Lesson from an art museum

I went to an art museum today in Ensenada, Mexico. It was pretty cool...there was some great art. There was one, not one I was enchanted with, but one where I immediately thought "I wish I could take a picture and blog about this." But in my oh-so-American mind frame, pictures were off-limits. Until I found out while we were leaving that they were, in fact, allowed.

So imagine my joy when I found out that my friend took a photo of this exact one. Without further ado:

What you can't know until you are up close to it. This figure is knitted out of paper. And on the paper is an unending list of names.

This got me thinking about of all the names that touch our lives and make us who we are. I immediately wondered what names would be on my knitted paper figure and names came flooding to my mind.

People from my childhood. People from school. College. Work. People who moved to my area and have since moved away. People who touched my life for a day, or year, or a lifetime. Friends I've had since kindergarten and friends I had for a season. Different cultures. Different languages. But they touched my life just the same. Blessings in the form of individuals who have taught me grace, patience, love oh-so-much love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, communication, sacrifice, looking to God, how to trust others, how to think better of others, how to laugh more, how the world isn't so black-n-white, how I am capable of creating change and being a blessing to others, and so much more!

I knew in that minute that if I tried to list all the people who have shaped me, I too would have enough to knit a person, like in the photo.