Pieces of the Puzzle

The other day my four year old was putting together a puzzle on the floor of our family room. He had been holding one of the pieces for quite some time when he looked at me and said, "I can't figure out where this one goes."

Looking down from my spot on the couch I told him, "That's because you're not ready for it yet." And he wasn't. Some of the edges were connected. A few of the middle pieces were in place. But, from where I sat, it was clear that my little guy had much more work to do before understanding where to put the piece in his hand.

Jeremiah got stuck holding something that simply didn't fit yet. And while the only solution was to put the piece down and get to work doing other parts of the puzzle first, he didn't want to. He wanted to make it fit right then.

I don't know about you, but I honestly believe that most of my life has been riddled with impatience (and outright defiance) over wanting to do and be things that I'm simply not ready for. Truth be told, I still have a lot of not just hard work, but heart work to do before God can use me.

Nashville pastor Justin Davis recently said on Twitter: "We often want to pursue being used by God before we pursue being healed by God." I was one of those people. And maybe you are too. Maybe you are tightly holding on to a piece of your puzzle that simply isn't ready to be used yet. Maybe you have some work left to do. Maybe there is some healing that needs to happen first.

Maybe, just maybe, when you and I ask God why we can't figure out where a certain piece of our life is supposed to fit, he is simply saying, "That's because you're not ready for it yet."