Puzzled- Putting the Pieces Together

 (This story began on post 1/25/21.)

  Lizzy began working on the puzzle right after Mass the next day.  She hadn't done a puzzle in years.  She began sorting through the pieces trying to organize them in possible piles. In her head she could hear her mother's voice from her childhood, "Lizzy find all the straight edge pieces first.  Then build from there."  Lizzy smiled at the memory, and wished with all her heart her mother was still here to help her.  She thanked God for having blessed her life with such a wonderful mother.  

  Before she knew it a few hours had passed by and Lizzy had made little progress with the puzzle.  This was going to take a long time to complete.  Later that afternoon Lizzy's oldest daughter, Renee, stopped by with her kids. " Hey Mom, what are you up to?" Renee asked.

  "Well I'm trying to put this puzzle together.  The puzzle was made just for me and there is a secret message about my life within it. I could really use some help with it."

  "That sounds intriguing.  What do you say guys, do you want to help Grandma find a secret message?"

  "Ya!" the three grandkids shouted back.

  "Great!  I'll go get us some snacks and we can talk and eat while we work on it," said Lizzy.  Time passed quickly as they all talked and laughed that afternoon.  The kids all came up with their own stories about the hidden message Grandma would find.  Lizzy worked on a section that appeared to be stained glass windows.

 "Hey Grandma," began Tommy, "Those pieces look like church windows. Maybe this is a secret message from God."

  Lizzy smiled.  "Well that would make me very happy!"

  "Mom come look at my pieces," said Eva.  "It looks like me when I was little." 

  Renee walked around the table to get a closer look.  "Oh my gosh, that does look like your face, Eva! But it also looks like mine, because you look just like me!"

  "Except I'm cuter!" teased Eva as everyone laughed.

  That was the beginning of many days and weeks and months to follow.  Lizzy worked on the puzzle when time allowed.  At first her husband Jim wasn't too interested, but as time went by the puzzle began to reveal things.  More faces became evident, some were familiar, and some were not. There were lots of symbols as well-- cross, dove, chalice, a cloverleaf, a music note, and a rosary to name a few.  Sometimes the symbols were being held by the different people and sometimes they seemed to connect them. There were lots of different books mixed into the scene as well. Jim enjoyed analyzing what the symbols could mean in regards to each person, and even researched the book covers. Some of the books Lizzy had already read, and the rest became a part of "I want to read that one" collection. Lizzy was surprised when Jim began to read them as well.

  Lizzy's son Nolan and his family also spent time working on the puzzle.  Everyone found themselves in the puzzle.  Nolan was excited and called one evening to let Jim know he had just found one of the books Jim had been researching.  "I've been looking and looking for that book, but I couldn't find it," admitted Jim.

  "Dad the reason you couldn't find it was because it was just published three days ago!" explained Nolan.  Jim was completely amazed.

  When the puzzle was completed Lizzy and Jim glued the pieces down to a piece of cardboard and then framed it.  They hung it on the wall in the dining room where it continued to be a conversation piece for years.  It was amazing that some of the faces that originally were not familiar, became recognizable over time. The only disappointing part of the puzzle was that in the time it took to build it, four pieces had been lost.  It didn't ruin the picture at all, but Lizzy always wished she hadn't lost them. 

  Lizzy had wished the secret message behind the puzzle would have been a more obvious reveal.  Although the she and the family had come up with many different theories, Lizzie never knew for sure which one was closest to the truth.  Lizzy, however, found it was more useful to see the puzzle as inspiration rather than concrete instruction.  

  Then one day when Lizzy and Jim were returning from morning mass they saw a package on their front porch.  Lizzy smiled when she saw it and recognized it immediately. It looked  just like the package she had received so many years ago except there was one thing different.

(to be continued...)

-Susan

Puzzled

   Lizzy made sure to arrive to daily mass early.  She loved coming early to spend time alone with the Lord.  She definitely enjoyed celebrating mass with the rest of the community, but there was just something special about praying before Mass and preparing her heart to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.  Sometimes her heart sang praises to the Lord.  Sometimes her heart begged for forgiveness.  Many times she prayed for the needs of others and for herself.  Today, though, her heart was searching ....searching for clarity.  "Lord," she began, "How can I be sure that I am doing Your Will?  When You look at my life, what do You see?"  Mentally Lizzy flashed pieces of past memories she thought may be pleasing to the Lord, but she seemed to be unclear about the future.  "Lord, help me to discover what piece comes next."

  At the end of Mass, Lizzy saw the church secretary flagging her down.  "Oh good, I was hoping to see you today," the secretary confessed.  "This box was delivered about a half hour ago.  It must be yours, it has your name on it."

  "Really?' replied Lizzy.  "That's so odd.  Why would someone leave a package for me here?"

  "I guess you'll have to open it to solve the mystery." chuckled the secretary.

  "I think your right."  Lizzy shook the box a little.  "It sounds like it's has lots of pieces.  I better wait until I get home to open it.  Thank you for finding me."

  Lizzy had errands to run and a few appointments before heading home.  She placed the box in the backseat where it sat until she remembered it later that evening.  When Lizzy opened up the box she found a box of puzzle pieces.  "What is this she thought?  I don't remember ordering a puzzle.  There's not even a picture on the box to reference, and there are a lot of little pieces to this puzzle."    Lizzy was far too busy to just sit and do a puzzle.  She closed the box and place it in her pile of things to donate.  

