We are a Small but Very Important Piece of the Puzzle
Every day when my 93-year-old dad wakes up, he asks God, “What work do you have for me today?” He always says, if I’m here another day, that means God has more for me to do.
My husband and I are currently in a new season of life where we are figuring out what God has for us to do while empty-nesting.
When I look at our two college-aged children, I see them discovering how God intends to use them for his glory throughout their lives.
And I look back on those days when our children were small and I struggled to understand how to glorify God amongst the diapers, tears, and dirty laundry.
In Philippians 1:4-6, Paul is writing about a good work that has been started in the people of Philippi. It reads:
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
My three favorite things about this verse are this.
Paul says in all my prayers indicating that he is praying a lot for them. I love this! I hope we all have someone praying for us often and frequently.
He says he prays with joy indicating that he is happy about their Jesus-based partnership. Isn’t this so cool? I hope we all have daily opportunities to pray joyfully and be prayed for joyfully.
And then in the most powerful part of this verse, Paul writes that a good work has been started in them that will carry on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.
Paul doesn’t write until the end of your life. He writes until the day of Christ Jesus. The work that each of us is to do here isn’t as finite as our time here on earth. Our work is a small piece of a much bigger puzzle. During our time here on earth, we are doing a good work that will carry on until Jesus returns. Sometimes the mundane can drown out this truth. We can focus on the little things that seem to have no apparent meaning in our lives. But, the work of our lives is one piece of the greater story of Jesus Christ.
For some, that feels small and insignificant because we wonder how can our tiny little life even matter in such a big master plan.
For others, it feels big, because we realize when you look at a big puzzle, your eyes always go directly to that one missing piece, and we don’t want to be the one missing piece of the puzzle.
It reminds me of the Casting Crowns song, Already There where the lyrics say, “One day I’ll stand before You and look back on the life I’ve lived. I can’t wait to enjoy the view and see how all the pieces fit.”
I’m here to encourage you that your work does matter. What you do every day is kingdom work. Even when we get bogged down by the diapers, phone calls, sick children, meal prep, our marriages, our health, our jobs, we are fulfilling a good work. He has a calling on your life and you are a piece of a much bigger picture. If we can stop for a moment, we will feel God’s gentle nudge. He’s nudging us not to put our heads down and push harder, but to pull our eyes up to him and see what he has in store for us.
Instead of viewing our lives as a series of unmeaningful events, let’s view our lives as a very important piece of God’s bigger story that is impossible to fully comprehend on this side of heaven.
God, thank you for placing a calling on our lives. Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your big plan. We ask that you provide each of us with the faith, patience, trust, energy, and endurance it will take to move through each day knowing our daily tasks without seeing the big picture. We ask that you fill us with confidence, no matter our season of life, that we know our work has a greater purpose. We ask that you place others in our lives who will breathe these truths into us along our journey so when the time comes, we can sit by your side and look back and see how all the pieces fit.