Missing

They say when a part of you is taken, a part of you is missing. But what no one ever talks about is how much? How much is missing?

If there's a puzzle and only one piece is missing, is it a big deal? What happens if two pieces are missing? Three? Four? The more you're missing, the emptier the completion is. The less there is for you to appreciate.

If you're playing a masterpiece on the piano and you miss a note, that's okay, right? But miss another... And another. Miss a whole armada and suddenly you can sense the cringes around you as people fail to pick up on what was once seen as beauty.

Why do we suddenly think less of something as soon as there's a missing factor? Why does it become less important, less beautiful? Now look at it differently.

A girl is missing her mother. She has none. Do you think less of her? Do you see her as less of a whole because that motherly role is missing in her life?

What about the boy who is missing a home? Do we love him less? Do we call him incomplete?

What about the girl who made a mistake? Who gave herself away and feels the consequences? Do we judge her and say her virtue is gone?

No. At least we shouldn't.

Because missing is only a perspective. Missing is only the absence of something. It doesn't define who we are. It doesn't define where our lives will take us. What we do with our "missing" selves defines that.

The prodigal son was missing. He returned. He was missing no more.

God calls all of us. We see ourselves as people who are missing things. He sees our puzzles and says "Come to me. I have what you need."

In Psalm 23, it reads that "He restores my soul." He takes the missing parts of us and brings them together. He creates something new, something that will give us a hope and a future.

God doesn't want us to think about the missing, the absence of our perfection. He wants us to look at it and be reminded that that is what He came for. What He died for. So that we could be made whole through Him and brought together with Him.

In Christ, I am missing nothing. In Christ, I lack nothing. In Christ, I have all I need. In Christ, I am the perfect puzzle. In Christ, I have had nothing taken, but everything given. In Christ, I am whole.