When I was about 8 years old, I enjoyed putting together a 100 piece puzzle each afternoon before my nap. I quickly learned that trying to force a puzzle piece into a space where it did not belong simply would not work. So, I would move on to the next empty space to see if the piece might fit there, and eventually, I would find the proper space for my little puzzle piece to fill. In the past year in particular, I came to realize how this same simple concept relates to each of us and where we are at in life, so I am sharing in hopes of encouraging someone else.
I believe all of us have a special place in the “puzzle” of life to fill. Our lives are often headed in markedly different directions. When the diverse range of individual variables (e.g., one’s personal values or personality) or situational variables (e.g., chronic illness) enter the picture, it can be a little easier to make sense of the differences in life path, but accepting them is not always as easy. Sometimes, it comes more naturally to wish away one’s present circumstances in order to escape the reality of them. But in my walk with the Lord, at one point, I felt Him speaking to my heart something alone the lines of: “don’t lose sight of the opportunities and blessings of the now or what I’m doing in you during this season of your life by wishing things were different.” This completely shifted my perspective on things, and I began recognizing some of the creative opportunities in my life that had existed all along. Basically, when we try and try and try so hard to fit into someone else’s space, we risk missing out on the things in our own space that God has prepared for us…and sometimes it’s the space that He’s using *to* prepare us for something else!
In essence, I began to see that, like a puzzle piece with its own unique space to fill, God has a unique space for me to fill in life. Forcing myself to fit into spaces where I don’t belong could easily destroy my edges. 🧩
Here are a few Bible verses related to uniqueness, purpose, and life’s seasons that bring me comfort and encouragement:
Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”