We Don’t See the Whole Painting

There’s a metaphor Peter Kreeft once used that has stayed with me for years.

He said that life is like standing with your nose pressed up against an enormous painting. All you can see is a brown splotch. It looks ugly. It looks pointless. It seems like a mistake.

But if you could step back, you would see that it fits perfectly. It belongs. It adds shadow, depth, or detail to something far greater than what you could have imagined. But right now, from where you’re standing, it just looks wrong.

That’s how life feels sometimes. Like a brown splotch.

Our Perspective Is Limited

We are finite creatures. We live inside of time, inside of bodies, inside of moments we did not choose. We are not given the full picture.

We see pain. Loss. Injustice. Suffering that doesn’t make sense. And we ask: Why would God allow this? What is the point of this part of the painting?

But we are standing too close. We don’t see the whole.

The Modern Hunger for Explanation

Modern people don’t like mystery. We are trained to expect clarity, immediacy, answers. If something hurts, we want to know why right now. We want resolution. We want control.

But not everything will make sense in this life. Some things are not revealed. Some stories don’t reach their conclusion until long after we are gone. Some pain doesn’t resolve in a satisfying arc.

And that doesn’t mean God has failed. It means we are not God.

God Doesn’t Waste Suffering

Even if we can’t see the purpose, we believe that nothing is wasted in the hands of God. He brings good from evil. Light from darkness. Life from death.

The Cross looked like the end. It looked like failure. But it was the moment of redemption. And the same may be true of our own wounds.

You may not see the good right now. You may never see it. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

The Good Might Not Be for You

This is a hard truth: some good may come from your suffering that is not for your benefit.

Your faith in the darkness might plant a seed for someone else. Your quiet endurance might give someone else strength. Your loss might prepare the way for another’s healing.

We want everything to make sense for us. But we are not the center of the story. And thank God for that.

Trusting the Artist

Faith does not mean pretending the splotch is beautiful. It means trusting the Artist who sees the full canvas. It means believing that there is a purpose, even when we cannot see it.

It does not remove the pain. But it gives the pain a frame. It helps us carry our cross when the reasons are hidden.

God is not required to explain Himself to us. But He has shown us His heart.

And it is enough.

The Painting Isn’t Unfinished — We Just Don’t See It Yet

Whatever part of the painting you are standing in right now – whether it’s bright or dark or muddy or unclear – it is not the end of the story from your perspective.

The painting is already whole in the eyes of the Artist. But we do not yet see what He sees.

One day, we will step back. And we will see the whole.

And it will take our breath away.