Life is a puzzle and sometimes we have difficulty getting the pieces to fit properly.  Little Erin was worn out just trying to put Strawberry Shortcake together.   She really was just going to rest her head for a minute and ended up sleeping the whole night.  Her problem was that she became overwhelmed by the task at hand.  She was only going to rest a bit, but ended up just stopping.

Our lives can be very much like a puzzle and we too can get overwhelmed trying to get the pieces to fit.  God is the maker of our life’s puzzle and He must fit the pieces.  We often try to fit in a place meant for someone else.  We strive for places of ministry that we are not suited for.  We try to fit people in our lives who God never intended to be there.

The body of Christ is made of many members. (I Cor.12:12-26)  We each have our place and our own special value.  The foot cannot say to the hand, “I am more important than you.”  Nor can the ears say to the eyes, “I have no part of you”.  We all have our places, just like the pieces of a puzzle.

I Cor. 12:27 tells us that we each have been given certain gifts and ministries in the church.  Those are our puzzle pieces.  We cannot make ourselves fit into another’s space.  We cannot push our way in, we cannot talk our way in, and we cannot manipulate our way in.  God alone designed the plan and the puzzle that is our life.  When we try to fit where we don’t belong, the whole picture changes, puzzle pieces are bent or broken, and we throw away the parts we don’t understand.

Then we become tired and frustrated with trying to figure it all out.  Erin fell asleep on the job.  We too fall asleep on the job.  When we become overwhelmed, often times we just give up and wait for a better day.  If we could trust God to direct us with the puzzle pieces and not try to do it all by ourselves, we could save us bot a lot of stress and frustration.