“Life isn’t meant to be lived perfectly, but merely to be . . . LIVED. Boldly, wildly, beautifully, uncertainly, imperfectly, magically LIVED. ~ Mandy Hale

Events have happened in the past few days that have required prayerful consideration, tears, much thought, indecisiveness, and finally . . . a peaceful decision. Since then, so many things have happened that reassure me that the decision made was the correct one.

My decision was finalized this past Saturday night. Sunday morning as I read my devotional verses (one of the first things I do on waking), you can subscribe here, the topic was on the wealthy young man who approached Jesus, asking how he could get into heaven. Jesus reply? Sell all your possessions and give them to the poor. The young man left disheartened, attached more to his possessions than his faith.

I then went to Mass at my local church, and of course . . . the verses were the same as I had read earlier, but Father Tom’s homily went on to expound on how willing we were to let go of things in our lives in order to follow Christ. Jobs, family members, toxic relationships, gossip, bad habits, and any other various things to which we as humans become attached.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post on this very subject. Letting Go to Move Forward summarizes my approach to life. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but to be honest — there are things I’ve been privileged to experience or do, places I’ve gotten to go — events that if you had told me in 1992 I would be doing, I would have been convinced you were on drugs. As in . . . put the crack pipe down, you have lost your mind, drugs.

Yesterday, I attended a training class on cardiac monitors. Pretty cool how they’ve developed and evolved over the years from bulky, heavy equipment to lightweight things that can be easily carried in one hand. ANYWAY . . . the training instructor and I were speaking after class and I was able to share my testimony with her. As I did so, I realized all the low and bleak times where things looked impossible to me but the entire time God was working in the background, bringing things together.

So why did I choose a smattering of puzzle pieces for the photo above? I have always tried to explain life to people with whom I interact as a puzzle. When we are born, our puzzle box is opened with all the pieces dumped out and turned upside down. We are handed a few pieces at a time, never able to discern what the big picture is from just the small amount of colors and shapes on the pieces we are handed. As we start putting the pieces together, the bigger picture starts coming into view. When life is over for us, we will be able to look back and see the entire puzzle, together in it’s entirety.

My decision to risk my job over something as simple as a shot may not make sense to some. For me, even though I shed tears at the thought of possibly losing my job, friendships, co-workers and starting a new chapter . . . the bigger decision, to follow the calling of Christ was the right one.