My Piece of the Puzzle – 2
Dump Out the Box
So after a little shopping you find a picture you like on a box. You just can’t sit there and look at the box. I mean you didn’t buy the puzzle for it to sit in the box. If you are going to put the puzzle together you have to do something to get started. You have to open up the box and dump out those pieces before you can put the puzzle together.
The great thing is that even the Bible agrees that at times it is hard to get started. In Ecclesiastes 7:8, Solomon wrote “It is better to finish something than to start it.” Getting started on anything worthwhile can be tough and overwhelming at times. When you think of 1,000 pieces or changing something in your life it can so hard to start. With that thought in mind I think we need to remember three things as we start to put the puzzle together.
- Start small.
When Israel began to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem a prophet named Zechariah told them this: “The people should not think that small beginnings are unimportant. They will be happy when they see Zerubbabel with tools, building the Temple.” (Zechariah 4:10) He reminds us that small beginnings should not be despised. After all most things start small and grow from there. It is a small pain that starts labor, an idea that changes a business, and a small word that helps us meet someone special. In the small things we find big things growing, maybe hidden but there growing. A puzzle is not put together in step. It is a piece at a time. But if you do not dump the box you cannot start.
- Always remember the big picture.
When we seem to pick up piece after piece and cannot find a place for it we can get discouraged. The way to keep going is to remember the picture on the box. Compare pieces and put them in place. After all once you dump the box it is impossible to change the puzzle to a different picture. When you are not putting pieces in you have to remember there is a bigger picture that you are creating. The big picture on the box will guide you and help you keep going piece by piece. That picture is what we are aiming at to make something beautiful of our lives.
- Start today.
Dumping the box is the second step to putting the puzzle together. You can dump that puzzle and let it sit on the table for weeks and make no progress. You eventually have to simply put the first pieces together. Once again the Bible has something to say in Proverbs 20:4: “A farmer too lazy to plant in the spring has nothing to harvest in the fall.” We need to understand that if we are going to accomplish something with our lives we must start. Not tomorrow, next week or year. It really does make a difference if you will start today. Do not put it off or wait. You do not need to know where every piece goes to begin. Heck it is going to be a mess until you are several pieces in. That is not a reason to wait. That is a reason to start. You cannot get to the final piece if you wait for the first piece to be perfect.
So, what is it going to be? Will you dump the box or let it sit on the table? Will you put the first pieces together so the picture can be put together to make it good. I hope you find the courage to dump the box and the wisdom to make the pieces work.