J is for JIGSAW

Let me try and describe it to you. Two people are standing under an apple tree in an orchard. Both the ground below and the trees are laden with ripe apples and just to the rear of the two figures is a pile of fruit in which there are probably two hundred or more pieces waiting to be collected. There is no indication how they got there, whether the trees were shaken by hand, tossed by the wind or if workers had deposited their picked apples at that point. In the foreground is a wooden basket filled with fruit and in the distance another pile of apples lies patiently. But all this is secondary to the real story told in the picture. She has red hair, tied up in a 'bun' and as he talks to her she thinks long and hard, staring at the grass below and chewing on her index finger. There is no indication as to whether they work in the orchard or are just passing through , yet her blue apron suggest that maybe she is employed to pick apples. However they are standing too close to just be good friends and it is clear from the expressions that the conversation is serious in nature. Maybe it is the end of their love affair or just the beginning. Maybe they are planning to leave or he is comforting her in her sadness or pleading with her to change her mind but whatever the subject of discussion, they are caught, one moment in time, for ever to hang on our wall in suspended animation. I have looked at this picture many times without answers but the most striking thing about it is that when I built it many years ago from about a thousand separate pieces, I didn't even think about the what the picture was portraying, but only about the colours and shapes that fitted together correctly to make it.

It's not the first jigsaw I've completed and there are another four or five in the attic just waiting to happen, though the one with four thousand pieces may have to be very patient for a little longer. Still, the good thing about them is that the pieces are enclosed inside a sealed plastic bag so when I do get around to starting one, I know that there won't be a gap when I've finished.I tend to go for jigsaws with lots happening, especially country scenes and the more rustic the better but there is nothing more frustrating than huge amounts of blue sky where finding the correct piece becomes more of a trial and error rather than a sharp eye for detail. But the great thing about doing jigsaws is that you can carry on a conversation, listen to music, watch television or just think while you are looking for that fugitive piece. And everyone has their own technique. I like to accumulate all the straight pieces and fit together the four edges so that the frame is complete before i tackle the more difficult bits. As a child however, the most frustrating part of the whole process was being halfway through a jigsaw when you discovered the table was needed for something else and in the moving to another location, almost always some parts disappeared of part of the bit you had already completed came apart.

Another jigsaw that sits inside a frame in the attic and once adorned a different wall, portrays a craftsman or 'cooper' mending an old wooden barrel in his shed attached to the dwelling house while several other completed barrels and half a dozen hens are scattered across the area in front. The many wooden and metal strips lying nearby indicate that this is his job and that he has indeed a long day ahead but the whole picture, like the other one in the orchard suggest that there is plenty of time and the moment that is captured for ever is precious.

Isn't it strange that just as every jigsaw piece is slightly different and individual and fits correctly into just one place in the bigger picture, so God has given us individuality, made us all different and has a specific job for us to do in His greater plan. We may only be the blue sky, the grass or a brick in a wall but without us, the picture is incomplete and nobody else can exactly fulfill the role we have, though others may try. The trouble is, looking on from a distance, you can always see a piece in the wrong place but when you're only a piece in a bigger picture, you don't realise the impact that you can make on the overall scene. We need to ask God to use us exactly where He intends and then when He looks at his finished work, we will be bringing pleasure and glory to Him. Paul, in writing to the church at Ephesus, said 'He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.' Help Him to complete His masterpiece today and don't hide any longer.