Flight into Egypt

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word;  for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

This is a photo, depicting the flight into Egypt, from our Christmas cards this year, purchased from The Printery House.    It caught my eye because of the colors and I like the artistic style.  The card itself is a photo of a mural created in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at the Conception Abbey in Missouri, painted by Benedictine monks in the late 19th century.  

The symbolic imagery in the mural piqued my curiosity and this is what I learned:  the crumbling idol in the background is based on Thoth, the Egyptian baboon or monkey god of mathematics, writing and wisdom.  The idol is clutching a writing implement as it topples to the ground while the Holy family passes by.

At the base of the cracked column, you can notice the date 1896, which is when the fresco was painted.  A Lilly-of-the-Valley is blooming near the feet of the Theotokos while poisonous mushrooms grow near the base of the column.

On the Conception Abbey website, it is noted that the donkey's feet are not painted in the proper positioning for walking and yet, I hardly think this detracts from such a splendid portrayal.

I tend to think so much of the Nativity as a moment that stopped time, when the shepherds were near, the cows munched their hay and Blessed Mary knelt in the glow, adoring the newborn King.  In my mind, the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to worship Christ, is forever held there.  It is good to hear the Gospel every Sunday morning, to be reminded of Jesus’ journey after his miraculous birth...to think on the perilous trek that Joseph and the Blessed Virgin underwent to keep the Christ-child safe.  To think of the wise men who risked so much...

Glory to the newborn King!  

Real Beauty

For two years I’ve had an outline of a program in my head titled, “Real Beauty”, which gives insight to inner beauty and worth as granted by God.  It’s a burden to me that so many young girls have such a poor self image and are daily inundated by the media on how they “should look”.  

On Friday, I realized a goal and presented my program to young women at the Juvenile Center in Mt. Hope, WV.  It is thanks to God and to the women at Fayetteville Baptist Church, in giving me the opportunity to speak that helped me to achieve this goal.  Having a deadline transformed my mental outline into a workable keynote presentation.

I was really nervous about this...as I am NOT a professional speaker.  I’m not even a good speaker.  I stumble, I stray on tangents, forgetting my points...I say “um” way too much.  But when God lays something on your heart, you’d best do it.  I prayed that God would  put the words in my mouth, that He would make my path straight...and He did.  The words flowed on Friday when I stood in front of those beautiful girls and I am thankful.  I pray their hearts & minds were touched by Christ.

The purpose of this program was to educate young girls on their worth in God’s sight.  Also I stressed how the media exploits the body to sell products and that what you see is not what you get when it comes to cover girls.   It’s a message I think every girl needs to hear.  

I really don’t know how well the girls received the message as they were very quiet, but then I remember that God only wants us to plant seeds.  He asks us to spread the Gospel of Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to do the rest.  I am learning to be content with that...I tend to want to dig up the seed to see how it’s doing.

Praise God for His love and mercy.  Thanks to all my dear friends who helped me to pray about this presentation; I could not have done it apart from the strength of Jesus Christ.  Now I hope to have more opportunities to share this message.

The painting above is one from my program  illustrating the Greek word, Kalos, which is interpreted as “good" or  "beauty”.  Jesus Christ himself gives us the definition of “beauty” when he uses this word to describe the actions of the woman who anointed Him with fragrant oil in St. Matthew 26:10, “She has done a beautiful [kalos] thing to me.”   Her actions were praiseworthy and pleasing to God.  What more do we strive for?

I think it’s fascinating too that this same word is used in the Genesis account of creation when God saw what he had created and deemed it “good”.    God is the source of our life and beauty and also our goal.   My prayer is that more and more young girls will become aware of their worth in God’s sight so that they may live for Him.