Stained Glass Mosaic

The theme of the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution this year was “Beauty”, beauty that restores, refreshes, revives, reconciles and recreates. “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hands of the Lord.” It fit perfectly with my WIP, a story of brokenness and redemption, and communication through art.

One of the presenters, Rev. Mylinda Baits, from Washington State, offered a wonderful lesson. She found three large discarded wooden windows with peeling paint and broken hinges, along with a ruined stain-glass window. She broke the larger pieces of colored glass into smaller ones and laid them out on tables so that each of us could pick one. We needed to be careful in handling the pieces because they had very sharp edges. Even so, we carried our piece around for a full day before placing it into a swirling design of smooth blue pieces and a few “jewels”. A thin layer of glue kept it in place. Most of us took our time before putting the shards of glass. It looked like a jumbled mess.

The final stage of the project was mixing the grout and applying it to hold the pieces in place. Not a pretty sight. The process took careful handling, patience and time because the pieces were still sharp, very fragile and the grout would take time to cure.

On the last day, the shades of the auditorium were lowered, the thick veil taken away and the three now-hinged windows and the glory revealed.

What a wonderful lesson about how God works.

Beauty is often hidden away in what the world throws away. If something is broken, why go to the trouble to repair it? Thankfully, God doesn’t see us that way. He lifts the broken child struggling to survive, in pain, longing for hope. We’re all broken in a thousand ways, but in Christ, we become whole—and part of the whole. One small piece carefully placed so that light flows through radiant with color, a single piece necessary to the beauty of the whole.

God makes beauty from ashes. He created us for His good purpose out of His great love. No matter how broken we are, no matter the life we’ve lead or the lies we’ve believed, the truth is God can restore, refresh, revive, reconcile and recreate us through Christ Jesus our Lord.