Puzzle pieces....

Ever met someone that makes you want to throw up?

Well, I did tonight. I mean this in the nicest way, however.

Her name is Susan and she is a friend of my sisters.

She is beautiful. Her hair is perfect. Her make-up is flawless. She cooks like Paula Deen. She sews like Martha Stewart. She coupons like a professional. She just went back to school to get her cosmetology degree...which means she is also good at doing other peoples hair and make-up.

She has 5 kids. Yes, 5 kids.

You hate her too, don't  you.

As she was teaching me her couponing system underneath the bright lights of my sisters kitchen table, I feel myself dwindling. Suddenly, I feel pretty inadequate.

Good grief, Lord, can I just have one of these skills that she effortlessly conveys? I mean, seriously.

I had one question for her..."Do you.....home school?" If she said yes, I was going to turn her around and look for the batteries fastened in her back. She couldn't be real.

"No way!", She answered.

Shew. Okay. She's a real person. (i think.)

As we were driving the 45 minute drive home from my sisters house, I spent some time talking to the Lord. In my head of course.

Lem was busy listening to the Georgia football post-game talk radio show and the kids had fallen asleep in the back seat. It was just me and God. God and me.

I had some serious questions for Him. I needed some answers.

Okay, Lord, why do you give some of your children so many, many, many gifts? Why not spread the gifts a little. Why can't I be so effortless in sewing, cooking, grooming, couponing, etc...? Eh?

Instead, I am doing good to just get out the door in the mornings. Leaving a trail as I go.

Hmmmm? Answer me that one, Lord.

Silence.

A few minutes later a thought comes into my head. I see my children. Their beautiful faces. Their presence. The joy they bring me just looking at them and being close to them.

God feels the same way about His children, right?

If Presley was a master singer, dancer, soccer player or gymnast...would that make me love her any more than I already do?

Nope.

If Joseph sat the bench the whole football game his whole entire life, would that make me love him less?

No way.

As I pictured this last scenario...I envisioned Joseph witnessing to a friend while he was on that football bench and on the side lines. I pictured him encouraging his friend in life and in faith.

He may be made just to sit on that bench. And encourage a friend.

Oh, what a glorious sight.

Some of us may be the piece to the puzzle that is very, very small. So small that it slipped under the couch, unnoticed until the piece was needed to finish God's great masterpiece.

You can't have a beautiful puzzle unless every single piece is accounted for, right?

So, whatever our place on the puzzle, it's His design. His masterpiece. His plan.

Perfect. Picture perfect.

learning to embrace my piece to this puzzle,

jill