Lost puzzle pieces
I've been attending Grief Share recently over at First Lutheran Church here in Worthington. It is held there, but it is open to anyone who would like to attend. It's been good for me to go. Not only am I with other people who can relate to recent loss, but it's been great at getting insight into how to handle grief, how to work through it, how to grow through it.
Last week one of the speakers (in the video we watch as part of the discussion) said something about how grief is like an unfinished puzzle. Or, rather, a messed-up puzzle. A puzzle that was complete and then was bumped into. Knocked over. Messed up.
Our lives were that completed puzzle. Sure, life changes. New family members or friends are added in, or we move or switch jobs, and each time those things happen, the puzzle picture morphs to accept them. But when a loss occurs - loss of life or, to extend the analogy, loss of job - the puzzle is joggled, spilled to the floor, and the completed picture will never be the same again.
It's impossible to be the same because the person who made you YOU, is out of the picture.
Literally.
The puzzle has been messed up and will never go back together as it was. Once a puzzle is knocked over, you risk the pieces being spread out, lost, bent, destroyed.
And that's kinda how you (or I) might feel after a loss. We're spread too thin. We're lost. We're twisted or folded or damaged.
We're not the same. And the picture of our lives will never look the same.
And yet.
And yet.
We're still here. We're hanging on. We're trying to make a new picture out of the scraps. Out of the bits and pieces that remain. Out of our memories and stories and things that our lost loved-ones brought to our lives.
And while the picture will never be the same, it can become something lovely again. But it takes a little time. A little TLC. A little patience and compassion and prayer.
Well, a lot of prayer.
We are all broken puzzles. Trying to fit our lives together as best we know how. May God show us the beauty that is possible with our remaining bits.
Last week one of the speakers (in the video we watch as part of the discussion) said something about how grief is like an unfinished puzzle. Or, rather, a messed-up puzzle. A puzzle that was complete and then was bumped into. Knocked over. Messed up.
Our lives were that completed puzzle. Sure, life changes. New family members or friends are added in, or we move or switch jobs, and each time those things happen, the puzzle picture morphs to accept them. But when a loss occurs - loss of life or, to extend the analogy, loss of job - the puzzle is joggled, spilled to the floor, and the completed picture will never be the same again.
It's impossible to be the same because the person who made you YOU, is out of the picture.
Literally.
The puzzle has been messed up and will never go back together as it was. Once a puzzle is knocked over, you risk the pieces being spread out, lost, bent, destroyed.
And that's kinda how you (or I) might feel after a loss. We're spread too thin. We're lost. We're twisted or folded or damaged.
We're not the same. And the picture of our lives will never look the same.
And yet.
And yet.
We're still here. We're hanging on. We're trying to make a new picture out of the scraps. Out of the bits and pieces that remain. Out of our memories and stories and things that our lost loved-ones brought to our lives.
And while the picture will never be the same, it can become something lovely again. But it takes a little time. A little TLC. A little patience and compassion and prayer.
Well, a lot of prayer.
We are all broken puzzles. Trying to fit our lives together as best we know how. May God show us the beauty that is possible with our remaining bits.
Posted in grief
Tagged with grief, loss, death, puzzles, Grief Share, losing a loved one, death of parent
Tagged with grief, loss, death, puzzles, Grief Share, losing a loved one, death of parent
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I couldn’t get my name in but I think as you read you’ll know who this is. Life is hard, sometimes. I find it hard to make the pieces that are left , fit the way I want them to. The death, the divorce, the new people, it feels like you picked up the wron pieces off the floor and… well, they just don’t fit. But, God has a plan and we need to watch how HE pulls it all together for good.
Yes, that is the truth. It's a puzzle to us, but not to HIM!