I like puzzles! I love to sit down and work with all the different pieces and see the picture as it forms. I also like to wrestle with the puzzles that have a certain shape to them, whether they’re made out of wood or metal or plastic - puzzles that are easy to take apart, but not so easy to put back together.

My appreciation for puzzles grew a couple of years ago when I ordered a glow-in- the-dark puzzle. I had seen them advertised and wondered about them. There are different kinds to choose from, but I finally ordered one - hoping it would be a good one. And it is! The picture in this puzzle looks real when the lights go off and actually as a person stands and looks it, begins be become three-dimensional. Also different levels of lighting reveal different colors in the picture, and that in turn reveals different scenes in the puzzle. I was actually shocked the first time I turned out the lights and looked at it.

Perhaps the reason I was so shocked was because I had seen glimpses of parts of the picture before. I put it together while I was on vacation and very often worked on it after the sun went down. When I’d turn out the lights, I could tell there was something happening, but until I had all of the pieces where they belonged the real picture just didn’t shine through.

I wonder how often this happens to us in our faith walk. We understand certain things in Scripture and we appreciate certain things about our Lord, but the shape of our faith keeps us from really seeing the complete picture. All of the pieces are not in place, and our perspective is skewed. The truth of First Corinthians, chapter 13 becomes clearer to us as we consider that we, as yet, “see in a mirror dimly.”

How wonderful that we are promised we will one day see “face to face!” How wonderful that we will one day “know fully!” But even more than that, how wonderful that we are right now “fully known.” Our Lord knows us completely and yet He completely loves us. What a blessing from God we are given!