Happy Little Accident

 Earlier in the year, Shauna-The-Art-Teacher procured a grant to install a large-scale mural in one of the main hallways at school. As part of the project, every student and staff member at Greenwood will decorate a ceramic tile using an alcohol ink process.

 

Alcohol ink art is fluid art. Fluid art is when you take a medium in liquid form and let the pigments run wild, creating abstract pieces of art. The beauty of alcohol ink, though, is that it can also be used to create realistic pieces—if you know how to manipulate the dye.  

 

During Monday’s workday, Shauna hosted two art sessions for the staff to decorate our tiles. None of us had ever worked with alcohol ink and therefore had no idea what we were doing. Some of us had visions of what we wanted to create. Others did not. Regardless, with Shauna’s guidance, the tiles turned out uniquely beautiful!

 

You won’t be surprised to know that I wanted to create an orange fish. I quickly realized, though, that intentionally creating anything was going to be next to impossible without having more experience manipulating the ink. And so…I abandoned the idea of making an orange fish and gave in to the abstract nature of alcohol inks’ simplest form.

 

But then it happened. An orange fish appeared! I have no idea how it happened, and I couldn’t do it again if I tried, but as certain as I am an orange fish collector, an orange fish swam out of the ink and made its face perfectly clear! I was so excited! (I’m still excited!) In a paraphrase of Bob Ross, it was a happy little accident!

 

Isn’t that life sometimes? We have plans. We abandon plans. And then something just as good as, if not better than, our plan occurs. No. This doesn’t always happen. But doesn’t it happen more often than we give it credit for? Happy little accidents?

 

Doesn’t life, with God’s unending grace, create moments of happiness and joy in the midst of sadness and heartache? Doesn’t life, with God’s creative goodness, create moments of surprise in the midst of monotonous routine? Doesn’t life, with God’s boundless love, create moments of belonging in the midst of harsh loneliness? Doesn’t life, with God’s unexplainable peace, create moments of light in the midst of darkness?  

 

In a society that teaches us that we must be in control to be okay, maybe we need to learn from fluid art. Maybe we need to sometimes surrender to the process, and to the Creator of the process, and simply see what happens.

 

Dear God: Thank you for happy little accidents. May we see your nature and character in all that is good—planned or unplanned—controlled or surrendered. Amen.