“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”Ephesians 2:10 ESV

Most would not argue that what is made by the hands of God is perfect and right. Even those who do not believe in God will often echo the attribution of those who do. So if this piece of truth is widely accepted without much refute, why are we so quick to dismiss it when we think of ourselves? Why are the whispers of this truth overshadowed by the shouts of “not good enough”?

In a relationship, you often hear one partner refer to the other as his or her “better half”. This sort of thinking is generations old and could point us to a possible origin of the idea that we are not whole on our own. Although, I suspect that the idea that we are missing something is much older than that.

Likely, as old as humanity itself. It’s not that community isn’t needed. There is some truth to the “It takes a village” adage made popular in the late 90s and early 2000s. Humanity was created to be in community but the idea that we are not whole on our own has created an industry of consumerism and a measuring stick impossible to measure up to.

In Shel Silverstein’s children’s book, The Missing Piece, humanity’s quest to be whole is detailed in the most elementary and truthful ways. The story takes the reader on a journey to find the O’s missing piece. Along the way, the O is slow in rolling because it feels it’s missing a part of itself and is so consumed with finding that piece that it fails to recognize what it is in itself.

Once the O finds the piece it thinks it was missing, it rejoices and rolls quickly by but now misses the beauty around it and can’t even sing its heart’s song. The story ends with the O removing the missing piece as it realizes it was whole on its own and ignoring the beauty around it was far worse than searching for what it thought was missing. The O realizes it was never really missing anything.

Our journey isn’t all that different from this simple children’s book. If we are honest with ourselves, the basic message of this book hits so close to our hearts that it forces us to pause our journey and reflect.

How much beauty around us are we passing by in our quest for the missing piece? The other side of that question is this one. What has the world been deprived of because we have not walked in our wholeness? Where could we have made an impact if we would have believed in ourselves enough to take that step of faith? What have we missed out on because we thought we were not enough as we were created and because we lost sight of who we are and who’s we are?

Grab hold of the truth of your wholeness as you were created to be by the One who created all the beauty around us. Slow down. Pay attention to your desires and strengths. Take the step of faith. Make the call. Send the text. Write the book. Do the thing- that thing that’s been staring back at you each time you look in the mirror. The world needs what you have to offer. Although we are each individually whole, humanity isn’t whole without each of us.

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