Puzzled

Sometimes when Alissa and I go to Oregon to visit her family we spend some of our time putting a giant puzzle together with her parents. If you have ever worked on a large puzzle you know that it takes a lot of time, days even.
We would start by sorting out the pieces according to shape, color, and whether it had an edge or not. It always helps to keep the box top handy so that you can view it to grasp where certain pieces fit into the puzzle.
I feel like starting out it is really easy because you are piecing together the frame of the puzzle. It’s not until you get into the middle of puzzle, where pieces seem to fit together but don’t and it’s seems like you have to try every piece from every angle before you can move on.
Sometimes I’ll get on a role and it seems like it is smooth sailing. But, other times I’ll get stuck in one spot and want to give up. Or there will be times when I just can work on it anymore because it seems like the pieces all blend together.
Puzzles are complicated, harder, and not as fun when you are doing them alone. In fact, the only time I enjoy putting a puzzle together is when we are doing it as a family. It is more enjoyable because we are spending time together; talking and laughing. I think that if it weren’t for Alissa’s family doing the puzzle with me, I would give up after a while.
Our faith in God is much like putting together a puzzle. At first it is easy because we are piecing together the framework of our faith. We start by getting down the basics. It not until we start working on our faith that we start to see the difficulty and joy of our faith.
Sure there are times in our faith that it seems like everything is fitting together and we have it all worked out. We start seeing the bigger picture take shape. But, sometimes we can’t see the bigger picture for the piece that is in our hand. We look at the piece that we draw and ask ourselves how in the world does it fit into the puzzle. The great thing is that God has our puzzle box and He sees the big picture, no matter where we are at in our faith. He’s given us a framework and guidelines, but it’s not always easier. Our circumstances seem to cripple our ability to continue.
One way that our faith is easier and more enjoyable is when we do this journey with others. They seem to lighten our load by spending time with us, talking and laughing.
We were never meant to piece this puzzle together alone. God has the puzzle box. So when you can’t see past the one piece, remember He can.
—————————————————————-
Sammy and Alyssa Floyd are the Children’s Directors at Foundations Church in Tulsa, Ok. They have been in ministry for 7 years and in children’s ministry specifically for the last 3 years. They started using 252 Basics a little over a year ago to ensure that we are providing a place for kids to believe, belong, and become everything God has created them to be.