There is a group of archivists who are working on the Mona Lisa. Five hundred years of dirt and aging have not been kind to her. The varnish protecting the oil paint has dimmed her brilliance. Scientists work in the basement of the Louvre, using a copy of the most expensive painting in the world. 

 

I watched a short video about the process of digitally returning Lisa to her original beauty. The engineer corrected those factors, restoring the colors Leonardo saw in 1509. 

 

The result was amazing. Lisa had a blush in her cheeks, and the sky became blue rather than an underwater green. Of course this was all theoretical. The original still waits in her bulletproof, cake proof, assault proof case upstairs. 

 

In 2009 I went to Paris with five of our children, and we were among the crowds around the Mona Lisa. It was ridiculously fun to buy fresh croissants, and gaze out from the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

 

Sometimes, when I look at people who seem muted by their own fears, I wonder. What will happen when they awaken in the spiritual world? What loveliness and depth will emerge when the discoloration of anxiety is peeled away? I love to imagine the vibrancy that will come bursting out from friends whose beauty is clouded by earthly concerns. Then I will witness the brightness God saw when he created them.