Master Piece.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:24-25
Everyone wants. For instance, right now I could name a list of things I want. In this moment, I want a back massage, a bowl of ice cream and a cozy blanket. Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I will probably want to go back to sleep. Then I'll want a cup of coffee. And throughout the day, I am sure there will be many more things I want. Those wants change from moment to moment. They are a result of my most basic needs. Then there are bigger things I want. These are things like my wants of friendship, love, and faith. These things, I want continually throughout my days and these things tend not to vary with the season or moment. These wants come out of my desire for heaven and out of my most complex needs.
It is in our human nature to want. We were created to long for something that is beyond us. To reach and strive and grow is our call. But somehow, we settle. We settle with only fulfilling our basic wants. And we tell ourselves that because we have the iPhone or the new boots or the chocolate cake, we have happiness and we are content. We let our desires stop there.
And the saddest part is, we never stop to wonder why?
When you pause, and look at your desires you'll notice the ones you fulfill. You'll know how easy it is to drive to the store and buy the cute purse you've been desiring for months. You'll know that it's simple to walk into the kitchen and make you're favorite meal, the one you've been dreaming about all day. We place things in our life to capture our attention and to fill our longing. And for a moment they will. But before long, we will be wanting the next thing. And we will be left only desiring little things to close the gaps in our hearts.
Those big wants, the complicated needs we have, those ones are less easily filled. Who knows, those things might require time, and purpose, and drive? They may take patience and leave moments of struggle and sadness. And those things are the ones that are easy for us to give up on. Those are the things the devil tells us not to want.
Last night I sat down to work on the Christmas puzzle my mom has had spread out on our table for weeks. The frame was complete and slowly she had been adding pieces in the evenings as she sat down to build. As people walked through they would add a piece here or there and little portions of the puzzle were starting to form a picture. Although when you looked at the puzzle as a whole it was not obvious what you were building.
I didn't plan to spend much time looking for pieces, but adding one piece led me to finding another until I found myself still there building after three hours. I had been consumed by the desire to complete just one more piece of the puzzle. And when I did I would want again just one more. Clues allowed me to search the pile for the right piece based on shape and size and color. One part was the rocks on a fire place, so quickly I gathered all the pieces that looked like rock. Then I gathered the pieces with portions of colorful ornaments. I continued, on and on, filling in gaps in the puzzle as the pieces caught my eye.
But then there were these moments where I needed just one piece to fill the hole that was missing. I wasn't just taking pieces and adding them where they fit anymore, I was now scouring the pile for this one piece. I desired to fill this one place in the masterpiece that only this piece could fill. I gave my mom the description of the piece we were looking for and we both stopped working on every other area of the puzzle to look for it. We tried to fill the hole with every piece we thought might fit, all the pieces that met the basic requirements, but they didn't quite work. Then, after minutes of trying and searching, my mom found a piece. She placed it carefully in the hole, and it fit. Yay! That portion of the picture made sense.
We'd go along until we noticed another hole. And searched again intent on filling it. Finally, as our eyes began to fail us, we pulled ourselves away from the puzzle, only to return to it again this morning.
Puzzles, in essence, are like our lives. Each of us is a masterpiece created by God. We have within us, however, gaps and holes and our picture is still forming. There are so many pieces that create us as a whole. And we go through life, I think, searching for those pieces. But the puzzle isn't complete just because we cram a bunch of things within the frame to fill it. The puzzle is intricate. It takes time to build it and there are certain holes that can only be filled with that one certain piece.
God created us to desire the masterpiece. He created us to want to build the puzzle. He wants us to find all the things, and people, and relationships that lead us to becoming who He created us to be! But the pieces don't just appear. You have to search. You have to want them. And you have to desire the life God is calling you to!
I've heard heaven described as the place where each of us become the fullest and most perfect versions of ourselves. Heaven is the moment our masterpiece is complete! Until then, we must continue to desire to become that picture of ourselves. We must be willing to long for more. We must allow our hearts to yearn and search and strive. We must know struggle and pain. We must be ok with disappointment. We must risk hurt. And we must not squash our hearts' desires by trying to fulfill them with money or food or gadgets.
Look at the piece you find yourself searching for and ask yourself what part of the puzzle that piece is seeking to fill. Beyond the basic want, what is it that your heart longs for? Then turn to God with that hole. Ask Him to fill it.
It might seem like the puzzle is taking forever to become complete, much like the one on my table that still has a long way to go. But the moment you stop longing to add just one more piece, the moment you ask yourself if it's worth the search, the moment you fill the frame with a piece that really doesn't fit; that's the moment you give up on desire and in that moment you are denying yourself everything that you are, you're denying the masterpiece, and you're denying the power God has to complete it!
