The Director's Vision

Have you ever seen "Schindler's List." What a great yet gut wrenching movie! There is a scene in the movie where in the middle of all of the chaos of the Holocaust, a young girl goes walking down a street. This particular scene stands out because while the rest of the movie and even the scene are in black and white, this girl is wearing a red. Obviously Spielberg wanted the contrast of the black and white and this colored coat to elicit certain emotions and focus for the viewer.

This past week I performed a wedding for a former youth of mine. Marcela was a child born into a situation that none of us should have to be born into. Her mother was a homeless drug addict living in the streets in Colombia and thus Marcela was what is known as a "street kid" an infant being raised on the streets of Bogota. Friends of ours who were missionaries in Bogota at the time adopted Marcela and her sister and the rest is history! Now here I was marring her to a young good looking youth pastor who has graduated from seminary and who works vocationally with the younger generation raising them in the ways of the Lord. It was so awesome and comforting seeing one of your youth who waited on Gods timing and for Gods best for her marry someone who had done the same. Because of her and his obedience God was blessing them with each other and at the same time ending a generational curse that keeps so many Colombian women living in the streets turning to prostitution and drugs to survive.

As I sat in their living room with Marcela's family helping them get the house decorated as Marcela wanted I noticed a picture hanging on the wall that Andrea, Marcela's sister, had matted and framed for her. It was a picture of the streets in Bogota just like many pictures I have taken. The difference was that she had converted the photo to black and white and then punched in the original colors in just some areas of the photo. Seeing the image that was so similar to photos I had taken as recently as this year in a new light was absolutely amazing!

As soon as I got home I had to try it on one of my photos as you see above. It wasn't until I was done that i realized something I hadn't noticed before, even when I took the photo. if you click on the photo and then look to the left their is a homeless man sleeping on the ground in the threshold of the building in the forefront.

I think many of us like to ask God to reveal the "big picture" of our lives to us when in reality what we really want is just to see the pretty or comfortable parts of our lives. I'm not saying that having seasons of blessing and enjoyment are wrong rather that many of us would rather take the good but not the bad or hardship the Lord needs us to go through in order to paint the whole picture of our lives.

In the pic above just a little of the original colored buildings is enough color to draw your attention int o the street. To highlight just enough to make the whole scene look beautiful. Yet when the whole picture is in color those things tend to fade into the rest of the image. By bringing color to just part of the image it makes the rest pop in a different way.

Maybe that is how God paints the picture of our lives. Rather than using such a broad stroke he details every part. Just enough powerful and great experiences to make the refining we need to go through to be more like Christ have meaning and make them be beautiful as well.

May the Lord and author of your picture have His way with you and I! May He make beauty out of all of our lives, not just the parts you or I would deem worthy or deserving.