In the four year period between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo lay on his back on a scaffold in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, creating one of the greatest artistic triumphs in history.
Unfortunately, the magnificent work of art soon began to fade. Less than a century later, no one could remember what the original frescoes had looked like.
One person described it this way: “We see the colors of the Sistine ceiling as if through smoked glass.”
In 1981 a project began to clean the frescoes that adorn the chapel. After two art-restorers carefully cleaned a small corner of the painting with a special solution, they invited experts to examine the work.
The result was breathtaking. No one had imagined that such vibrant colors lay beneath the centuries of accumulated dust and dirt.
This was not the Michelangelo known by art critics, the one whose frescoes resembled sculpture more than painting. This showed the artist was also the master of color and nuance.
The success of this partial project prompted the restoration of the entire ceiling.
The task was completed on December 31, 1989. It took twice as long to clean the ceiling as it had taken the artist to paint it.
But the result was breathtaking. For the first time in 5 centuries, people were able to view this masterpiece the way it was intended, in all of its color and beauty.
Today, God is doing a work of restoration in your life.
It may take longer than you expect, but the end result will be the same: Your life will be filled with the vibrant colors that he has planned for you from the very beginning.
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again. From the depths of the earth, you will again bring me up. (Psalm 71:20)
