The other day I said to a good friend, “You’re perfect. It’s just integrating the pieces.”

I remember once reading the theologian John Calvin and he said that the Fall represented the disintegration of the person. Unfortunately, he grimly believed the disintegrated parts were sin to be trashed. But I thought, “Why don’t we see ourselves as a puzzle, not broken pieces? Then our work is not to rid ourselves of sin, but integrating the many fascinating pieces of ourselves in a functional way.”

Sometimes I feel like I’m a puzzle of thousands of pieces and that my life’s work is to gently, compassionately and wisely integrate these all together in a beautifully balanced harmony.

How about you?