I pulled the box down off the shelf
I began to lift the lid
Inside were all kinds of pieces
The pieces to my life
I began to take them out
I examined each one
I started to laugh at some and cry at others
The pictures were rarely clear
Many were hazy
And most of them - blank
As I began to piece them together
I started to look at each one
Trying to find how they interlocked
I finally found a few to connect
Their edges were flush
The rest of the pieces were in a jumble
I couldn't even begin to sort them out
I didn't know where to begin
I started with the straight edges
And began to fill in the center
It took days
Weeks
Years
Finally I am finished
I have a completed puzzle
A puzzle representing my life
I just have to wait and see
What the picture will look like
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is something I wrote in January of 2007. Three years ago. There is something powerful to be discovered by looking back over one's life and discovering the plan God had. I have always loved to write. For about 2 years I wrote stuff like that all the time, about whatever I was feeling at the time. This was something I had written during a confusing time in my life. I had been in South Carolina for a year, and I hated it. I still did not know what God had planned for my future.
I know now, looking back, that moving was the best thing God could have tossed into my life. I am learning so much RIGHT NOW, that I would not be learning if I was still in Pennsylvania. Well maybe I would, but I would not have had some of the experiences I had here. Three years ago, when I wrote this poem type thing, I could not have even began to imagine all that God would be doing in my life right now.
I can honestly say though, I can see some of that picture. I can see the reasons I went through the things I did. I have a story. Everybody does. Have you ever taken the time to reread your own life-story up until this point, up until this moment, and think about all the things God has brought you through?
All of the fires you have walked through.
All of the storms you have encountered.. finding the peace of God enveloping you in one massive wave in the midst of it.
When our lives our complete, what will we leave behind? I often think about that. When my life is done, and I pass out of this world, how will people remember me? What will people associate my name with? Will the repercussions of my life go on and on? Or will that memory fade away, staying only with those I was closest to. All of that does not even compare to the most important question though. When people look at me.. do they see me? Or do they see God? When I die, will people say, "Carissa, she lived her life for God," or will I just be, "Carissa."
Who will you be? Looking at your life, RIGHT NOW.. what would someone say about you? Would everyone say the same thing?
