One of my favorite aspects of doing the Christian Mandalas studies is sharing them with others in a small group.
Early on I was concerned that people would be self-conscious about sharing, especially if they didn’t draw well. In practice, it appears that the worse people draw, the livelier the discussions become. More so as the group grows closer together. People want to share, despite their drawing abilities. They engage, they laugh, and we learn.
The drawings, Christian Mandalas, from the group often contain deep insight into Scripture, insights that I did not pick up on during my own study. I enjoy the other mandalas so much I sometimes re-build them in Photoshop and sprinkle in some 3D elements while retaining the basic composition and concepts from the original drawing.
This drawing, done by a member of our group, comes from Jesus’ I AM statement: “I am the door of the sheep.”
Notice how the sheep start at about 11 o’clock in the darker portion of the circle. The sheep proceed past false shepherds shown in black (9 o’clock), pass through ‘the door’ and enter in green fields bathed in golden light. The door is the opening below the large golden colored man shape outlined in red and orange.
Up a little ways from the center of the image is a reddish oval shape that is about where the mouth of the large golden man would be. White lines emanate out from the mouth reaching all the sheep, almost sweeping them in through the door to safety on the other side.
The sheep hear their master’s voice and know him. They follow that voice and are blessed with abundant life.
In Part 2 we move on to: The Good Shepherd.