Letting The Pieces Fall Into Place
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Psalm 127:1
I remember when my son, Ira, was younger, Nintendo came out with a game called Tetras - which means 'form' in Russian. In Tetras, the game drops down different shapes of building blocks that you work with to form solid lines. When the solid lines are complete, the machine gives you credit for that line, erases it, and drops down more pieces for you to work with and form more solid lines. But if you don't lay the pieces down in the right position, you create lines that have spaces in them, and the incomplete rows get higher and higher until they reach the top and then that round is over and you lose. The pieces are L-shaped, square, long and solid, backwards L's, and T's and if you have an eye for fitting them together, you can be pretty sucessful at this game. The machine lets you choose your speed and skill level, so you can go at your own pace. Now Ira has always had the ability to do well with these games. His youth gave him the ability and quick reflexes and an eye for seeing how the pieces fit together. But I'm not that way, and often Ira would become frustrated watching me play the game. My fumbling and jumbling would often bring him to the point of exasperation and he would exclaim, " I can't watch.... Just let the pieces fall, mom... Watch where they should go... Each piece fits somewhere...Don't panic; just look for a place to fit them in... There's a place for every piece...." Later on, when I thought about what Ira was saying, and the difference in his playing and mine, the biggest stumbling block I had, was that I felt the game was out to get me. And it was then that I realized how often in my life I saw the different shaped pieces of things drop into my lap and I felt as though life was out to get me. I thought about what would change in my life if my attitude would change and I could begin to see things as necessary -- to form something solid in my life, instead of looking my circumstances as pieces of building material not coming to me in the shape I thought I needed. After all, my life certainly hasn't been one where all the pieces were a nice shape, and they didn't all come down easy. But since I find myself not being in control of all the pieces that come down, what would happen if I saw them coming down from Someone who really wants me to win the game? It was at that point, I saw the Nintendo machine as a chance to walk by faith, the Tetras cartridge representing the circumstances God's allows, and the hand control being my yieldedness to turn certain pieces into position, and the various shapes sent to me as all the people and situations that the Lord has allowed to come into my life; sent with love, all fitting somewhere, and dropping down from above to form something solid in my life. Although I consider myself to be a woman of faith, have I really been trusting that even the sharp and painful pieces have been sent to work something into or out of me? If I could accept that, I am able to watch the pieces fit neatly in a row and work something solid in my life. And as soon as that solid row is complete, I move on to completing a new row with the pieces sent down. I knew if I continued with the attitude that life was out to get me, and ran from the hand of God trying to work in my life, and I'd grumble and complain and run from the circumstances, my lack of faith and trust would only cause the pieces in my life to pile up in disarray until the game of life is over, and I would lose. So that the Lord can continue to do His work of conforming me to the image of His Son, I need to stay focased on my surrender to His plan for my life. I remember the Israelites, who because of their murmuring never entered the promised land; and the Lord has not only created us, but has a beautiful plan for our lives. Anyone can handle the good times and easy pieces, but the Lord is watching to see how I handle the rough and painful ones. And although no one sees all the pieces that drop into my life, I want the world to see the peace that passes understanding, and that only comes from abiding in Him.
"Letting The Pieces Fall Into Place" * lindie gibson * echoes of the heart * livingston, montana *
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