Exploring Life’s Puzzle
You and I, everyone and everything, are like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle God is putting together. Our thoughts, words and actions give our piece its character: the color, texture, shading, scope and depth; the nuances of its character.
Imagine you have just opened a new puzzle, dumping all the pieces on the table.
Three questions:
1. If you pick up one piece, any piece, does it fit anywhere but its own place? No.
2. While holding that piece, any piece, do you know what the completed puzzle will look like? I can’t, can you?
3. If even one piece, any piece, is missing, will the puzzle ever be complete? No, of course not.
What’s the Point? Let’s consider life as a puzzle on macro and micro levels.
At the macro level – God’s perspective. You, me, everyone and everything, we are the pieces. God is putting the puzzle together. Watching it emerge, experiencing it, right here with us, having our back – God emerges through our experiences.
Simultaneously at the micro level – your level, my level. You and me, everyone and everything, we are the pieces developing through our thoughts, words, and actions. What we initiate and how we respond. Or – do we still react? The difference between responding and reacting seems tiny but it’s significant. React is a no-thought knee-jerk, like when your doctor taps on your knee and your knee reacts by jerking forward.
Responding, on the other hand, takes thought and practice. Viktor Frankl described it as that space between event and subsequent force/thought. Frankl concluded humanity’s growth and freedom hangs on how well we develop this skill. Our challenges, experiences, intentions, words and actions give our piece its uniqueness.
Taking it a step further – each piece, your piece, my piece, pieces are multi-particle. We, you and I, can interchange our piece’s particles, changing its texture, color, depth. We can convert its presence, thought to material, material to thought.
In this way, through this process, we live and experience our story. You can imagine, write and experience the story you’re wishing for. Imagine that. You’ve likely wished countless times if only thigs were different. Here’s how you can make them different! After all, that’s the purpose you had those experiences – to inspire, encourage and motivate you to break free of the limitations you gave yourself.
God is emerging through our experiences, and as facets of God, we’re emerging. There’s no rush. Whether it’s one puzzle or a series of puzzles is unimportant. God is timeless. We, as sparks of God, are also timeless. God has always been. Will always be. And as long as there’s God, there will be you, a me, a we.
Until Next Time,
Joe