The Jigsaw Puzzle

"Look at all the pieces!" exclaimed little Ryan when his brother and sister opened a puzzle box. "I want to help." He began turning puzzle pieces right side up and looking for where they went.

"Stop that," said Penny, elbowing Ryan out of the way when he tried to add a piece to the section she was working on. "That white piece doesn't go here. I'm working on the blue lake."

"It doesn't go here either," Levi said a minute later. "Your piece is part of the white house, not these green trees."

"But where does the house go?" asked Ryan.

"The picture on the box shows what the finished puzzle will look like," said Mom. "The white house is in this top corner." She pointed. "Let's find more of the white pieces." Soon Ryan was looking back and forth from the picture on the box to the puzzle on the table and picking up pieces.

"The puzzle is getting more and more like the picture," Ryan said after several pieces had been put in place.

"That reminds me of what the Bible says about us," said Mom. "Christians grow to be more and more like Jesus."

"But we don't have a picture of Jesus to look at," Penny said.

"We don't know what He looked like physically," Mom replied. "But the Bible isn't talking about His physical appearance--it's talking about His character and heart. The Holy Spirit helps us love the things Jesus loves and share His attitudes and desires. And we do have a picture of Him that shows those things."

Levi looked up. "I heard somebody say that the Bible gives us a picture of Jesus."

"Yeah," said Penny. "It tells all about Him!"

"For example?" asked Mom.

"He is holy because He is God," said Levi.

"He loves us, and He's kind and patient," Penny said. "And..." She looked at little Ryan. "He wouldn't elbow people out of the way."

"He...He'd help them!" declared Ryan. He held up a puzzle piece and grinned. "Mommy helped me find this and I looked at the picture and here's where it goes," he said happily, fitting the piece into the puzzle.

-Agnes Maddy