  Just before retiring to bed, Lizzy began her night time prayers.  She thought of all the ways that she had been blessed by the Lord today and thanked Him.  She reviewed her day and and asked for forgiveness for those moments she wasn't her best.  She again asked the Lord to guide her concerning His Will for the future.  Lizzy was feeling a little lost as if there were pieces missing from the big picture.  She prayed, "Lord help to find the lost pieces to this puzzle.  Help me. Guide me--"  Suddenly Lizzy stopped talking.  She ran to retrieve the box of puzzle pieces she had just tossed aside.  She opened the box and dumped the pieces onto the dining room table. A small piece of paper fell out with it. Lizzy picked up the paper and read, "I have given you all the pieces you need."  

  Lizzy felt overjoyed!  The Lord has answered her prayer.  Of course she had prayers answered in the past, but never in such a concrete way. She knew that solving this puzzle would set her on the right path.  She was sure of it.  She glanced at her watch and noticed the late hour and decided that she would begin to work on things tomorrow.

(to be continued...)

-Susan

Invaluable

 

  As each day turns into the next, it becomes more difficult for me to watch the news.  It's hard to start or end a day focused on the rising death rate of the pandemic.  It's difficult to watch troops being deployed throughout the country to protect ourselves from each other.  It has left me feeling very unsettled.  I long more than ever to feel the peace of Christ in my life.  I long for the days when I was able turn to my neighbor and offer them a sign of peace--a handshake.

  This week I am going to intentionally pray for peace and ask God to allow me to feel His peace in my life.  I'm going to close my eyes and imagine seeing God's love intersecting with Truth.  I believe that is where peace resides, and that is where I long to be.  I would like to invite all of you to join me.  

  I think peace tends to be under-rated, but it is absolutely necessary.  After Jesus' Resurrection, He appeared to the disciples and said, "Peace be with you."  He said this twice and then breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  Imagine all the things Jesus could have said the first time He saw the disciples after His crucifixion and Resurrection, but twice Jesus offers them peace.  As disciples, we too, must be filled with peace.  Perhaps it is because the voice of God is heard most clearly when we are at peace, and it is these moments that the Kingdom is unveiled. 

May the peace of Christ be with you.

-Susan

Glory Days

  I happened to catch one of those movies last night where the main character looks back at his life and wishes he would have made different choices. This particular movie allowed the main character to return to his glory days in high school.  This movie reminded me of a conversation I overhead this past fall as I watched my daughter cheering for her high school football team. Fortunately and unfortunately, it was easy to overhear conversations between parents because everyone was required to practice social distancing in the stands, and conversations tended to be much louder.  Anyways, I overheard this particular man sharing the advice he had given his son. He told his son he needed to put everything he had into practicing for football, because these were the best days of his life, Everything would be downhill after that. The man then continued to talk about his own glory days.  

 I am certainly glad that God the Father does not give us this same advice. I am happy that our heavenly Father always encourages us to be our best, because our days of glory living are yet to come.   God constantly encourages and supports us in countless ways. If we are looking for a “do-over,”  we only need to ask for one in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God looks at us with love and says, “I forgive you, now go out into the world and try again."  God knows that we have a great deal of potential at every age.

   Perhaps when we really reach our glory days in heaven, we will look at our lives with God’s perspective. Perhaps we will realize that our best days or moments were not when people were applauding us, but rather those moments we sat silently with God and asked for forgiveness for our weakness and failures, and for the chance to try again. And perhaps our very best days were those moments we allowed God's grace to act in our lives and we really did try to become better people.

-Susan

A Glance at the New Year

   Fresh starts. New Years, birth, Baptism, Reconciliation, weddings are all opportunities to celebrate something new.  They are chances to dream, renew hope and gain perspective for the future.  New Years is also a time to be reflective and make changes.  I can't say I'm really big on New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm hesitant to even try.  It goes without saying that there are plenty of areas in my life that need improving, but after a year of most of my plans being cancelled, I'm just going to try a different approach.  Instead of a resolution, I'm going to offer a prayer, "Lord help me to want what You want for me."

  As I wondered what the Lord may want from me, I glanced at my nativity set.  I was surprised to see that someone had moved the Wise Men out of position.  Instead of looking at baby Jesus, they were looking out at my world.  Since my daughters are way past the age where they play with the people in the nativity set, I found this odd and yet intriguing. After spending all that time searching for the new born king, why would they ever look away?  Perhaps they were not looking away, but rather towards a new beginning.  Their encounter with God was so incredible that they wanted to share their joy with others.

  "Lord help me to want what You want for me." I repeated my prayer realizing that like the Wise Men, I have also been searching for Jesus.  I, too, have found Him on Christmas Day!  I have gazed upon His face in prayer, while reading scripture, and in the Eucharist. While these private moments are incredible, this joy must be shared! Is it possible the Lord invites each of us to shift our gaze from Him to our neighbors, so that when we turn our gaze back to Him, our neighbors will follow suit and discover the face of God for themselves?  It's a new year, I have a new prayer,  I'm ready for a fresh start, and now I need to focus.

-Susan