I’ve always been a fan of Vincent Van Gogh’s art. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t completely captivated by his paintings.

Tonight, God gave me a revelation of sorts.

I imagined myself at the Louvres or some other famous art museum. I then imagined myself walking right up to one of the Van Gogh paintings. Much closer than they would probably allow if I were actually doing this and not just visualizing it.

I get so close that my nose is almost touching the canvas.

All I see is a confused mess. I see what looks like chaos and disorder.

If that’s all I saw, I probably wouldn’t have a very high opinion of Mr. Van Gogh’s work.

But if I step back . . . .

In the same way, sometimes life (and not just mine) looks like a confused mess. There’s not a lot of sense and order to the events occurring around me.

But maybe if I had the sense and the wherewithal to be able to step back and look from a greater distance, I’d see patterns. I’d see a theme.

Better yet, if I could see life and history from God’s perspective, maybe then what seems like a mess would come to look more like a masterpiece worthy of a museum.

It’s all about perspective. It’s all about seeing the bigger picture (and trusting the Ultimate Artist when you can’t).

That’s a good reminder for people like me on days like this when I feel like I could sleep for 72 hours straight.

I think that’s a good reminder for anyone at anytime.