10 Mar We Are Not Missing Pieces

Hi everyone! Desaree McKinney here, writing for Pastor Morgan this week. For those who don’t know me, my husband Kevin and I have been members of Mosaic [then Christ Community Church] since 2012. Most Sunday evenings, you can find me mentoring in Elevate—our youth ministry for teens.

I hope you don’t mind me sharing my thoughts.

Our current cultural and social climate is best described as divisive. Many of us are offended and confused. And, according to my social media feeds, some of us are cutting off friendships because of it.

I suppose I should consider myself blessed that I have survived six Facebook purges thus far.

Despite still having friends to count on, I didn’t ask for help from a single one this past week. In short: this week, I was a wreck.

Nothing calmed my fussy, 3-month old daughter. Every chore and every project was met with mishap and frustration. And, a cement mixer almost dumped cement on me.

When I needed help the most, instead of seeking community, I continued to seek myself.

That’s never a good tactic.

When we isolate ourselves, we only listen to one voice. We get the same information from the same source—us. And we are terribly good at telling ourselves lies.

Psalm 133:1 [NIV] reads, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”

When we live in relationship with one another, we thrive!
We are better servants to others.
We are better witnesses of God’s Word.
We are better ambassadors of Christ.

When we try to do things by ourselves, we function improperly and incompletely. We are never our whole selves.

We are the “missing piece” from Shel Silverstein’s The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.
The missing piece sits around waiting for something to complete it. When it meets the Big O, it thinks it’s done. But, in a show of friendship, the Big O tells the missing piece that in order for them to walk together, the missing piece has to make the first move.

Like the missing piece, we are desperately searching for something to complete us. We are helpless and don’t know what to do until we stop and let the compassion of others peel away the dead layers, rub away our rough edges, and shape us into something new.

For me, that compassion came in the form of Maysa.

Seeking peace in the midst of chaos, I took a walk through my neighborhood with my daughter.

A young woman I had never seen approached me with her young son on her hip. Before introducing herself, she said, “I know how hard it can be for first-time moms, especially when you feel like you’re alone or need help. We should spend time together.” She then introduced herself as Maysa, shook my hand, and walked away.

If there was mist, or fog, she would have walked into it and disappeared. It was that type of moment.

It was a God moment. And what it showed me was that our relationship with God is reflected in our relationship with others.
When we isolate ourselves from Him, we are isolated from one another.
When we draw nearer to Him, we find we have friends and healthy relationships in abundance.

Drawing nearer is not easy. It can be rather difficult.

It’s difficult to do when we share different political backgrounds.
It’s difficult to do when we come from different cultures.
It’s difficult to do when we have differing opinions.

But when we lay ourselves out before one another, we will soon be surprised at how strong we are when we lean in together.

God does not call us to be missing pieces.

He calls us to be one Body of many.

Des McKinney