A mosaic, by definition, is a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of stone, tile or glass. My oldest daughter and I have spent many hours over the last several days creating a piece of artwork in our back yard using this technique.
We have no experience but figured it couldn’t be too hard. After watching several you-tube videos and with the help of some amazing people at an area mosaic store we are half-way done. As we work through the process I keep drawing analogies in my head between the mosaic process and how God works in our lives.
With a mosaic, you take tiles or plates, break them and then put them together again to create something new. Oftentimes, as humans, it is when we are broken that God is most able to transform us. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self . . . to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
To create an outdoor mosaic in a four-season climate you need a really strong adhesive (the type that requires wearing gloves and having good ventilation) to secure it to a base. Consider God as the base and scripture as the adhesive for a life well lived.
To get everything to fit you use a tool called a tile cutter to shape the pieces in a way that will be most useful for the mosaic. John, chapter 15, talks of a similar process where God as the gardener cuts off every branch in us that bears no fruit and prunes every fruit-bearing branch to create even more fruit. This is an often painful but necessary part of putting on our new selves.
In creating the mosaic, we found that we would get too focused on the sharp edges and the pieces that did not fit. In our frustration, we would lose sight of the pieces that did fit and the pattern that was emerging. By stopping and stepping back we could more clearly see what we had done, where we were currently at, and where we were heading. Many times, it is in the stepping back that we begin to see the pattern as well as God’s hand at work.
A mosaic is made up of bits and pieces, of different sizes and shapes, of different colors and textures. All of which come together to make something new . . . and something beautiful. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God will make everything beautiful in its time. Not just some things - not just my things or your things or the neighbor’s things or the co-worker’s things but EVERYthing.
I want to leave you with a challenge. A challenge to let God take all your bits and pieces and create something new. A challenge to adhere yourself so strongly to God and his word that when the sharp edges come and bits get broken that you will allow God to take the pieces and make all things new and beautiful in his time.