1253) My parents and mother-in-law love doing puzzles. For my dad, not only does he love doing them, he makes it much more difficult by working on them with the picture side down. Talk about a challenge!

Today’s minute involves puzzles because God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to give thanks in all circumstances. The word circumstance in its original Greek language would be more accurately translated to “a piece of the puzzle.” Applied to this verse, it would read: “Always give thanks for each piece of the puzzle.”

Looking at the verse in this manner is eye-opening to me. Every circumstance in my life is like a piece of a puzzle; the happy times, hard times, angry times, dazzling times, etc. Each part will fit into the beautiful creation God is making of me and I can be thankful for each piece, no matter what it represents, because, by faith, I trust God will indeed make this masterpiece within me.

It takes faith to be thankful for the difficult puzzle pieces that are and will be a part of me. These pieces, too, are part of God’s picture of me.