|
Cherrann Bailey "Hey, there’s a piece missing!" my seven-year-old daughter exclaimed. "Yes dear, I know that," I replied, tempering my voice. My family enjoys doing puzzles together. Well, three of us do them and the seven-year-old plays around the table, under the table and sometimes on top of the table. Once in a while she’ll pick up a piece and squeeze it into a place where it visibly doesn’t belong. We had just spent the last week, during various times, putting together a 1000 piece puzzle. I found it interesting that each time someone new entered our home, the first words out of their mouth as they passed the puzzle, was, "there’s a piece missing." I wanted to shout, "hey, what about the 999 pieces that are there! Do you have any idea how long it took to put those in the right place?" Of course I never did. To fix the hole, we took white play dough and shaped it and then used markers to get it as close as possible to the colors surrounding it. It’s not perfect, but it works. At least it’s not noticeable at first glance. I’m sure you know where I’m headed with this thought. I have a good friend who has one personality trait that is, well, obnoxious! And over the years, she’s worked on making it less and less a part of her. Yet, even after all the "good" she’s done with her time, and the changes she made to make that part of her less and less obvious, people still gossip about her "one missing piece." I find myself wanting to say, "hey, like YOU’RE perfect!" I wonder what it is about human nature that makes it so difficult for us to let go and forgive, when someone tries to change? Maybe we should concentrate on their 999 good pieces?
|
