Wholeness:
All of our lives are like puzzles with scattered pieces. Everyday it seems as if we find a piece to our puzzle but at the same time lose a piece. Many of you reading this book are hurting on the inside. Many of you have been scarred and abused by people countless times, each taking away a piece of your life’s puzzle. I know how you feel. We all may not share the same stories or experiences, but we all share pain. We all know how pain feels, whether it was through molestation, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse or church abuse. Everyday we aim to put our lives together but cannot find that one piece that will complete this puzzle. We search for it through our relationships, churches, and families. We are looking for the right piece in all the wrong places, when during all that time of searching, the missing piece was steady knocking on our hearts. Jesus Christ is that piece, and he can fill any void in your life. You have to let Him.
A pie that is missing a slice is not considered whole. What about a cake if it is missing a slice? Is it considered a whole cake? In our lives, we are missing pieces, causing us not to be whole. Gods ultimate purpose of our lives is to be whole, lacking nothing. He wants us to be complete, to grow until ripeness and to mature into greatness so that the world will see the work of God through our lives. Self examination and humility is key. When you examine your heart through the leading of the holy spirit, you will see that you have some parts missing. You will notice that you are lacking in some key areas of your life. Self examination will reveal those areas that are missing parts and will compel you to find those parts and to fix the bad ones. Satan wants you incomplete, lacking everything. An incomplete tool never fixed anything. An incomplete remote never changed a channel. An incomplete phone never made a call. An incomplete plane never flew, and an incomplete person rarely fulfils his destiny. Each and every one of us was created with a purpose. And each and every one of our purposes are important, if you do not do what you were created to do, it could affect my life. If I do not do what I was created to do, it could affect your life. What if a lot of the things we need today were never created? What if we did not have medicine, filters, plumbing or eclectic grids? What if those people did not fulfill their purpose? We all affect each other and we all need each other. What if we all allowed God to make us whole lacking nothing. What if we all were faithful and diligent? What if we all were full of love, joy, peace meekness, patience and self control. Do you not think our world would be a better place? Satan wants us to be incomplete to the things of God and whole to the things of the world. He wants us to master the arts and crafts of the world and be dumb and naive to the things of God. If we choose not to humble ourselves and allow patience to perform her perfect work in us, we will never be whole.
Patience is key to becoming whole. A tree does not become whole without patience. A car being parked and getting repaired is doing much more than a car that continues to run without a tune up. Look at nature. Everything is governed by patience.
Everything in nature takes its time to develop so that the ultimate gift, whether it be a fruit or a baby, will grow and fulfill its purpose. When a seed is planted, it is immediately faced with obstacles. It is buried below the surface and faced with extreme pressure. Throughout all this intense pressure, it receives its most important nourishment. It begins to fight through the soil that once had it buried. Motivated to produce the fruit inside of it, it bursts through the soil face to face with light. As it continues to grow, it is faced with more obstacles. It is faced with both of the same elements he fought through and the new elements that lie above. He does not allow it to hinder his focus from bearing the fruit within. Throughout time, the seed begins to grow stronger and stronger, developing into a solid tree. What was once small and frail grew into a solid tree, positioning itself to grow fruit. The tree looks to be doing nothing for a season, but during this time, the tree is doing a lot. For it is growing on the inside. It is preparing the vines that will provide a source for the soon to be fruits. It digs deep into the dirt to gain support against storms and floods. It searches deep for a stream or well so that its source will never run dry, always providing water for the soon to be fruits. As time continues, the tree begins to grow leaves which is the sign of the soon to be fruits. As the leaves begin to grow, the fruit begins to show itself. It grows and grows and grows. It gives off signals that tell those that need the fruits that it is not yet ripe and needs more time. As it is being governed by patience, it gives off its full color, signifying that it is ripe and ready.
Our lives are like seeds being planted. We are buried deep into situations that seem to not be fair. Buried deep into environments not fit in our minds for growth but in all actuality is what is needed for growth. We are buried in this world so that within this world, we can bear forth fruit. God burries us so deep that we begin to feel extreme pressures, pressure from our friends, family, church, job, career and business. We begin to feel the pressure to conform to the world instead of fighting it. God exposes us to pressure to see who is strong and who is weak. He exposes us to pressure to see what seed has the potential to produce a forest. He exposes us to pressure to see who will survive. Many of us are unaware that it is through our toughest times that we receive strength. Without pain, there is no gain. Without obstacle, there will be no opportunities. Are you like the seed? Are you willing to fight through what the world says about you? Are you willing to endure through the pain in order to gain, to endure through the obstacles to obtain the opportunities? Are you willing to climb the stairs to reach for the stars? Only those that endure will be whole. Just like the seed that has to fight through what had it buried, we too have to fight through those things that seem to have us buried and oppressed. Our motivation is in the importance of our fruit: our gifts, talents, abilities and unique qualities. These are what should motivate us to unplug from the world and to grow in God. The more we allow patience to govern our lives, we will begin to grow and to mature in who we ought to be.
