Life is a Puzzle

And God is the master designer...

I used to tell my older friend, "Sylvia"that I wanted to be like her. She had such a close relationship with God and was so loving to others. But, I didn't ever want to go through what she had to go through in order to be like her. She spent many years with her husband jailed for a crime she contended he didn't do.

There have been countless others I've wanted to be like but would not want to go through what they went through in order to have the qualities that refined them.

When we moved to Atlanta many years ago, I got a job as an Assistant Director at the County Community Council on Aging. As a college Social Work major, I never once listed working with older adults in my top ten wish list. Handicapped, mentally ill, poor, etc. But never did I want to work with older adults.

Shortly after I got that job I was offered another job as a manager of a senior citizen's high rise. I didn't want the job but took it because it was a good opportunity. Many years later I was the Administrator of that same high rise. That first job was 1982! Yes, all these many years later I'm still in this industry. I believe God knew me well enough to know I'd have a hard time being an older adult and wanted to saturate me with experiences to prepare me. (Yep, that would fit.) Today, I can say I see God's hand in my work experiences all the way through.

I've often said that working in this industry has allowed me to see what I want to be when I grow up - - and what I don't want to be. : }

Today I saw where my experiences at my job in Atlanta helped in my job today in Abilene, TX. Some of the issues I had there really helped with a situation I was faced with today.

Life really is a puzzle at times, isn't it? Sometimes it seems so clear. The edges of the puzzle are in place and the middle is starting to make sense. Other times, someone comes along and throws their homework on top of the puzzle and pieces scatter to the floor.

Do you remember the movie "Signs" with Mel Gibson? Everything in that movie began fitting together. I was scared by that movie, but also touched. God's hand.

God's hand is everywhere. Even when we can't see it. Even when we choose not to see it.

Today I'm sitting here very thankful that today...at least a little...I was able to see God's handiwork in my surroundings and in me. It's my prayer that he opens my eyes and heart to what he sets before me each day.

Working on the edges,
Lila