It has been a very stressful and overwhelming week. Some more health concerns have come up with Jim, and coping or should I say “trying to cope” as I watch him experience relentless pain is wearing me down. On top of that, Mom was moved to an assisted living facility on Wednesday. I’ve spent the better part of Friday, Saturday and Sunday sorting through her belongings, something that’s been very emotional for me.
Looking at the different things Mom has collected over the year and making decisions on what to get rid of, left me with a sense of loss. It made me think about how possessions that mean so much to us is just “stuff” that one day will be tossed aside or belong to someone else, and that person will never know the value that our belonging held to us. I thought about how fleeting life is, how the things are that we collect and treasure are temporary, and that they are nothing more than “stuff” that holds no value when it comes to eternity.
On Saturday, we worked on moving some of the furniture out of her house. After the bed was moved out of the spare bedroom, I couldn't help but smile when I saw three puzzles under the bed. Mom loves to put puzzles together and had started putting them on bulletin boards when she finished them. Apparently she had someone slide them under the bed for her. One of the puzzles was one that we thought actually came missing a piece. The day I gave it to Mom we opened it up and put all the pieces on her kitchen table. She always works the border to the puzzle first, then fills in the pieces. I helped with the border, but we couldn't find one of the top pieces. We sorted through the remaining pieces as we worked the puzzle, but never could find it. As the puzzle neared completion it was obvious there was a missing piece. I searched everywhere for the piece to no avail. I even wrote down the information on the puzzle box with the intention of contacting the company to see if other people had reported a piece missing. Somehow it fell on the back burner and I forgot all about the missing piece until Saturday.
The puzzle with the piece still missing brought back memories of putting the puzzle together and being disappointed that we weren’t able to put in the last piece. It was one of Mom’s favorite puzzles and the picture was such a unique picture I had even thought about framing it. After the bed was moved out of her room, I walked around picking up things and sorting through them. That’s when I noticed a puzzle piece on the floor where her bed used to be. Picking it up my first thought was that there was no way this was the piece I had search so diligently for. Not just because it was in her bedroom, but how could it have ended up under her bed? Amazingly enough, it was the missing piece and I believe finding it was one of those moments in life I call a “God thing”. It was truly an emotional moment for me as I felt like He was saying, “Molly, I’ve got this situation with your Mom covered, just as I have with every other aspect of your life. Trust me as I put the pieces of the puzzle together” Not only does He see all, He knows all and is putting the pieces together of life’s puzzle in ways I can’t imagine. As always I need to place more trust in Him and His plan for my life, a lesson if faith that I am continually learning.
