Like many, I enjoy putting puzzles together. Sitting there and sorting through all the pieces and finding their places is a bit therapeutic at times. Logic and methodology working together to achieve a set goal is satisfying. However, it’s terrible to spend hours working on a puzzle only to find at the end, there’s a missing piece. You look in the box, under the table, even in the dog’s mouth only to find that you can’t complete your project. It’s frustrating that it only takes one missing piece to make the whole puzzle incomplete.

As Christians, we are all members (pieces) of one body. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:12, 14-18‬. It doesn’t matter whether you are an edge piece or a corner or one in the middle with significant detail or even one that seems like it’s just filler and no one would notice if it was missing. Every piece of the puzzle is as important as the next.

There’s also a local body of believers that needs your piece to be interlocked with them to complete a specific puzzle that is a part of the whole. “As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:21-26. God made you to be you, not what someone else wants you to be. If you’re a foot, stop trying to be a mouth. If you’re an ear, stop trying to be a hand. It’s only when we listen to God’s guidance that we can be what we are meant to be, where we are meant to be. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out where a specific piece goes. Until you get out there and try some things and places, you won’t know where you’ll fit in. You might be trying to force yourself into being an eye on an elbow when really, God designed you to be a heel on a foot. You may be frustrated and wonder why your efforts aren’t being blessed. That’s why your daily walk with God is so important; so you can walk the path he lays out (Psalm 37:23-24).
So whether you are a little piece in a big puzzle or big piece in a little puzzle, you are needed to make the whole complete. Know your piece and find your place. If you don’t know your piece, try some things and seek guidance from God and other church members- sometimes other people see your gifts/talents better as you’re too close to the matter. Finding your place can be equally as difficult, but continue to trust in God to lead you as you follow, after all, you can’t follow if you’re leading.