Making everything fit into place is not always easy
FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Heather Stewart, Parish of Latheron
One of my favourite pastimes as a child was doing jigsaw puzzles. It is something I plan to resume when I finally retire. Jigsaws can be challenging, fitting all the interlocking pieces together. Each piece just fits into one place in the puzzle and it can be frustrating when there are so many pieces of the same colour that just don’t quite match.
The whole picture can only be completed when each piece is successfully placed in the right slot. Every person in the world has a specific place and purpose. The difficult part is figuring out what that purpose is and, for some, where they belong.
Some people know from a young age “what they want to be when they grow up”, while others struggle through college or different jobs and on into adulthood. Eventually they will find their purpose and place. They become teachers, bank tellers, doctors, lawyers, shop workers, cooks, postal workers, bus drivers, etc. They make up the picture of our towns, cities, countries and our world.
Still there are those who never quite find their place or purpose in life. They wonder about, trying to fit in here or there but never quite make the fit. Unfortunately, they are like a box of mixed-up puzzle pieces. We all scratch our heads and wonder what we can do, for we know they were made to fit together somewhere.
The Bible reminds us that each one of us has a unique place in this world and each of us is dependent on others – we are connected and all of us have a role to play, whether we have found it or not. When Jesus chose the 12 disciples they were very different characters with different strengths and faults and failings, but they were “connected” in and through the Spirit of Jesus.
Paul wrote this to the Ephesian Church: “It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others” (Ephesians 2v10 Living Bible).