There is a special Scripture in Ephesians 2:10, which says, We are God’s masterpiece… As I was thinking about this great thought, I remembered an event that happened in 1995. We had just come to Port O’Connor to begin Fisherman’s Chapel and had purchased a 35X35 Morgan building on Adams, between 2nd and 3rd Streets. We proceeded to paint it turquoise and white. On that particular day, Gary Klamm was helping me. I like precision and had two containers of paint and two brushes, one with turquoise paint and the other with white paint. I worked my way around the building making sure the lines were cut properly and presented a crisp look. As I remember, Gary was painting the front and talked to me while I worked all around the building and I do not think he even knew I was standing right next to him! Everyone who remembers Gary knows he could talk, in fact, some called him “radio”! Together we were making a “masterpiece” for our Lord’s approval and our community’s interest. Many times, he and I were complemented for our work, and I had the opportunity to do other painting jobs as a result. Those side jobs helped keep body and soul together and made Pastor Joane happy because our kids enjoyed eating!
The picture of our efforts help me to look at my personal growth plan. Often, I need to assess how I am growing in key areas of my life: spiritual, relational, emotional, professional, physical, and financial. Each area requires that I add a value point to it! My spiritual must always be my highest priority (because I am an eternal being), but each of the other areas are also important. This mandates that I think about the Big Picture of Life.
Painting and building required thousands of individual brush strokes. Together, these small applications of paint form a cohesive image. Even though a paint task comes together one stroke at a time, I always was required to keep the big picture, the finished project, in mind.
It is difficult to make sense of the big picture – much less rejoice in it as a masterpiece – when a few brush strokes of life seem completely out of place. There are at least two things we need to do to gain a big-picture perspective.
First, we need to view each problem correctly. When multiple problems arise in one’s life, whether it is personal or professional, it is easy to view those problems as limitless. We allow the pain in the painting of our life choices to define the entire canvas of our existence.
We need to choose to see difficulties instead as momentary setbacks as individual strokes that make a small part of our lives. Never surrender those life goals to difficulties. Remember, as long as we live, the painting is still in progress.
Second, having a big-picture thinking requires us to dream beyond the edges of what we currently see. We have not presently thought of all of life’s possibilities. Ahead of us can be new possibilities that will catapult us over the present obstacles into a new destiny.
God has never wasted a single brush stroke in our lives! Even the strokes that came about because of our bad decisions or painful problems can become something beautiful, exciting, and profitable in His skillful hands, as long as we will remain patient and faithful to the process.
Our Lord is creating a masterpiece that will come into focus when we view it with a big-picture perspective. Do not be afraid to take some time viewing life with a greater goal. One thing I have found to help me with this view is to create a gratitude list. By focusing on blessings instead of problems, we gain fresh perspective. Then, and only then, we will be in a better frame of mind to work successfully toward life solutions.
