Day 95-Missing Puzzle Pieces

I had spent hours figuring out where the pieces of the puzzle fit, agonizing over each shape and configuration to place it in just the right spot.  I had only a few pieces left when I noticed that there couldn’t possibly be enough pieces to complete the puzzle.  I placed  the pieces I had left in my hand into the puzzle and eyed the blank spaces.  Where were the missing puzzle pieces?  I surveyed the table—nothing.  I knelt down to get a better look on the floor.  My eyes caught a glimpse of an object the size of a puzzle piece, but as I grabbed it, it felt paper thin.  The object in my hand was only a discarded candy wrapper.  I turned to check the comfy chair I had sat in while doing the puzzle.  Maybe a piece or two had slipped in between the cushions.  I was in luck and found one—only one.  However, one piece was better than none I thought.

With four or five pieces remaining lost, I sat back down in the chair. Wrapping a quilt around me to get warm, I gazed upon my incomplete puzzle picture.  Overall, the puzzle design created rooftops and mountains that seemed ready for me to climb and a road that meandered through the small village made me want to stroll its cobbled path.  Only in the bottom left-hand corner did the puzzle lose its charm where the pieces were not.  I felt satisfied almost.  How I wished for those pieces to be found, but no matter how hard I tried, the blank spaces could not be filled in. 

I realized how much this puzzle was like life.  Sometimes the blanks cannot be filled in.  Answers to difficult questions are often not found, though we long and search.  In life we try to build our lives piece by piece until we are complete, but sometimes only Heavenly Father holds the missing pieces to the blank spaces.  The exact answers may not be given until later or not at all in this life.  However, what fills in the blank spaces can even be more beautiful than the original.  For when we give our heartfelt questions over to our Heavenly Father, we find the answers we really need.  Through a loving Heavenly Father and the Savior’s atonement, the blank spaces are filled with peace.  Peace rather than piece allows us to move forward even when we don't know all the answers.

Originally I wrote this January 30, 2003 and tweaked it a tiny bit today.  Some questions have been answered since then, but now I have more questions to take their place.  Mostly, I feel peace.  That is my wish for you this holiday season and throughout your life as well.

Thanks Dear Vikki For The Perfect Gift Last Year

Which Does Have All Its Pieces And Brings Peace