Fragments

Have you ever found yourself reflecting on your life and feeling like everything has been shattered into a million fragments or perhaps they just don’t seem to fit together? Recently this came to mind as I was working on a painting of a tree that was bent in the wind but the overall image was as if it was captured in stained glass. As I spent hours working on each little shard of color I began thinking about the amazing process of stained glass art.

This unique and fascinating art process is such a reflection of the artist’s eye. What most of us see as something broken, worthless and completely unsalvageable to the artist is the absolute pinnacle of potential. They see all shapes, sizes and colors of glass, ceramic or tile and they unite them to capture the image in their mind’s eye.  They spend hours sifting through raw materials and hand selecting each shard and positioning them strategically on the base for their creation.

Then they begin to go piece by piece and fuse them together, each shard bound together by metal, mortar or glue. Slowly what was once destroyed takes on new life. What seemed to be shapeless and void unites into something so beautiful that only the artist could create.

As I worked on this painting I worshipped and prayed and it dawned on me that we are those broken pieces.  God doesn’t need a perfect piece of glass, the right color, the right shape, etc. He needs us to trust Him with all the fragments of our lives and yield to His artistry.

When a stained glass piece is constructed the most amazing part of it is how the light is captured through the image the artist has created. Will you allow Him to take the fragments of your life and bring them into a beautiful restoration that allows His light to shine through?