A Festival and Glass

This past Saturday Lisa and I went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It's been 24+ years since I've been to it and it was fun to go...with a few exceptions. When we pulled into the place, it was after 2:00 in the afternoon and well...it seems that the rest of the state decided to show up on Saturday as well, except they were already there...we ended up parking about a mile and a half away from the castle gates (I wish I were joking) and walked!


Yes, people brought their dogs...ALOT of people brought their dogs...which poses the question, why? And then I saw this dog...Yes, you too can purchase fairy wings for your pet. And why wouldn't you want to? They look just SO darned cute...

I've always been fascinated by artists who work in glass. If our local community college offered a course in glass work, I would definitely take it!

We watched this artist make this piece from the first molten blob pulled out of the furnace...

and blowing it into the initial shape...

Then adding an artistic flair...

And further shaping it...

Then using some additional molten glass...

And creating the base...

Re-heating the entire piece...

So he can form the inside of the vessel...

...every minute or so, he would re-heat the piece, keeping it at a certain temperature and pliable. And as he added and shaped more glass, he would transfer the piece to a different metal rod. The old rod always had some residual molten glass on it. He would place the old rod in a large metal bucket, glass end down. Within a minute, we would hear a loud POP! Which was followed by a small (contained) shower of glass. You see, when cooled too quickly, glass will shatter. When a glass artist finishes a piece, it can't just be set aside to cool...it has to cool VERY slowly over 24 or so hours in a kiln that gradually lowers the temp. This process can't be rushed...


Thinking about this process, I started wondering about God working in our lives. He draws us to Himself and through trials and testing He develops and builds our spiritual framework. The problem is, most of us are impatient...we want a shortcut...we want to avoid the difficult and often painful portion that trials frequently include. The fact of the matter is, the endurance and perseverance we show during these times, are the very things that develop, build and strengthen our spiritual framework. God knows that just as heating and cooling and re-heating and cooling increases the temper of glass, trials and blessings tempers us...increasing our spiritual resolve.


God is making a masterpiece in you. He who created the minds of Da Vinci, Renoir, Monet and Rembrandt...the Master of the masters, is slowly and purposefully, making a masterpiece in you. His timing is perfect...His artistry flawless.


~ V