puzzle

Did you ever wonder about your puzzle pieces?

I mean, did you ever wonder about all the small bits and pieces that compose your life? Your family, your friends, your education, your faith, daily events, the strangers you meet, your unusual trip to the supermarket the other day... All these fragments, these slivers of life all blended together to create what you know as "your life." Do you ever wonder about them? Like, what would happen if one of those pieces of the puzzle were missing? Would it be a vital piece of the puzzle, or one of the corner pieces that you assume got lost under some random piece of furniture, never to be found again?

I've been thinking a lot about my puzzle pieces lately, the little bits and pieces that make up everything I have ever known. I've come across some old pictures - some that make me eternally grateful that that period in my life is over, and some that make me deeply miss people and places in my life. I wonder about all the people that have I have come to know - how they've contributed to and impacted my life. I think about the people who never knew they had an impact on me, people who I'll probably never get to thank; the people who I admired from afar, never getting to know them well, but knowing deep down there was something good about them that made me strive to be better. I love to think about the people who I HAVE known, and who have been more than I could have ever dreamed of in a friend. I also think about the people who have caused me deep pain, which in turn has helped me to grow. And what about the people who are currently popping in and out of my life... where will they be 10 years down the road? Where will I be?

I think about where I went to school, where I went to church, how I spent my summers, what I created and dreamed about as a kid, what I've created and dreamed about as an adult, the places I've traveled to both physically and in my thoughts, the stories I've lived out and created, the faith I've held so tightly to, and yet questioned each step along the way...

All of these things have molded me. They have shaped my past, and will shape my future. But I wonder what pieces are still missing? How will some pieces connect with other ones? Will I lose some pieces along the way? Will my puzzle ever be complete, or will I constantly be looking for that one piece that goes in the middle, the one that seems to connect them all?

I know, some of you have answers to those questions... I do too... but my heart still wonders about the puzzle despite the fact that my head knows one day it will be complete.

And did you ever notice... puzzles seem to take FOREVER to put together. I think I got the 10,000 piece box.

(photo found here)