The puzzle of salvation

Top left corner: a quick rejection of an opinion. Brushed off like it was insignificant, so she felt insignificant.

Top right corner: a harsh word. It felt unfair, she didn’t think she deserved it but she must have since it was said so firmly.

Bottom left corner: a disinterest. No questions were asked about her. No one showed care for her thoughts, words, desires, or dreams. 

Bottom right corner: an uninterrupted stream of criticism. She can’t do anything right, or if she can, she is never told so. Nothing big is ever said about anything big, it’s the little things that slowly wear away at her soul.

And so the pieces of her life fall into place. Lines stretch across the top and bottom, connecting rejection and harsh words, disinterest and criticism. Ignored and unloved comprise the lines on the sides. Slowly, the edges of the puzzle come together. She is in the middle. Trapped by the way she was framed in, desperately trying to put the pieces together to create a more hopeful picture but it’s all so fragile she feels hopeless. Hopelessness begins to color the pieces around her, tainting them a deep shade of blue fading into black. Another fight, another piece falls into place. Another tense day, another piece falls into place. Another lost dream, and, even though she feels a hole, the reality is that a hole in the puzzle is being filled. Words like “unwanted, worthless, hurt, broken” surround her. Lie by lie the puzzle comes together, so tightly knit that truth can hardly fit between the cracks. The corners, the edges, the dark pieces, it comes together over the years. Yet as the picture of pain becomes complete, the girl's heart remains a missing piece. It doesn’t belong to this landscape of hurt. Her heart is priceless. It is kept until the day when she looks beyond the circumstances that frame her and sees a Savior. On that day, a heart of gold, filled with the light of the Spirit, will be placed in the center of the puzzle, transforming the delicate picture in a glorious image.