Thresholds and making a mess

My husband and daughter visited a chocolateria on Saturday while I was taking a class. They came back with napkins with a great sentiment on them:

It is perfect for an artist, though my hands don't become so artistically messy as this. Though the time when I was dyeing a T-shirt and developed a hole in my glove left me with a beautiful turquoise hand up to the wrist…

And this one just slips in to the Art Journal Journey challenge of 'doors' before December and the change of theme.

Life is messy

I like to use the scrap pages that collect edges of paint and trial colours as background sometimes. This page started out that way. A layer of turquoise ink brought everything together but all the bits of gesso and acrylic paint still stand out a bit. It gives a background that's a little messy.

But then, life is messy. 

No matter how well we plan things, they usually go adrift within the first five minutes as the unforeseen happens and knocks us off track. I'm sure God sits in heaven and chuckles at us sometimes as we plan exactly how we want things to pan out. Because His plans for us are better and higher than anything we can imagine. And even when He tells us His plans, they don't usually come to fruition in the ways we expect. He likes to throw in a few surprises along the way.

Life is messy and we just have to live with it. But if we put it in God's hands, He can make something beautiful and meaningful out of what looks like chaos.