One Big Jigsaw Puzzle

My mother loves jigsaw puzzles and I admit I like to work on them with her once in a while. When I do, I realize how important it is that we are able to see the whole picture of exactly what we are trying to piece together piece by piece.

It’s virtually impossible to complete a puzzle unless I’ve seen the entire picture and know precisely what I’m working on. If I cannot see it, or if a piece is missing, no matter how small, I simply will be unable to piece it together at the end. It will never be done.

The interesting part in a jigsaw is that every piece is of equal importance. I can’t help but see how this relates to situations in my life; whenever I’ve been in a situation that needs a resolution, it’s imperative that I’m able to see the whole and true picture.

However, in human interactions, there’s of course, the human factor. By that I mean, that there is always two sides to every story, there is also almost always skewed perceptions on one side or the other depending on that person’s emotional state.

This fact will completely distort the picture I’m able to see. There will most likely be pieces missing in that puzzle. These come in the way lies, pretensions, deflections, and or just withholding of information.

This makes it impossible to really see what I’m trying to piece together. In other words, “I may be thinking it looks like a delicious piece of apple pie with whip cream…when in reality it’s “pie in the sky”.

However, those are two completely different pictures. One is my favorite dessert…the other means wishful thinking! Easily confused! Haha!

It follows that situations in life are like jigsaw puzzles. Perhaps since life is a series of moments and situations, life itself is one big jigsaw puzzle. Maybe it’s one of those puzzles with 3000 small pieces that seldom gets finished.

Yes…exactly that; mainly because we just don’t have the patience; the time to invest; the time to waste; or we just lack the commitment or determination. But it could also be that it gets tiresome after a while.

That is when you put it back in the box and find yourself a simpler and easier puzzle to solve. One that is not missing pieces, and one that if it looks like apple pie with whip cream, it is!

Of course, there are those of us that actually enjoy the challenge of solving a difficult puzzle. I, for one, am a math geek… so yes! I’m one of those!

Sometimes it seems that my life is just one big metaphor… I cannot help myself. I do love them.