What do you do when you get laid off from a job you'd worked so hard at, and genuinely loved? Mope? Complain? Go on vacation? 

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I took a metal-smithing class at my local museum. I thought it would give me something to look forward to during a stressful period. And I assumed the break from working would be short. So I took a couple of jewelry classes. Then an enameling class. And then a mosaic class, after which I was hooked.

 

While taking classes I discovered some remarkable things. People of all ages and backgrounds, people who might never interact otherwise, worked side-by-side and forged friendships while learning a craft.  And maybe an even bigger miracle: while in class, people didn’t touch their smart phones! The classes were so focused, and the students so engaged that they didn’t feel the need to use them, except maybe to take a photo or two at the end. 

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After my mosaic class, I began to make mosaics at home. It only required a few simple tools and easy to find, inexpensive materials. I began to experiment with micro mosaics and jewelry when I was asked to lead a class for my church. The work is intricate, the pieces so small, but I loved it. The class went well, and I found a new obsession.

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I found making mosaics peaceful, nurturing and healing. A a person of faith, it made me wonder about the connection between creativity and spirituality. 

 

Consider this: on page one of the Bible, God shows up as Creator. He gets busy making galaxies, mountains, stars, animals, oceans, ladybugs - everything. And then, before he shows himself to be anything else, he makes people and says he is making them in his own image. I think we were made to be makers - creative by design. When I am creating things, I feel like I am doing something that was always inside me, waiting to be discovered.

 

Mosaic also appeals to me as a metaphor for life. In mosaic, you take small pieces of broken materials and form them into something beautiful. Our lives are made up of pieces too: experiences, relationships, accidents, celebrations, breakups, make ups, beginnings, endings, joy, mourning... Some are perfect, beautiful, breathtaking. Others are jagged, flawed, broken and chipped. The temptation will be to throw out all but the pretty pieces, but in life, as in art, the contrast creates a more beautiful whole. And a finished mosaic is often stronger than its individual pieces. 

 

But it’s up to us as to how we arrange the pieces. My unemployment should have been an ugly, flawed piece of my life, but it turned out to be a piece that changed the design completely. And the new design is much better than what I thought it was going to be.

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