Have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope? You turn it just a little bit, and everything shifts. It is the same pieces inside, but the pattern changes completely. What once was jagged and sharp suddenly becomes symmetrical and beautiful. It’s crazy how one small turn can make everything look different.
Life has a way of doing that too. One moment everything feels broken, scattered, and out of place, and the next, something shifts. The circumstances, the people, and the memories could all be the same, but suddenly they form a new design that we couldn’t see before.
There is a perfect example of this found in the book of Luke. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, there were two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were walking away from Jerusalem, still trying to make sense of everything that had happened. The man they believed to be the Messiah had been crucified, and even though many people said that He had risen, they couldn’t believe it yet (Luke 24:13-14).
As they walked, a stranger joined them on the road. They didn’t recognize Him at first, but He began to ask them questions and listen to their disappointment. Then Jesus said, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” (Luke 24:25)
Jesus continued to walk with them, explaining the Scriptures and showing how everything that had happened was part of God’s plan. It wasn’t until they sat down to eat that everything clicked. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, and handed it to them. In that moment, their eyes were opened, and they realized the stranger walking with them all along was Jesus Himself (Luke 24:30-32).
Today, maybe you feel like those two disciples, lost, broken, confused, or even ashamed. But just as Jesus met them in the middle of the road, asked questions, and listened, He meets us in the middle of our pain too. He doesn’t wait for us to have it all figured out or for our lives to be perfect. God meets us exactly where we are and loves us just as we are.
But God doesn’t just meet with us to walk beside us, He will also transform us. Just like a kaleidoscope, He begins to turn the pieces of our lives with a small shift. In the middle of our pain, confusion, brokenness, and shame, He will begin to shift our perspective. Graves become gardens, ashes become beauty, and mourning turns into joy (Isaiah 61:3). Even when we can’t see the full picture, He is at work, rearranging our lives into something new and beautiful.
The Bigger Picture: God meets us in the middle and turns brokenness into a new design.
The Bigger Picture 