Pointillism

Acts 6:7 -- "So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

image painted by Dan Sibley [coolhunting.com]

Intense heat and head-ache inducing sunshine beat down on the shoulders of the thousand or so people cutting stone into large blocks. Painstaking, the work was done by hand. The quarry was crawling with workers - each using a specific skill or asset to assemble the gigantic stone bricks that would make up the largest pyramid in Egypt.

The foreman for this shift of workers made his rounds - inspecting this, checking that, fussing at some and praising others - until he came to two young men silently cutting away at a large wall of yellow limestone. He hadn't seen these two before so he'd better play the part of good foreman and check on the productivity of his bright new charges.

"What are you doing?" The foreman asked one of the tall young adult men.

The first stone cutter replied: "I am cutting this stone into blocks." He continued to chisel at the limestone without missing a beat, never taking his eyes of the tools in his hands.

Making a few notes, the foreman moved on to the next young man and asked: "What are you doing?"

The second young stone cutter wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked the foreman directly in the eye as he said: "I am building a pyramid for the Pharaoh."

Indeed!

The second stone cutter recognized that he was doing something of great importance - even though he could only see the yellow limestone wall in front of him. Deep inside him somewhere - he could see the Pyramid complete....

Image: "A Sunday On La Grande" Jatte George-Pierre Seurat

One of my favorite styles of artistic expression sprung from the impressionism era in 1886.George-Pierre Seurat painted a piece entitled "Sunday In The Park" and voila! A new method of putting paint to canvas was born. When looking at this colorful image we see dogs at play, people sunning by the river, and lush green grass. What we DON'T see right away - is the millions of little dots that Seurat used to make up this relaxing little scene.

Incredible, no? Imagine a human dot-matrix printer...pretty intriguing, if you ask me. It certainly causes one to question the importance of the humble little dot.

Other painters soon followed Seurat's example and today you can find thousands upon thousands of art pieces masterfully created using pointillism. Some of them are quite amazing.

Me? I tend to outline, sketch, erase, outline some more, sketch some more ... and erase ... a whole lot. I can't begin to imagine being able to express an entire scene in full color using nothing but dots. Incredible! If you get the chance - look into one of these fabulous paintings. Focus on just one dot - then move back and take a gander at the whole masterpiece.

Wow. Just - wow!

In the book of Acts,we watch churches burst into full bloom from small and humble beginnings/seeds that were spread about the land by the twelve disciples of Jesus. [most notably Paul]. From twelve people who knew Jesus personally - came a "large number of priests obedient to the faith" and an increased number of disciples. Now THAT's what I call a big picture! An astounding number of hearts that beat to the tune of our Lord Jesus Christ can be found all over the globe! And it all started with twelve people. That's it - just twelve!

 It's wonderful!

But - what if Paul [or any of the disciples] focused only on being just one dot? What if he quit because he felt overwhelmed or intimidated with the scope of the task set out before him? After all, Paul WAS just one person and the world IS a pretty big place. What if Paul hadn't forced his eyes to see the beautiful bigger picture?

image: "Autumn" painted by JetIII circa 1983 [jetiiiart.com]

Think about Seurat's painting and what it might look like if an untold number of dots just suddenly fell off the canvas because they didn't think they mattered very much? Well now, that would be one weird and very incomplete piece of art, I'm here to tell you. An entire branch of artistic expressionism would vanish into thin air - in the time it takes you snap your fingers!

That would be tragic.

But LETHAL is the word I'd use if every follower of Jesus did the same thing.

Don't think you make a difference in an ocean of other dots all going about their own business? Not so, my friend. You - yes, YOU, little dot - have a greater impact than you realize.

Go shine dear, dot. Light up the darkness and salt the earth! You really ARE part of an amazing and life-changing whole. Train your focus on Jesus and the wonderful plans God has for you. One day - you WILL get to see THE big picture.

So go out there and be the best little dot you can be!!