Missing Piece
How do you spend time together over the summer with your kiddos?
We usually spend the summer with a dream itinerary of swimming pools, gelato, traveling, bible study/prayer time, a goal of a certain number of books to read and brushing up on the next level in Math and English so that the boys start the year with lots of confidence. Oh and sweet snuggles.
Reality looks a little different. We end up with full schedules of training for football, Daddy goes TDY most of the summer so our trips get cut by half, the dog has to be neutered and the price for pet sitting goes up so the trips would have to be less extravagant anyway because coupled with the bazillion unplanned van repairs on our 15-year-old Ruby and the news that we will PCS a full year sooner than expected we have less cash flow. (Not the worst problems to have but not the dream list)
We have managed to keep on our Bible study but the Math prep...ehem...yeah right. I am not comfortable wearing a swimming suit and it's been too hot to leave the pup in his little open-air kennel in our top floor apartment in 104-degree heat with no air conditioning anyway. Thanks to friends the boys still got some summer sun pool time. The snuggles....LOL by this time in the summer my boys have convinced themselves I am a lunatic and a cactus not soft enough to snuggle (they are not entirely wrong...by the third argument they've had or the eye roll or whatever monumental task they have been forced to endure...like vacuuming or dishes...I definitely become a bit thorny).
All is not lost! We have had some ice cream. Loved playing with our pup. Hugged a little every day, are reading a Psalm 91 study together. And we did, at the sweet kindness of my oldest's suggestion- knowing I love puzzles, buy and complete a puzzle. We put together a Thomas Kincaid puzzle of 1000 pieces.
We are missing a Piece!
Early on we realized that one of the pieces was missing but hoped that we would find it somewhere among the pile of yet unused pieces. Since we opened it for the first time it was a conundrum. It is possible that in our stickiness a piece clung to one of our forearms and fell to the floor where it lay undiscovered for a brief moment before being ecstatically devoured by our 11-month-old GSD puppy, Zeus. We feel pretty confident that isn't the case but can't rule it out entirely.
Upon completing the puzzle over a few days, we realized it was for sure missing. We expressed our disappointment .... But in the end what struck my heart... What really clung to my mind was a symbolism that I couldn't shake. The puzzle was an image of a real work created by the amazing talent, Thomas Kincaid. The puzzle is not an original but if all the pieces were there we might be tempted to call it perfect. But alas, it is missing a piece.
An Image, Not the Original
So that is like us! My sons are so similar to their Dad in his dashing good looks that, though they are obviously themselves, many stop and do a double-take when they are with their father. I am often accused of having nothing to do with their make up...I assure you, my stretch marks and bouts of peeing a little when I laugh too hard or jump too much are proof enough for me.
We are all created by the most masterful artist. But when we look in the mirror we are seeing another filter, another version of the image....not the Original. Think of someone you love who just exudes joy and love and beauty...or look at nature...in all its awe and wonder and intricacies. You are seeing them more completely than they can see themselves, but you aren't seeing everything. You can definitely recognize the talent in how awesome they are made.
Just as you can't see every stroke of paint in the first Thomas Kincaid painting, the artist knows where each one landed and which choices were made where. Some close to him may have seen it at various stages of completion and perhaps even understood the inspiration for it and appreciated his work with a more intimate knowledge. By the time we get the replicated image on our puzzle we also just appreciate that it is beautiful and will take some effort and cooperation to rebuild it but we lack some of the intimate knowledge that only the creator and those witnessing the creation as it unfolded can appreciate.
We can not see every atom placed intentionally and woven together in ourselves but we can know that our creator was inspired, took the time, knows His work intimately, and looks upon it knowing it is good. He even said "very good". Just the same as we may or may not love a particular piece of art, and just as we look at the puzzle we put together-seeing that missing piece-like it is somehow flawed or not as beautiful as it could be if.... Don't we do the SAME THING when we look at ourselves, when we compare ourselves with each other, and when we judge the work as anything but "very good"? When we DOUBT that we cooperate in the continued work, in that doubt we believe that the "missing pieces" adversely affect the overall beauty of the work. In our disappointment, we obsess about perfection. We think about things like "this is how I SHOULD be, look, act, think, feel...." Like our summer dream itinerary but our dream self. It's not bad to have dreams and to have goals to improve or to hope to be more confident in things....but we just have to remember that the way WE see ourselves can be a bit different from the way LOVE sees us.
The comfort I have today is that just as only Thomas Kincaid can know his original work and our missing piece of the puzzle has no real affect on the original work's value or beauty I believe God knows us and loves us and whatever "missing pieces" I have do NOT take away from the original beauty or masterpiece that is. When I doubt, God comforts me and says don't focus on the missing piece for too long. I believe He is saying to me and to you, "I did a good beautiful work in you and you only see the image of the original from your perspective..."
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
We are made in the image of God Himself! If I have to be a beautiful puzzle that because of my doubts and perception is missing a piece...let me be the one that looks like God.
