His Masterpiece

Tonight I spent 5 hours coloring a picture.  Ridiculous?  Maybe.  A waste of time?  Definitely not.  I learned more tonight from coloring geometric shapes with Sharpies than I have in many other “more meaningful” tasks I have set out to do.

The picture was a mosaic of different sizes of octagons.  Not only was it incredible stress relief to select the different colors, but it was literally a joy to watch the picture slowly come to life.  I did the border first, and then started to color inward.  I started to wonder what colors to select for the starred corners of the inward clusters, and finally decided to leave them white.  Looking at it afterwards, it really gave the picture much more life than if I had colored in every one.  The final product was fantastic (at least I thought so; maybe the aroma of the markers was getting to me a little bit).  I would venture to say it was a small masterpiece.

As I was starting to finish the picture, I realized how much this work of art was like my life.  Each experience, big or small, was a part of a cluster, and each cluster was a part of the larger picture.  In a way, I kind of felt like I was God, creating a beautiful picture of my life.  Each piece had a different color, and some of them were left white for the seasons of wilderness.  In the end, the picture would not have been the same without them.  Some colors were dark and some were bright.  However, they all made the work of art so rich and vibrant.  Sometimes it seemed like I was using SO MUCH green, or far too much yellow, but when I made the final touches and signed my name on the page, I realized that everything was just right.

I wonder what God sees as He looks at my life.  I wonder if He sees every gladness and heartbreak that I experience like this mosaic, and if His eyes light up as He sees the picture start to come to life.  I wonder if when He switches to the color red and He hears me complaining about it, He wants to just say, “Wait, child, until you see the final product!  You won’t be disappointed!”  I wonder at His patience to work so long making everything just right.  So often I want Him to “just hurry up.”  However, hours, years, and decades later the splashes of vibrant color and tender detail show themselves for what they are:  a priceless masterpiece woven together by the Master Creator, signed with His very hand.  This work of art would put my measly Sharpie project to shame.  However, nevertheless, I choose to put behind me the impatience that I feel as troubles seem to linger on forever, knowing that in the end, that color will be just enough to make the picture absolutely............perfect.