“You should know that each human life is like a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces and no picture on the box. The picture is there in the pieces and how they fit together, but you will not know ahead of time what that picture will be.
“Some people take the pieces from their box and imagine the picture they wish their life to have. They look at other people’s pictures and try to imitate them. But the pieces in each box form a picture that is unique. That picture may share some features with other pictures, but still it remains completely distinct.
“Your lives can only rightly be assembled with love. It is love that draws the pieces of your lives together that belong to one another, and it is that mutual belonging, spread across the length and breadth of a life, that makes a picture of that life. All lives are coherent and meaningful, all lives are beautiful and of value—provided only that their pieces are assembled with love.
“Honestly, some boxes arrive in this world thoroughly shaken with the pieces all separated from one another. Such lives are challenging and sometimes hard. But the work of building them is satisfying and deeply meaningful to those who give themselves fully to that work. Other boxes arrive with some or even many pieces joined together, and in such cases the work is already far along. It may still be difficult to complete the picture, but there is a feeling of great joy and anticipation that accompanies that work.
“Know that I see the pictures for all lives and turn to me for help with your own. I promise you that your box has been packed diligently and correctly, with foresight and wisdom and love. Whatever you may sometimes fear to the contrary, there are no ‘missing pieces’ in your life.”