Every once in a while, particularly when things aren't going too well, I try to figure out what is my purpose in life — how I fit into the big picture of humanity. From my perspective, I can't see what is happening or where my life is going. Sometimes I seem to be all alone — treading water with no land in sight. Other times I seem to be in the midst of a frenzy of activity and I can't see much beyond the chaos. I guess it is sort of like doing a jigsaw puzzle without seeing the picture on the box. If you don't know what you're making, it's hard to know where to put the piece in your hand.

Then one day it occured to me that maybe the point is that I can't see everything from my vantage point. But from God's perspective, everything is clear. Have you ever looked at the back of a handmade tapestry or a fine piece of needlework? When you look at the wrong side, with its knots and clumps of color and bits of thread running hither and yon, you have no idea that you are holding a work of art in your hands. But turn it over and you see the design. Perhaps our lives are like that. Living them is like looking at the wrong side of the cloth. But from above they weave together in a glorious tapestry of relationships, joys, struggles, achievements and hopes.