When I was dating Dave, he told me about a family relative who would give a jigsaw puzzle to someone with a message written on the back. Of course, the puzzle would have to be put together to get the message. One day, Dave showed up at my house with a puzzle for us to put together. It was soon apparent that there was a message written on the back. Every time he would come to my home, we would work a little on the puzzle. It sat on my kitchen table for several months. Little by little, piece by piece it started to form a picture. As we got to the last bunch of pieces, there was a sense of excitement in Dave, grabbing and attaching the pieces at a quicker pace. Of course, he knew what the message on the back was. He wrote it there for me. So there it was, the finished puzzle. Yes, there were a few pieces missing, three to be exact. But aren't there always.
Oh, and yes, the message........Dave helped me turn it over and I read it out loud.
Yup, he wrote a scripture reference on the back. For those of you who know Dave, is that really a surprise?
He wrote from D&C 58:26-28
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."
So the words "anxiously engaged" did jump out at me...... and yes, a marriage proposal did immediately follow and yes, I said "yes". So another little fun fact.....that month our ward missionary theme was "Anxiously Engaged" and the Elders had this little sign that ward members held and posted pictures on the ward facebook page showing that they were anxiously engaged in the cause of missionary work. So here we are a few weeks later, most definitely.......
The really great thing about this story and this puzzle is that when Dave wrote that message on the back of the puzzle, he was not committed to proposing. It was truly a favorite passage of scripture, one he tries to live his life by and he didn't write it expecting to propose. But isn't it crazy just how things turn out and just how all the pieces fit. What starts out with one intention can sometimes take a turn and before you know it, some other meaning or direction unfolds.
So here we are, living in Idaho Falls. Last month we moved here from Arizona, and yes it is getting cold here, and no we are not crazy. At least I don't think we are.
Life is a puzzle and sometimes it takes a long time for the pieces to form that great picture intended. Sometimes we don't even know what that picture is going to look like when finished. We may think we know and we may think we know the meaning of those little messages along the way, but maybe, just maybe more pieces come into play and the picture evolves into something more incredible than we ever imagined. And what about the patience needed to find all the pieces. Sometimes I'm just not very patient. I don't want to wait, I want to see the picture now.
So as I said, here we are in Idaho Falls. I want all the pieces to fit NOW. I want to see the whole picture NOW. But it would seem I'm going to have to wait to see it all unfold. But one thing I know for sure, we are here for a reason. We have been lead here by the hand of the Lord and I trust that He sees the finished picture with no missing pieces. As we work to piece our picture together, He will see to it that all pieces will find their place and our picture will just get more and more incredible as we go.
Yes, our journey continues. Our puzzle is still unfolding and isn't it all SO GRAND!
