Lost Piece of the Puzzle

Pondering the purpose of life, a life that entered by chance but not by accident I am sure. Seeing into the eyes of this young person there was a deep longing within them.
A longing for purpose and reason.
A longing for a place to call home, yet what was the definition of home anyway?

As I sat down in my thoughts about this young person, they wandered to how I could start a conversation knowing I was a complete stranger to them and explain that I could feel what was going on inside them. Of course I only know vague details of the travels in such a short journey to this point, but their soul spoke volumes to mine.

I want to begin the conversation with this young person in that I just want them to keep an open mind to what I was about to say. Although I resemble many of the other adults in some ways I also differ in that I have a perspective that lives in my every day choices, a remembrance from where I came from. I realize the first objection would lie in the argument “you don’t know me” or “why do you care”. I know to carefully and strategically choose my words.

To explain to this young person that where you live now is like feeding baby food to someone who has tasted steak and potatoes. Freedoms and adult experiences have come far too early in your life and to have it stripped from you is frustrating and stifling. People can not begin to understand that your values are not the same as the rest of the world. The fairy tale ending of happy ever after does not exist as the bitter sweet taste of reality set in when the foundation of family was crushed before you had the chance to even realize the value of it.

In place of comfort and self assurance were embedded deep insecurities of “why am I not important enough” or “what did I do wrong”. The lingering question of “why me” is more like a metallic aftertaste as a result of a chemotherapy treatment. Neither experience one of choice but one of intestinal and fortitudinal fate. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles” has no meaning for you because you never had the cookie, not in its splendor when it was warm, fresh and enjoyable. You have experienced more heartbreak than any soap opera in existence, yet I would not expect you to admit that. To open your heart at this moment would acknowledge the deep wounds and allow the pain to begin oozing to the surface. Keeping it masked under rage and risk taking behaviors is much more manageable.

Living a frivolous carefree life provides the sense of a forward moving future even though the baggage of time makes you angry and often weary from the weight of it all. A self centered focus is not really a selfish attitude but a means for survival. The only dependable person is you. Defeated and tired, the thoughts of giving up complete existence are just beneath the skin and you find it amazing how each day continues to go by.

Why you? I am sure is a question screaming throughout your mind.

You, because I feel your soul crying out to find your path in an overgrown and overwrought system that tends to forget the processes of growth are just as important as making it to maturity. I do not see a young person that is to be treated as a piece of furniture that is moved from place to place to see where it will fit best. I see you as a key piece of a puzzle that will create a picture of the future, jumbled in with many other pieces. I value you because I know that without you, the future will never be complete and even just one empty space will always remind us that things are not right. Many puzzle solvers may feel overwhelmed and leave everything in a jumbled mess, others might find the puzzle too hard and move on to something new, yet please believe me there are many out there who want to gloriously complete the puzzle as it was intended by the Designer.

Patience and faith to find the attributes of where your place is in this world, is a necessity during what can feel like a painstaking process.

Know that someone is holding you in their heart and prayers, hoping to help you find your place in life’s puzzle.

I realize that seeing is believing and you have no reason to believe having seen the depths of pain and betrayal many can only imagine. The universal truths of a mother’s love, a daddy’s pride and joy, and a family bond are meaningless. It is the same for other catch phrases that the human race bounces around to appear productive but actually go absolutely nowhere.

Allow me the opportunity to share your space and time, to find other absolutes that do not rely on human frailties and pompousness, but those offered through me by a true Father and heavenly family.

I will be waiting …..
He will be waiting…..

The silence may linger between us, but to share this moment I would hope would be priceless and potentially life changing for both of us…

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My prayer tonight will be to share this conversation not only this young person who has come into my life recently but others who are need of hearing it.

To those who read this and know of a young person in need of guidance, take the moments to help them find where their puzzle piece will go. We have too many young people who do not know where they fit into this world or if at all.

Let us all be a part of puzzle solving