Worthless or a Masterpiece?

Posted by laurieetta on January 9, 2019 in Being Human | Leave a comment

Just when you think you’ve seen it all. Today, we are not looking at some great Renaissance masterpiece, but something quite different. Paint has been replaced with dryer lint, meticulously placed by Laura Bell of Roscommon, Mich., to create a 14 ft. wide by 4 ft. high reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.

The Associated Press reported: “Bell says she needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the mural. She bought towels of the colors she wanted and laundered them separately to get the right shades of lint.”

In an interview with NPR, Bell said that she learned a lot about herself in the process of making this “masterpiece.”

“I learned that I do have great patience and I had to push myself really hard to finish this,” she said. She spent about 50 hours on the apostle Philip alone (third person to the right of Christ), trying to find towels that were just the right color orange. She also said that her kids thought she was crazy when she began this project, but as it started to come together, they became believers.

Some people just have too much time on their hands.

Yet I suppose there is a lesson to be learned here. This lady took something totally useless and made something beautiful from it. That could aptly describe what our God does all the time. Where we see throw-away, he sees worth. Where we think “why bother?” he sees potential and inherent value.

I’m not suggesting you start to save your dryer lint to make a work of art, but it might be nice to take the time to take a second look at someone or something you have deemed worthless. Look anew through the eyes of God, who sees worth and value in all.

Being Human connection: God has, and will, use many “unworthy” and “throw-away” people and situations in mighty and miraculous ways.

By the way, Bell sold her creation to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! and used the money to buy a new washer and dryer.

Featured image: Laura Bell, a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” 2009