Finding a masterpiece in the chaos

We just got back from spending a week in Paris for a family vacation. We loved it. We stayed in an apartment in Montmartre, which is a fantastic neighborhood, ate delicious food, and saw lots of sites. One of my favorite places in Paris is Musee D'Orsay, which is an old train station that was converted into an art museum that focuses on impressionist and post impressionist work. While I was overwhelmed walking through the Van Gogh exhibit (my favorite artist), I was also struck wordless when I walked into the pointillism exhibit, featuring works by Seurat and Signac.

Pointillism is the art technique of using colorful dots to create an image. When you are up close to the painting, it looks like a mess. If you are only standing a few inches away from it, it's hard to tell what the picture is. You're overwhelmed by bright, colorful dots but miss the picture as a whole. But when you take a few steps back, you get a new perspective and realize that those dots you were looking at make capture a beautiful scene...perhaps a performer on her horse at the circus or the Notre Dame Cathedral. But until you stepped back and created some distance between you and the painting, you just couldn't see it. You needed some distance from the chaos to the see the beauty of the painting.

But without the colorful dots, the painting couldn't be made. The colors wouldn't pop like they do. The dots allow the artist to put distinct colors close together--not mixing them but instead allowing them to complement each other--creating richer hues and contrasts in the painting as a whole when you step back.

As I read the description about this art technique and then saw the paintings, I was struck by the thought that this is my life. So often when I'm in the middle of a situation that seems chaotic to me, I get frustrated and ask God to clear it up immediately. I can't see the big picture; I can't see what God's doing and I want out. I don't have his perspective on the situation.

But our Creator God is the master painter. He knows what He's doing. He's using these situations to add color to my life. He can see what's coming--he can see the final product even when I'm standing so close to it that I miss it and only see the chaos. He is taking these stressful, chaotic, trying moments to make something beautiful. When I trust in Him and take a step back, I can begin to get a glimpse of the beautiful painting that he's orchestrating.

It was fitting that I saw this on Easter Sunday. When we went to church that night (at Hillsong Paris, which was wonderful--if you happen to be in Paris on a Sunday, make sure you go), I thought again on these paintings and about Easter. On Good Friday, everything seemed so bleak. The disciples were in the middle of the most chaotic, painful, confusing event of their lives. They couldn't see the big picture because of their despair. But a few days later, the painting was finished. It was beautiful. It brought redemption and restoration. And when Jesus opened their eyes--giving them some distance from the heartbreak of Good Friday--they could see it. Finally. The beautiful painting God created--that he had been working on since the fall was finished. It was no longer chaotic dots, but a beautiful masterpiece.

I pray that we can all help people see past the dots in their lives and point them to Christ, that we can help them get the right perspective so that they too can revel in God's masterpiece.

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