"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13)

My 14 year old son gave me a puzzle for Christmas. To be totally honest, when I first unwrapped the gift I thought, "I hate puzzles. I am so not a puzzle person". The puzzle is over 750 pieces and is a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, The Last Supper. He was very excited about his gift. Because my son gave it to me, I decided I would pursue doing this puzzle of The Last Supper. It has been a real eye opener for me as I have found where pieces fit, slowly having the entire thing put together. The things I have learned as I found the placement of each piece are beautiful. 

One of the things I learned is that a puzzle is similar to the gospel. One must desire to put the whole thing together. As we do so with diligence and patience each piece eventually fits in it's proper place. Even when I thought I had lost a piece, or perhaps may have put one in the wrong place, or it didn't seem that it would actually fit in the place it is suppose to go, slowly all the pieces fit in their "proper order" (Alma 41:2,4). Everything comes together in the Lord’s timing.

Another thing I learned is the promise from the Lord is also like the puzzle. It is repeated often in the scriptures. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). When I first started working on the puzzle my attitude was doubtful that I would be able to complete it or find all the pieces on my own. But as I found more and more pieces, I would make time, and eventually spend all my extra time seeking for the proper order and placement of the pieces. The Lord says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7; see also Luke 11:9; 3 Nephi 14:7). How true this is with each principle of the gospel and in coming to know the Savior. When we ask, and seek, He guides us and helps us put the pieces together into one great whole. It becomes this beautiful Masterpiece.

Ironically enough, Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency said this: “The truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle- one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us-not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed” (Waiting on the Road to Damascas).

I love the Lord. I love how He works, one piece at a time, to help us learn all that we need to in order to draw closer to Him and eventually see Him as He is and become like Him (see Moroni 7:48 1 John 3:1-3).

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