Puzzles...

"If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?" -1 Corinthians 12:17-18

"I know sometimes you feel like you don't fit in. And this world doesn't know what you have within. When I look at you, I see something rare." -Backstreet Boys, What Makes You Different

People are different. You've probably heard that since you were in kindergarten. Except in kindergarten I had this image of people as a paint pallet.

You know: some red, some yellow, some black, some brown, some white. I always wondered if there were were purple and green and blue people in places we'd never discovered yet (I mean, the elves on the North Pole MUST'VE been blue because they were so cold.

Obviously, the color template means of describing the infinite diversity of humanity is a little flawed. But I suppose it's a decent starting point. It illuminates something at a young age: we are all SO different.

 We grew up in different homes with different parents who made different amounts of money and instilled different values. We have grown up in different neighborhoods with different friends who looked different and thought differently.

There's a beauty in that diversity. How creative God must be to imagine us with so many different heights and smiles and winks and hair colors and, umm, smells. I love that idea! The creative god, who painted the stars and whispers a sunset, molded humanity, and then said let's give it six billion different faces.

When I was in middle and high school, every year our family would head to Hilton Head for a weekend at the beach over Memorial Day weekend.

They were pretty typical beach weekends as I'm sure you've had over the years. We'd sleep in, eventually hit the beach, throw a football or a frisbee around, splash around in the ocean and look for dolphins on the horizon. You know, typical beach vacation stuff. (One of us would inevitably always end up a little too sunburned as well...)

And like other families, we would always pull out a jigsaw puzzle and make it a goal to have it finished by the time we left. Tell me if this scene sounds familiar:  you pull out all the pieces, scramble to find the edges and piece the border together in a blaze of glory, then plod along at an elephant's pace to fill in the rest of the picture until only those last 50 or so pieces remain, when the Spirit moves and everyone turns on warp speed seeing how many pieces they can place.

We got a little competitive towards the end. But don't worry, I always beat my little brother to the last piece!

But there is great truth in puzzles.

Every piece is different. Each tells a very small, but absolutely vital, piece of the larger story. It is a intimate view of an infinitely more profound picture. The puzzle is not complete without each and every piece.

Have you ever gotten to the end of a puzzle and realized you were missing a piece? It is the most frustrating thing in the entire world. Hours and hours of work, and you're MISSING a piece?!?! It can deflate a room faster than news that Twinkies and Ho-Ho's are no more.

That's the story of us! In the very first chapter of the bible we get a glimpse into the way God made us. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." This is PROFOUND! There is a deep mystery in what it means to be made in the image of God. It raises a lot of questions I can't even begin to answer.

But what it also says is that in each of us is an unmistakeable glimpse into the Creator. And that means so much for how we look at ourselves and how we look at our brothers and sisters.

Paul paints this really cool picture in his first letter to the church in Corinth. He compares humanity to a body, with all its many parts and pieces. And the foot and hand get into an argument. "Why can't I be one of you? You get all the action!" the foot says to the hand. But how would a body walk without a foot? It is of crucial importance, even if it doesn't get to shake and wave and shoot a basketball.

I love that God could mold and shape each of us with different ideas, different looks, different gifts and skills. None of us is the same. Each of us tells a different story with our gifts. A story that NO ONE else can tell, an indispensable story!

When you look in the mirror, I hope you see that. The world tries to take that from us. It tries to steal the beauty of our diversity and creation. We compare ourselves, wish we looked like someone else, had someone else's gifts. But in the mirror, I hope you see the image of the Potter who shaped you, because He made you and said, "It is VERY good." Don't let anyone take that reflection from you, because just like each piece of the puzzle, we show a piece of who the Father is and the picture wouldn't be complete if you weren't JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.

But we also have to take this and look at our neighbors this same way. If we really are all "fearfully and wonderfully made",  that means we are ALL made that way. Yes, our brothers who voted differently than we did and our sisters living on the streets. Our brothers who think too highly of themselves and our sisters who think too little. Our brothers here in America and our sisters in Iran and China and Poland. Our brothers struggling through eating disorders and our sisters selling themselves and being sold as objects.

The picture wouldn't be complete without each of them as well! What would our world look like if we saw everyone this same way? We have to stop seeing labels and stereotypes, flaws and weaknesses. What if we started trying to see the image of the Creator in his created? Because it's there. We all reflect his face. Your gifts are as valuable as mine. I pray when you look in the mirror you see that you and I and each one of us is a part of something bigger, reflecting the beauty and brilliance of the God who made us in his image.

forever unfinished...