A Beautiful Mosaic

Mosaics. Beautiful works of art. This is a mosaic picture of a famous painting I'm sure we all have seen before (A Starry Night by Van Gogh). Notice each chip placed in the picture creates a wonderful design, but if you were to look at just one individual piece, it is not as pretty. This concept has changed my outlook on the events of my life. 

One Sunday morning at my home church, one of the college pastors who was speaking told us that are lives are like a mosaic; each individual event is just a chip in the big picture of our life. Some may be more "prettier" or "brighter" than others, but all of them combined make a picturesque "work of art." This explains those "dark" times in our lives, as well, because we need contrasting chips to make the picture of our life more beautiful. I had never heard this before, but it made so much sense to me. Yeah, I may to be able to explain the why of every tough situation that comes my way, but if know I look at my life as God does, I will see a wonderfully, God-crafted work that I call my life. 

I was reading a little bit in Desiring God by John Piper today and he made reference to the mosaic idea. Here is an excerpt from his book that I found eye-opening:

"God has the capacity to look at the world through two lenses...a narrow lens or a wide-angle lens. 

When God looks at a painful or wicked event through a narrow lens, He sees the tragedy of sin for what it is in itself, and He is angered and grieved (Ezekiel 18:32). 

But when God looks at a painful or wicked event through His wide-angle lens, He sees the tragedy of sin in relation to everything leading up to it and everything flowing out from it. He sees it in relation to all the connections and effects that form a pattern, or mosaic, stretching into eternity. This mosaic in all its parts--good and evil--brings Him delight" (p. 39).

Just think of the life of Jesus, His death, and resurrection. His death was not a pretty sight at all, a dark event in history, but His example during His time on earth and the hope He gave the world through His resurrection has changed the course of history! What a beautiful mosaic, indeed!