Stained Glass

I am finishing up a stained glass class where I am making my first big piece!  It is kind of exciting, quite a process! You start with larger pieces of glass and a pattern- you proceed to cut the pieces to match the pattern. It seems simple enough but it is not!  Glass likes to brake in straight lines or where it is weakest (if it has a texture) so it is difficult to get the pieces to match the pattern.  You “Score” a line to show the glass where to break then use plier type tools to break and nibble away until you get your proper shape.  Then you grind the edges with a grinder until it is the right size.  They need to fit almost perfectly to make the design work. The pieces then get wrapped in foil and you solder them together.  That is as far as I have gotten, but we are doing framing and patina and whatever else this coming week.

Anyway- that is all besides the point- I am kind of anal about my art creations, so I planned out my piece to get all the colors exactly where I wanted them before I cut them.  Beautifully spaced colors evenly throughout… you know, “perfect”.  I had larger pieces of glass and I knew what color/texture glass was going to be used for each piece.  Class ended so we had to pack up and like the incredibly graceful lady that I am, I proceeded to drop all of my glass in transit.  My beautiful larger pieces which all had a spot on my pattern were now broken into much smaller pieces than needed.  Some were salvageable, but new glass was needed, new colors, new plan.

You don’t throw out those small pieces though, because they can be used to make mosaics or other smaller more intricate designs (than my beginner piece).  Often times I think that we look at ourselves like this glass.  We idealize the large, unbroken pieces.  They have so much “potential” and have it “all together”, but hanging a large piece of green glass in a window is nowhere near as beautiful as a stained glass piece, with its intricacies and varying colors and designs.  The original bigger piece needs to be cut and shaped… sometimes broken… into smaller pieces that can be used to make a more beautiful creation.  If we don’t let ourselves get shaped and broken down, we might still be “whole”, but we miss out on the beautiful picture and creation that we could be. And my goodness does that process take time!  And patience. And vision. But in the end it is beautiful and worth it.



Update- Finished piece:

Smart Phones

Just got in on this trend this year… only slightly behind the times per usual.  I am still such a noob though- the phone has way more capabilities than I can even imagine, but I’ve barely branched out from what my old phone used to do.  I do utilize me some google maps, social media, email, and spotify but besides that I only use a few other things.  I have one app to practice learning a new language now and one with some math tips and tricks (#nerdalert)! 

It struck me how much we are like these phones- God created us all with these capabilities through conection to Him.  To communicate and have community, staying in touch by many means with people.  We have access to be guided when we don’t know how to get somewhere through GPS or google maps or whatever people use.  To challenge and grow ourselves through learning new languages and other things I don’t even know about- or to get our lives in order with budgets and bank apps.  But the problem is our phones need to be ON and CHARGED to utilize these things. 

If you are lost and want to call for help and get directions- and have this great tool in front of you that could solve these issues, but you didn’t charge it, what use is it?  I feel like we- as proverbial smart phones- often do this.  The one with these answers is so easily accessible and yet we don’t plug into Him and charge ourselves. We run on battery reserve power by our own strength with only the most basic of functions or just shut down completely and go through life blind and anxious.  What would have been something that helps us, stands by useless just waiting to be charged and available.  Plug yourself in! Charging once only last so long, you have to keep recharging that battery.

UPDATE- Good challenge to consider from my friend, what is YOUR charger?