YOU Are the MISSING Piece!!

Over winter break, my parents visited, and the kids insisted we take on a family challenge – the 1,000-piece Peanuts puzzle that had been waiting for us. We made good progress!  I had great fun watching how intently my kids worked and how much they wanted to finish it.  Even the three-year-old “helped.” 

We were so close to completing it but couldn’t get the last 10 or so pieces to align. That’s when we painstakingly had to examine the fit of each piece.  A few of the pieces put into place didn’t really fit; they were close, but with all the hands helping, some mistakes had been made. We carefully removed the pieces that upon first glance, looked just right. We then tried again to match all the pieces and find their spots, and the puzzle came together, only there was one missing piece, right near the center. We searched high and low, but the piece has never been found.

My husband looked at me and commented, “You’re going to write about this aren’t you?!”

“Yes, yes I am!” I replied.  The lessons are just too good not to share! This puzzle was the illustration I’d been waiting for, the story that explains my vision, work and purpose.

Lessons:

1. Every single piece is essential to completing the puzzle.
   1. The missing piece in the middle just can’t be unseen or go unnoticed
   1. The puzzle is incomplete without that one piece
2. Some pieces can be forced to fit – we got to a point where we had 10 or so pieces left but they were not the pieces we needed to complete the puzzle
   1. When you force yourself to fit, you keep yourself from fulfilling your highest calling, and keep the puzzle/world from being completed
   1. When you force yourself to fit, you also keep someone else from their place in the world, further keeping the puzzle from being completed and keeping yourself from your rightful place, a place that feels great!
   1. When you force yourself to fit, the full and most beautiful world cannot be realized, nor can you or the other person whose space you are taking, experience the true joy, peace and wholeness from finding your place.
3. Sometimes you need to take things apart and reassemble
   1. We had to take the pieces out that “seemed” to fit with a little force
   1. It was hard to admit we needed to undo what we’d done and to find the pieces that weren’t in the right spots
   1. Disassembling can be painful, scary, disappointing, frustrating…
4. Once we dared to take things apart, we had another shot at completing the puzzle!
   1. We have another chance, more than one chance, if we can have the courage to admit we haven’t found our spot, and the courage to seek where we truly belong
   1. The world will be complete when we dare to own who we are and claim our rightful place
   1. There will be great satisfaction in completing the puzzle, and in finding your true place, purpose, and belonging!

I hope we each take the challenge of learning about the shape of our unique piece, the piece we are truly meant to be, and strive to find where we fit. We need you, and You, and YOU! We need you each to show up as yourself and to take your authentic, unique place in this world.

If you have been forcing yourself to fit, what is keeping you from stopping and searching for your rightful place? What does it feel like to be forcing yourself to play a role not meant for you? What fears keeping you from undoing the mistakes leading to you trying to fit where you don’t feel you authentically belong? What do you need to do to find the courage and act, undo and find your true place? If you are still searching for your place, what is sustaining you? What support do you need to continue the search? What information do you need to better understand the shape of your piece in this puzzle of life? What shifts for you when you hear that the world needs you to show up authentically, your family, your community need you to find your rightful spot? What will be the tipping point for you to dare to be the fullest, most authentic, and best version of you? How will you know when you’ve found your place? How will you feel?  If you have children, how might you support them in finding their place in the world, owning their gifts and strengths, along with their weaknesses to understand better, the shape of their puzzle piece?

Perhaps you finding your spot will help others find their spot in the puzzle, too. Dare to be you!