From Chapters to Canvases: Finding Meaning in Tough Seasons

We often hear life described as a big book filled with separate and distinct chapters, with each chapter referring to a new “season” of life.

Within this “book of life”, we might see one chapter flowing after another through one long story line. Perhaps there’s a childhood chapter here, and a college chapter there.

As we get older, our chapters may showcase different jobs or family changes – some we might enjoy more so than others. Each new “chapter” builds upon the other, yet carries distinct characteristics and events, setting it apart from ones to come.

In a similar, yet slightly different way, I’ve come to think of our lives as something more like a canvas painting, rather than a hard cover novel. Life isn’t always as “clear cut” as we might like it to be. Often, we may not fully understand or see when a old chapter “ends” and a new one “begins.” And, as we move through the messier “chapters” in life, it’s hard to understand or accept why certain chapters unfold in the place or time that they do.

Like a book, however, our story continues to change, move, and flow based on the unique challenges, opportunities, and surprises of life.  Yet, though our paintings, our struggles, joys, hopes, and fears merge together as a constant, ever-changing story showcased through our own unique canvas creations.

And art itself has a way of creating beauty, meaning, and purpose out of unique colors, shapes, and designs. “Perfection” is not the end goal. It is unattainable, as with life. Viewers may appreciate the colors, strokes, and imagery of paintings, but it is the story and connections behind them which really draws people in.

Happy Little Accidents

Bob Ross, a brilliant artist and television host used to say in regards to painting, “There are no mistakes, only happy little accidents.”

In one episode of his show, The Joy of Painting, he demonstrates this in the way he transforms an old, “unwanted” painting into a beautiful new landscape. He gracefully turns “mistakes” into stunning works of art, and even embraces the new direction former “accidents” take him.

In a similar way, as we move through hard, messy times in life, rather than getting stuck on past mistakes, hardships, or failures, we can instead allow them to reshape or refine our journey. Here, challenges and struggles continually merge and blend different styles, forms, or colors into new works of art. In this way, one need not run from past “failures” but let them shape and direct the ever-evolving painting of life.

Freedom doesn’t come with erasing, whiting out, or numbing one’s “mistakes” or perceived failures. Instead, we can embrace opportunities to paint over them with new ones. Like Bob Ross, we learn to let our “happy little accidents” form intriguing new landscapes over time. From here, our own paintings or “life pictures” become more beautiful, refined, and captivating in the end.

And one day, after we leave this world and our paintings are finally finished, perhaps we’ll have the chance to step back and admire our works of art alongside the true artist behind them. May we get to see why certain strokes were used, or why certain colors seemed to blend outside the lines. Finally, we’ll come to discover and understand the grand purpose behind it all.