life is like a picture puzzle piece

Don’t you think our lives are a little like this poem by Shel Silverstein?

“Picture Puzzle Piece”

One picture puzzle piece,

lying on the sidewalk.

One picture puzzle piece, 

soaking in the rain.

It might be a button of blue 

on the coat of the woman who lived in a shoe...

It might be a magical bean, 

or a fold in the red velvet robe of a queen...

It might be the one little bite

of the apple her stepmother gave to Snow White...

It might be the veil of a bride,

or a bottle with some evil genie inside...

It might be a small tuft of hair

on the big, bouncy, belly of Bo-Bo the Bear...

It might be a bit of the cloak

of the Witch of the West as she melted to smoke...

It might be a shadowy trace 

of a tear that runs down an angel’s face...

Nothing has more possibilities

than one old, wet, picture puzzle piece.

I read that, and I think of how sometimes I just don’t feel like I fit anywhere… like a lost puzzle piece, minus its puzzle.  Sometimes I feel as though the singular little bit that I am just doesn’t make sense in my surroundings - like the colors on me haven’t found a home yet.  Do you ever feel that way?

Good thing we each are only one tiny piece in a mosaic of billions… and the God who made each one of us is patiently fitting his picture together, piece by unique piece.  

And the amazing thing is, each of us could be anything: in the hand of the Puzzle-Maker, we could become anything He chooses, and get placed any wonderful place He chooses to put us.  His puzzle is alive (I keep forgetting), and all the pieces are three-dimensional and intertwining with each other.  The possibilities are endless, really.  And yet, He does have One Perfect Plan that He’s already created, perfectly, and is bringing to pass, perfectly.  That’s reassuring to remember at those times when everything seems especially chaotic.

So the next time you’re feeling extra ordinary, or you’re worried about one of your colors not finding a home, think of that last couplet… 

“Nothing has more possibilities / than one old, wet, picture puzzle piece.”

(photo by William)

* * * *

Do you ever feel like you don’t fit anywhere?

What encourages you when you feel this way?