Tabs and Blanks

There are two basic parts to a puzzle piece. Tabs are the knobs or loops or keys that stick out, and blanks are the holes or sockets or locks that the tabs slot into. All of us are like puzzle pieces with strengths and talents and assets that stick out and weaknesses and flaws and holes in our hearts and our minds and our souls. There are areas of our life where we are absolutely nailing it, and other areas where we are trying and failing to hold it together. This is true for all of us. But that's why we have each other. We come together so that we can lend our strengths to make up for each other's weaknesses, and to accept each other's strengths to make up for our weaknesses. For every doubt we have there is someone with the exact right testimony to fill that gap. For every grief there is someone out there who can say and do the exact right thing to fill our heart once more. If we have a thousand holes in our lives then that just means we need to find a thousand friends and loved ones to connect to us. And the beautiful thing about puzzle pieces is that one piece's blanks are the other piece's tabs, or in other words, we can be sure that if the Lord placed someone in our life to help cover some weakness of ours, it's because that same person has a weakness of their own that only our strength will be able to cover. We were all given strengths not to be able to feel special or important but to be able to fill in the gaps in our brothers' and sisters' souls. And we were given weaknesses not to feel broken or damaged but so that our brothers and sisters could use the strengths they've been given to help complete us. The strengths and  weaknesses in our character are there by design. It is so that we can all fit together.