Don't you just love the way God takes ordinary, every day things and makes them exquisitely beautiful?
...the way He grabs hold of an ordinary person's life and transforms it in such a way that His grace is evident and His beauty is apparent
... the way He takes the hard days of life and uses them to build us up into His likeness
... the way He exchanges gladness for mourning, beauty for ashes, and praise for a faint spirit
... the way He makes all things new and beautiful just by His very presence
This photo always reminds me of the transforming power of God's grace and mercy. These beads, carefully made out of discarded strips of magazine paper, hung daintily under a wooden pavilion in a village in Northern Uganda one day as I passed by with my camera. Yards and yards of beads drying on a hot Ugandan day... waiting to be strung into necklaces, bracelets, earrings... into final works of art.
They were so beautiful, and I was struck by the way my new African friends could create such beauty out of materials so ordinary. But isn't that what He does every day?
In a single image, these paper beads tell the story of my life in Christ --- of yours too, perhaps --- and so they represent the desire of this servant photographer:
God, would you take my ordinary creations, infuse them with the beauty of your presence and purpose, and use them to tell the story of your everywhere, everyday grace?
