Bread for the JourneySample

The Best Piece

There are people, including myself, who love to put together puzzles. Some who don't like them don't understand what pleasure there can be in going through the trouble of finding the place for every piece. The reasons I give to those who ask me why I enjoy that work so much are very simple: I have fun finding the specific spot for each piece, as well as being able to implement my strategies to find that spot.

However, what I enjoy the most is placing the last piece. It's the most fascinating and gratifying moment. It's when I can say, "I did it." Then I look at the image and tell myself that the effort and time I dedicated to it were worth it.

I believe life is like a big puzzle. The pieces, which come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, are fitted together throughout our lives to shape the person we become. Ideas, teachings, advice, experiences, trials, relationships, and a thousand other pieces that sometimes fit and sometimes don't.

What impacts me the most about this illustration is the recognition of an empty space in our lives where no piece seems to fit. We try to fill it in many ways, but we fail. Because of this failure, the rest of the pieces, no matter how well-placed they are, give us a continuous feeling of inadequacy and imperfection.

That's how the Samaritan woman's life was until Jesus arrived and revealed Himself to her—the piece that would fit perfectly into the void of her soul. "I am he," Jesus said, when she spoke to Him about the Messiah. An "I am he" that shook her, satisfied her thirst, and filled her life with meaning. “The woman said, 'I know that Messiah' (called Christ) 'is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.' Then Jesus declared, 'I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” (John 4:25-26, NIV) What happens to us when we genuinely receive Him into our hearts is that Jesus is inserted into us, restoring the image and likeness of God within us.

The sad thing is that the world has so many wrong pieces before it that, no matter how hard it tries, there is always a space that remains incomplete. The rich young man had fitted many pieces into his life, including: the commandments, riches, and good intentions. But there was one piece he rejected, the perfect piece, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Let us know, my beloved, that if Jesus is in us, we are complete in Him. There's no doubt that we'll lack many things, but that unique space in our soul has been filled with the piece it was missing. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” (Colossians 2:9-10, NIV)