So, every picture tells a story doesn’t it?  Two things come to mind when I think of this question.  First, if I’m not mistaken, this was the title of a popular song by Rod Stewart that I used to sing in my car before the modern days of karaoke or air guitar.  Can you relate?  But my fondest memory is drawn back to those bygone days of elementary school when the teacher would hand out those papers that had what appeared to be just a bunch of randomly numbered dots on the pages.  You remember these I’m sure.  After initially being overwhelmed by the sheer number of dots we would be instructed to draw a line from one to the next.  Soon after making the connections from this jumbled mess of dots and lines a picture would emerge; a picture of a person or an animal or something of the like.  So, I’ve been thinking on this for a bit.  Isn’t this the way the tapestry of our lives are woven and intertwined together?  What appears to us as random encounters with random people on random days of living (a.k.a. “the dots of life”) are really the connecting points of life coming together to paint a wonderfully intricate and orchestrated picture of the story of our lives.  Lives marked by chaos, struggles and unending demands can appear at times to be just as much of a jumbled mess as those dots on the papers we used to get handed to us.  But we have to marvel at the reality that there is nothing elementary going on with the painting of this picture.  What a priceless picture is being created amongst this beautiful mess.  The picture of you!  Of me!  Of us!  You see the storyline of our lives tells of the amazingly patient grace and the lavishness of immeasurable love that is showered upon us one day, one moment, one breath at a time by a loving God that never tires of painting masterpieces.  Do we see ourselves as masterpieces whose lives are being painstakingly painted and made known to the world by the Master Artist?  Have we considered what role we have in being the hands and feet of the Master Artist to help connect the dots of life for others as we seek to engage and invest in the larger story?  Are we simply inviting others in to the greatest love story ever told? Lots to think on…perhaps our best next step as we do is to simply fall in love afresh with the Master Artist.  Peace.