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My daughter-in-law, Angela, loves to put puzzles together. I don’t have her patience when it comes to puzzles. (BTW, she can also bake. Her baking is worthy of its own post!) Angela has the patience to work any puzzle to the end. She will talk about her puzzles and post pictures of them. She will describe how long she worked on them to put everything together. Some pieces won’t find their places for days or weeks. But, in due time, she finishes the puzzle and every piece is put in its place.

I’ve had things happen to me in life that I couldn’t explain. And there are still some things I can’t explain; they still don’t have a place to fit in my life. So, those pieces just sit out on the periphery of the puzzle, waiting to be fit at the right moment. Yet, until that moment comes, those pieces won’t make sense. Like Angela’s puzzle pieces, they have to sit on the side of the puzzle table until the time when each one is put in its place.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man

Jesus went to a city called Jericho (Luke 19:1-10) and in that city, there was a man named Zacchaeus. I remember being a young child in Sunday School singing, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he! He climbed up in a sycamore tree the Lord he wanted to see!” The problem Zacchaeus had was greater than his lack of height. He was a tax collector and leaping over his despised status among his countrymen was no small task (pun definitely intended).

How was this short man, who no one wanted to help (really, even today who wants to help a tax collector?), supposed to get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus as He passed by? He didn’t even consider that Jesus would stop to change his life forever. That would be impossible for he was nothing in society, despised by all who surrounded him. Why would Jesus consider stopping for him? However, Zacchaeus did hope to at least get a glimpse of the Lord as he passed through the city.

Put in its place before it was needed

If you take the time to read Luke 19:1-10, you’ll see that Zacchaeus climbed a tree. He did what needed to be done, to see Jesus. He was quite short so climbing the tree gave him the boost he needed to see Jesus. See him sitting in the tree, Jesus came close and engaged him in conversation. From that point on, Zacchaeus’ life was changed. He restored money to those he had stolen from; his character changed from the inside out.

But have you ever thought that long before Zacchaeus climbed the tree, God planted it to meet his need? He placed a piece of the puzzle in the right place so at the right time, Zacchaeus would encounter Jesus. Until that time, it was a random tree that at best offered shade for weary travelers on warm summer days. It wasn’t until Jesus walked through Jericho and met Zacchaeus that the real purpose of the tree was revealed. The tree was meant to bring Zacchaeus closer to Jesus. It took time for every piece to be put in its place.

The pieces will fit

I imagine Zacchaeus had no intention of even speaking with Jesus. And he might have even scurried off in fear had Jesus begun walking towards him. In the tree, Zacchaeus was cornered on his branch. He had nowhere to hide.

There are pieces of the puzzle that will fit into our lives just at the moment they are designed to fit. We simply need to leave the pieces alone until the Zacchaeus moment arrives.

Every piece will ultimately be put in its place.

In a shameless plug for Angela, let me introduce you to her little business, Ladybug Bakery. Get in touch with her for more information. Her baked goods turn out even better than her puzzles if that is possible.