I have a place in the family of things.
And so do you.
What’s more, that place is a unique place carved out just for us.
It is a place no one else can fill.
Two weeks ago, my family started putting together puzzles. I hadn’t done a puzzle in years! I wasn’t sure I even liked puzzles, but I sat down to do it with my boys anyway.
Long after they lost interest, I found myself still sitting at the table working to find the pieces that fit together just right.
Occasionally, I would get frustrated because I thought for sure a particular piece belonged in a particular space despite none of the edges lining up. “But it has all the right colors!” I’d grumble to myself. “It just has to fit here!”
My worst self considered shoving those pieces into those spaces until they gave in and magically locked together.
But my better self put them aside to give me some time to figure out where the pieces were actually meant to be.
How many times have I tried to shove myself into a particular part of a particular picture? How many times have I thought “If I only work harder, spend more time and effort on myself, I will fit into this particular job, this particular hobby, this particular social group, this particular body type…”? (The list goes on and on).
How many times have I made the pledge to be more outgoing instead of celebrating the graces of an introverted nature? (Or vice versa for the more extroverted among us)
We each have a place in this world.
We are a particular piece in a very complex and beautiful puzzle.
Just imagine that feeling of coming to the end of a puzzle and have one piece missing.
Let’s not be that piece.