We usually spend the summer with a dream itinerary of swimming pools, gelato, traveling, bible study/prayer time, a goal of a certain number of books to read and brushing up on the next level in Math and English so that the boys start the year with lots of confidence. Oh and sweet snuggles.
Reality looks a little different. We end up with full schedules of training for football, Daddy goes TDY most of the summer so our trips get cut by half, the dog has to be neutered and the price for pet sitting goes up so the trips would have to be less extravagant anyway because coupled with the bazillion unplanned van repairs on our 15-year-old Ruby and the news that we will PCS a full year sooner than expected we have less cash flow. (Not the worst problems to have but not the dream list)
We have managed to keep on our Bible study but the Math prep...ehem...yeah right. I am not comfortable wearing a swimming suit and it's been too hot to leave the pup in his little open-air kennel in our top floor apartment in 104-degree heat with no air conditioning anyway. Thanks to friends the boys still got some summer sun pool time. The snuggles....LOL by this time in the summer my boys have convinced themselves I am a lunatic and a cactus not soft enough to snuggle (they are not entirely wrong...by the third argument they've had or the eye roll or whatever monumental task they have been forced to endure...like vacuuming or dishes...I definitely become a bit thorny).
All is not lost! We have had some ice cream. Loved playing with our pup. Hugged a little every day, are reading a Psalm 91 study together. And we did, at the sweet kindness of my oldest's suggestion- knowing I love puzzles, buy and complete a puzzle. We put together a Thomas Kincaid puzzle of 1000 pieces.
We are missing a Piece!
Early on we realized that one of the pieces was missing but hoped that we would find it somewhere among the pile of yet unused pieces. Since we opened it for the first time it was a conundrum. It is possible that in our stickiness a piece clung to one of our forearms and fell to the floor where it lay undiscovered for a brief moment before being ecstatically devoured by our 11-month-old GSD puppy, Zeus. We feel pretty confident that isn't the case but can't rule it out entirely.
Upon completing the puzzle over a few days, we realized it was for sure missing. We expressed our disappointment .... But in the end what struck my heart... What really clung to my mind was a symbolism that I couldn't shake. The puzzle was an image of a real work created by the amazing talent, Thomas Kincaid. The puzzle is not an original but if all the pieces were there we might be tempted to call it perfect. But alas, it is missing a piece.
An Image, Not the Original
So that is like us! My sons are so similar to their Dad in his dashing good looks that, though they are obviously themselves, many stop and do a double-take when they are with their father. I am often accused of having nothing to do with their make up...I assure you, my stretch marks and bouts of peeing a little when I laugh too hard or jump too much are proof enough for me.
We are all created by the most masterful artist. But when we look in the mirror we are seeing another filter, another version of the image....not the Original. Think of someone you love who just exudes joy and love and beauty...or look at nature...in all its awe and wonder and intricacies. You are seeing them more completely than they can see themselves, but you aren't seeing everything. You can definitely recognize the talent in how awesome they are made.
Just as you can't see every stroke of paint in the first Thomas Kincaid painting, the artist knows where each one landed and which choices were made where. Some close to him may have seen it at various stages of completion and perhaps even understood the inspiration for it and appreciated his work with a more intimate knowledge. By the time we get the replicated image on our puzzle we also just appreciate that it is beautiful and will take some effort and cooperation to rebuild it but we lack some of the intimate knowledge that only the creator and those witnessing the creation as it unfolded can appreciate.
We can not see every atom placed intentionally and woven together in ourselves but we can know that our creator was inspired, took the time, knows His work intimately, and looks upon it knowing it is good. He even said "very good". Just the same as we may or may not love a particular piece of art, and just as we look at the puzzle we put together-seeing that missing piece-like it is somehow flawed or not as beautiful as it could be if.... Don't we do the SAME THING when we look at ourselves, when we compare ourselves with each other, and when we judge the work as anything but "very good"? When we DOUBT that we cooperate in the continued work, in that doubt we believe that the "missing pieces" adversely affect the overall beauty of the work. In our disappointment, we obsess about perfection. We think about things like "this is how I SHOULD be, look, act, think, feel...." Like our summer dream itinerary but our dream self. It's not bad to have dreams and to have goals to improve or to hope to be more confident in things....but we just have to remember that the way WE see ourselves can be a bit different from the way LOVE sees us.
The comfort I have today is that just as only Thomas Kincaid can know his original work and our missing piece of the puzzle has no real affect on the original work's value or beauty I believe God knows us and loves us and whatever "missing pieces" I have do NOT take away from the original beauty or masterpiece that is. When I doubt, God comforts me and says don't focus on the missing piece for too long. I believe He is saying to me and to you, "I did a good beautiful work in you and you only see the image of the original from your perspective..."
Isaiah 55:8-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
We have to remember that the image we see is from our perspective but God wants you to remember that from His, nothing is missing. And that desire to see that missing piece found or brokenness healed or thing about us changed and forgotten that might really be just a flawed perspective, not the flawed image. The true desire is to be unified, to be completed in the work of God...to be united with Him. Together let's instead delight in the image, shall we?
1 Corinthians 15:49 NASB
Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
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