God's Beautiful Mosaic

I've never been one to stringently follow the rules or conform too much to the next best thing.  Sure, there have been moments when someone says go right and I head left and oops, maybe I should have gone right. And there was that time in 7th grade when all the girls had these wedge shoes called Yo-Yo's, and my mother wouldn't buy them for me. But for the most part, the freedom to create or invent or re-arrange has blessed my life immensely.

Mosaic art has been around for centuries. It was the Ancient Greeks that took it to the next level and raised it to an art form. They used the pebble technique with precise geometric patterns to create detailed scenes of people and animals. The styles and skills evolved through the years, but the art of making mosaic has generally stayed the same. Small pieces of glass, tile, stone arranged together to create a picture or design or pattern. Each piece being important to the whole design.

Several summers ago, I was in a small group that met for "Salad Suppers." The hostess would provide the mix of greens and the rest of the women brought one ingredient to go in the salad---an ingredient of our choice, not assigned.  Oh, how I resonated with this lovely idea of creating a mosaic salad, with the freedom to choose and create! Blueberries, avocado, apples, walnuts, dried cranberries, juicy tomatoes, even pumpkin seeds. I loved how each ingredient brought its own unique flavor to the salad.  And each time, the salads were delicious.

Not to overanalyze the salad suppers or mosaic art (the teacher in me....), but they both are somewhat analogous to God's glorious design of our world. Every person, every detail of His creation, every centimeter in the expanse of this great universe was designed with great purpose to be a part of the most magnificent mosaic ever created. Woven all through the Psalms, we catch a glimpse of God's meticulous handiwork, and his graceful attention to detail, even just in the physics of it.

Psalm 19:4: "In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun."  

Or in I Corinthians 12:18, Paul writes, 

"But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, 

just as he wanted them to be."  

The Master Designer never makes an error.  There is no design flaw in his creations.  He created us to have freedom, to be creative and innovative, to re-arrange if we find ourselves needing a little rearrangement. And then He gave us Grace to cover it all.  

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Since my salad supper days, I've enjoyed creating various salad combinations.  Always with the base on mixed greens, including spinach if you like, here are a few ideas:

1. Blueberries, walnuts, red onion, avocado, feta, chopped tomatoes with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.
2. Almonds, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, chopped red pepper, chopped shallots, grilled chicken with sesame oil/rice vinegar/garlic dressing
3. All chopped/diced: cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh basil, blanched cold broccoli, parmesan cheese (shredded not grated), shallots or red onion with some style balsamic vinaigrette. Try a smoked salt in the vinaigrette. 
4. Sun-dried tomatoes, halved bella or heirloom tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, feta, kalamata olives with a red wine vinaigrette.
5. Salmon, avocado, strawberries, walnuts--best with baby spinach--and a sweet vinaigrette.

I forget to take pictures. Next time....