By Tiffini Countaway

 

I was done! It was never going to happen, and I was tired of trying. 

 

As a joke, I gave a friend one of those 5000 piece jigsaw puzzles with a scene from New York City for her birthday.  My friend claimed she had always wanted to go to NYC but would probably never make it, so I decided to bring NYC to her.

 

The moment she opened it I knew I was in a quandary; she loved it so much she insisted we start working on immediately.  I began laughing until I saw the seriousness in her eyes. 

 

“Are you kidding?” I whined. 

 

“No, I want to start right now!” she replied.  I moaned with aggravation while she began cutting the box open.

 

The next two hours were spent make room for all the pieces, turning them all the same way and pretending that a few fit together.  After three hours we had two pieces that fit and I was done.  I gave my goodbyes and left.

 

Surprise! Surprise!
Every now and then I would teasingly ask my friend how New York was coming, and she would always reply, “Almost there.”  I would just shake my head and hope that she really wasn’t trying to put it together.

 

A year passed and my friend decided to have a party at her house for her birthday, and so I found myself back in the house with that puzzle.  The whole night I was nervous that she would pull it back out and make all of us work on it.  Yet she never did.  As I was leaving, a large picture in her living room caught my eye.  I thought I recognized it, but couldn’t place it.  It was beautiful - a scene from New York City. 

 

I began laughing and quipped, “I see you just went ahead and bought a picture of New York.”  She looked at me in confusion, and then it made sense.

 

“That isn’t the puzzle is it?” I asked, astounded. 

 

“Yes, it is.  I finished it and had it framed. Isn’t it nice?”  I stood there in utter shock. Surely she hadn’t really spent time working on that dumb puzzle.  As I got closer, I could see the little lines and knew it really was the puzzle.  How did she have the patience to figure out where every piece went?

 

She explained that every day she got home from work she would spend a few minutes moving the pieces and seeing if any fit.  On Saturdays she would try to find at least one or two pieces that fit.  Some days she would have great luck and several pieces would work.  Sometimes she would go days and not find anything.  Yet she would work on it a little every day, and now it was a beautiful masterpiece. 

 

When you stepped back from the puzzle it looked just like a picture, and, if you squinted your eyes, it was as if you were really there.  What started out as a joke was now a beautiful piece of art on her wall!

 

My Personal Jigsaw
As I drove home, still in awe of her accomplishment, I began thinking about the puzzle of my existence.  I have good days and bad days, great days and horrible days, but it’s my choice how I use those days.  I thought back to the story of the tortoise and the hare…the race was won by the slow and steady.

 

As Paul wrote, “…I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).  It never said how quickly or majestically, only that he had finished. 

 

There were days my friend sat for hours straining her eyes to find just one piece that would fit.  There were no cheerleaders applauding her on, no experts giving her hints.  It was just her and that crazy puzzle.

 

When I take a moment to step back and look at my life, I see my frustrating puzzle not as a burden but as a work of art that God is creating.  Every day I pick up a piece of my puzzle and try to find where it goes.  Some days it fits perfectly; other days…well I’m sure you know where I’m going.  But the point is that I’m not giving up because I will finish my puzzle.  I am persuaded that nothing will keep me from finishing. 

 

As Paul wrote, “And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his glorious return” (II Timothy 4:8, NLT).

 

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© 2006, Tiffini Countaway
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Tiffini Countaway writes devotions from the safety of her fabulous 37^th story penthouse in fabulous Eastern Missouri.