is the freedom of the early morning hours. Rather than rushing about dressing, eating a hurried breakfast and gathering necessities for the day before dashing out the door, I can enjoy the comforts of my living room while enjoying a second cup of fragrant hot tea. I find that my mind wanders during this time, often to events of the past. There is usually no set pattern for this. My thoughts often begin roaming with a school memory which leads to thoughts of a particular person who then connects with another event of my life and so it goes. Sometimes it's a family memory or a church memory or some long forgotten memory from my youth. This morning, it was actually thinking about books I have read that started my brain twisting and turning through a thousand random thoughts. Sometimes my thinking brings me pleasure and a smile as I recall a happy event of my life. Other times, the memories carry an ache of embarrassment or bring a pang of discomfort at the remembrance. At times, I can dwell too much in memory, rather than focusing on the present. I wonder about the "whys" of how things happened....or didn't happen....in my life. At times like this, I "worry" the pieces of my life trying to make it all fit together and make sense.....much the same way that I try to fit a puzzle piece in the wrong spot of a puzzle. No matter how hard I try, I just can't make the missing piece fit. 

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch woman who lived with her widowed father, Casper, and sister, Betsie, in The Netherlands during World War II. Her father was a watch maker and Corrie assisted him in his shop while Betsie took care of the household chores. They were a devoutly Christian family and during the Holocaust the family made the decision to hide Jews in a secret room in their home to protect them from the Nazis. Corrie and her family paid dearly for this act of compassion as they were "turned in" to the authorities by a neighbor and sent to a prison where Casper, age 84 died. Later, Corrie and Betsie were then transferred to the notorious death camp, Ravensbruck. Life there was extremely hard. Forced to perform hard labor, the sisters cared for one another and those around them the best they could encouraging each other and serving as a source of spiritual encouragement to those around them. Betsie did not survive the ravages of the camp and died there, while Corrie was eventually released and went on to write several books about her experience including,"The Hiding Place," which was also turned into a movie. It is estimated that this family helped to save over 800 Jewish people. As I recall, from reading her many books, Corrie enjoyed doing needlepoint work. And she often compared life to a tapestry. She explained that when you look at the back of a tapestry it often looks messy with many strings hanging loose and dark colors. But, when the tapestry is turned over, a beautiful picture emerges. No strings hang loose and what looked messy is a truly beautiful image. She put these thoughts into a poem which I will share at the end of this post. 

I think about this image of a tapestry when I am trying to make the puzzles pieces of my life fit together. Even though the pieces may not make sense to me....they do make sense to God. In His infinite wisdom, God is working out the tapestry of my life in just the way it should be. I may not understand the ways the pieces fit together. But God does. And when the final piece of my life puzzle slides into place, God will be there to show me just how perfectly formed my life puzzle really was. You see, I really don't need to spend time "worrying" the pieces of my life together. I just need to place all of the puzzle pieces before God and let Him do the work. Lord, help me to be willing to do this. 

Until Next Time,

Debbie

Corrie ten Boom Quote:

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

       Source of Quote

"Weaving" poem by Corrie ten Boom:

“Life is but a Weaving” (the Tapestry Poem)

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.”

― Corrie ten Boom

        Source of poem