Romans 8:24-25
Everyone wants. For instance, right now I could name a list of things I want. In this moment, I want a back massage, a bowl of ice cream and a cozy blanket. Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I will probably want to go back to sleep. Then I'll want a cup of coffee. And throughout the day, I am sure there will be many more things I want. Those wants change from moment to moment. They are a result of my most basic needs. Then there are bigger things I want. These are things like my wants of friendship, love, and faith. These things, I want continually throughout my days and these things tend not to vary with the season or moment. These wants come out of my desire for heaven and out of my most complex needs.
It is in our human nature to want. We were created to long for something that is beyond us. To reach and strive and grow is our call. But somehow, we settle. We settle with only fulfilling our basic wants. And we tell ourselves that because we have the iPhone or the new boots or the chocolate cake, we have happiness and we are content. We let our desires stop there.
And the saddest part is, we never stop to wonder why?
When you pause, and look at your desires you'll notice the ones you fulfill. You'll know how easy it is to drive to the store and buy the cute purse you've been desiring for months. You'll know that it's simple to walk into the kitchen and make you're favorite meal, the one you've been dreaming about all day. We place things in our life to capture our attention and to fill our longing. And for a moment they will. But before long, we will be wanting the next thing. And we will be left only desiring little things to close the gaps in our hearts.
Those big wants, the complicated needs we have, those ones are less easily filled. Who knows, those things might require time, and purpose, and drive? They may take patience and leave moments of struggle and sadness. And those things are the ones that are easy for us to give up on. Those are the things the devil tells us not to want.
Last night I sat down to work on the Christmas puzzle my mom has had spread out on our table for weeks. The frame was complete and slowly she had been adding pieces in the evenings as she sat down to build. As people walked through they would add a piece here or there and little portions of the puzzle were starting to form a picture. Although when you looked at the puzzle as a whole it was not obvious what you were building.
I didn't plan to spend much time looking for pieces, but adding one piece led me to finding another until I found myself still there building after three hours. I had been consumed by the desire to complete just one more piece of the puzzle. And when I did I would want again just one more. Clues allowed me to search the pile for the right piece based on shape and size and color. One part was the rocks on a fire place, so quickly I gathered all the pieces that looked like rock. Then I gathered the pieces with portions of colorful ornaments. I continued, on and on, filling in gaps in the puzzle as the pieces caught my eye.
But then there were these moments where I needed just one piece to fill the hole that was missing. I wasn't just taking pieces and adding them where they fit anymore, I was now scouring the pile for this one piece. I desired to fill this one place in the masterpiece that only this piece could fill. I gave my mom the description of the piece we were looking for and we both stopped working on every other area of the puzzle to look for it. We tried to fill the hole with every piece we thought might fit, all the pieces that met the basic requirements, but they didn't quite work. Then, after minutes of trying and searching, my mom found a piece. She placed it carefully in the hole, and it fit. Yay! That portion of the picture made sense.
We'd go along until we noticed another hole. And searched again intent on filling it. Finally, as our eyes began to fail us, we pulled ourselves away from the puzzle, only to return to it again this morning.
Puzzles, in essence, are like our lives. Each of us is a masterpiece created by God. We have within us, however, gaps and holes and our picture is still forming. There are so many pieces that create us as a whole. And we go through life, I think, searching for those pieces. But the puzzle isn't complete just because we cram a bunch of things within the frame to fill it. The puzzle is intricate. It takes time to build it and there are certain holes that can only be filled with that one certain piece.
God created us to desire the masterpiece. He created us to want to build the puzzle. He wants us to find all the things, and people, and relationships that lead us to becoming who He created us to be! But the pieces don't just appear. You have to search. You have to want them. And you have to desire the life God is calling you to!
I've heard heaven described as the place where each of us become the fullest and most perfect versions of ourselves. Heaven is the moment our masterpiece is complete! Until then, we must continue to desire to become that picture of ourselves. We must be willing to long for more. We must allow our hearts to yearn and search and strive. We must know struggle and pain. We must be ok with disappointment. We must risk hurt. And we must not squash our hearts' desires by trying to fulfill them with money or food or gadgets.
Look at the piece you find yourself searching for and ask yourself what part of the puzzle that piece is seeking to fill. Beyond the basic want, what is it that your heart longs for? Then turn to God with that hole. Ask Him to fill it.
It might seem like the puzzle is taking forever to become complete, much like the one on my table that still has a long way to go. But the moment you stop longing to add just one more piece, the moment you ask yourself if it's worth the search, the moment you fill the frame with a piece that really doesn't fit; that's the moment you give up on desire and in that moment you are denying yourself everything that you are, you're denying the masterpiece, and you're denying the power God has to complete it!
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