As a kid, we had a jigsaw puzzle on a card table all winter long. Those long winter nights would be punctuated by our ‘puzzling’. We could sit for an hour or a minute to work on the puzzle. Once it was put together, we took it apart, stored it in its box and chose another puzzle to begin puzzling.

As a parent, I passed this tradition on to my children.

Well…..winter got away from me this year and I just now got out a puzzle.

The puzzle I chose was brand new. It quickly became evident that it was missing some pieces. Which really made the outside edges a challenge to put together.

Now I am wondering how many pieces are missing as I begin to work on the center portion of the puzzle.

As I was working on the puzzle for a few minutes today, I began to think about how this puzzle is like life.

The pieces might be all there. I have to work to put the pieces together–and sometimes….those pieces don’t work.

I have turn the pieces in order to make them fit. Sometimes life takes a turn and I have to take a different path.

The pieces are missing from my puzzle. I have had everyone that has crossed my puzzle path check to see if the missing pieces are somewhere that my eyes cannot see.

Life is the same…I have to be open to taking help from others when my ‘puzzle’ takes a turn. #justsayin’