Unlikely Heroes

I was reading through Matthew again this week and in going through the ancestors of Jesus I stopped at Salmon and Boaz.  For those who read the Bible and remember, Boaz became the husband of Ruth, the Moabitess.  I was thinking about this and decided to read the book of Ruth again.

It struck me how Ruth, though she was from Moab, when her husband (who was an Israelite) died – did not wish to stay with her birth family/country – but went on alone together with her widowed mother-in-law Naomi back to Israel.  Her widowed sister-in-law Orpah returned to family in Moab, but, Ruth did not.  You can see it was a strong desire and conviction on her part – to go forward to a land (one that Naomi and her husband had left to come to Moab because of famine) and make Naomi’s people her people and their God her God.  That took great courage.  Not knowing if she would ever be accepted, but risking everything to stand true to God and her husband’s mother.  She showed determination and great fortitude to do this.

The other thing that stood out to me was Boaz.  He was an older man – well respected and established in the community.  When he sees Ruth in his harvest field and hears about her story – he immediately has respect and compassion for her.  It would have been enough that Boaz found her unswerving faithfulness to her widowed mother-in-law (who is a relative of his) admirable – but, he favors Ruth very quickly and obviously.   He asks her to stay in his fields and not to go to others – he notes that his girls and people will protect her and she can stay harvesting behind and with his girls.  He then speaks aside to his men and asks them to not be harsh with her for gleaning and to allow her, even if it’s too close within the area they are still cutting the grain, and tells them to actually pull out and leave extra good grain stalks for her to pick up.  This is an immediate reaction by him.  I got to wondering why a man of such standing would even take notice of this woman or be so favorable so immediately to her.  Then, I remembered – as I was reading the ancestors I saw that Boaz’s mother was Rahab and it clicked. 

Though scholars dispute that Rahab, Boaz’s mother, is actually the same Rahab the harlot  that housed, hid and informed the spies of Israel about her city at Jericho, and who was spared along with her family because of it when Israel defeated Jericho – it would seem really possible that she was the same woman.  Wouldn’t that be just like God? His counter-intuitive way of weaving all sorts of people in and through Jesus’ ancestry.  Proves again God is not scared of our blatant and shameful sin (even to Christ’s human lineage).  It also would explain why Ruth may have found such immediate acceptance and protection by Boaz – even to the point of his doing everything necessary to marry her (though it meant carrying on her dead husband’s family line through her and potentially entangling his own family and property).  What a theme – two foreign women who saw immediately that embracing and holding fast to God (and His people), though He was foreign to their people, was worth risking everything.  Makes you think - could we be heroes?  I mean, the odds for them were never really good in their culture, but God.  They saw Him and what He offered and they (for their part) accepted Him and stood fast on that through swirling circumstances.  It's funny, it made them heroes, really.  The same is open to us! Trusting Him over everything else through it all.  He proved the very best risk and both of them (Ruth and Rahab) are referred to in Jesus’ ancestry!

I always find it fascinating, looking back on human history in the Bible, to see how God is so intricately and intimately involved.  Humans have their part, but, God has always known how to make tragedy into treasure.  Where those who see God's offer to them act and stand upon it - He makes them to be heroes in that partnership.  He’s done it before countless times and continues on making the most unlikely of heroes.

A Picture is Worth How Many Words?

I love working with words, they’re like little messengers.  Crafting them into brilliant combinations that move, inform and encourage – it’s a passion of mine.

However, there are visual things words have no ability to adequately capture or convey.  Things like the grandeur, awe and beauty in nature, seeing delight in someone's eyes, the over the top wonder of babies and small children. Visual ques go straight to work on us and affect us directly.  Just as with anything – some things are very good and wholesome and exposing our eyes and brains to them can be calming, uplifting, enlivening, refreshing and healthy.   They can also, inform, convict and motivate us to action for things needed.  And, some things are not good and may be divisive – exposing our eyes to them may stimulate us, but, the effect is un-wholesome and ultimately destructive.

Art can be like that.  It is really good at reaching us in a non-verbal way.  Conveying thoughts, emotions and information in a way that goes quickly to our brain without our real awareness about it.  The wonderful oil painting above is by a friend, Mark Dahle (I’ll tell you the name of it at the end of this post).  When I first saw it I was fortunate to get to see the live painting up close and I had a very interesting experience.  I had not been much of an abstract art fan.  I figured people who liked it just had a very different set of eyes and taste from mine. I could never really see what people enjoyed about it. Then, I had an opportunity to really sit and look at some good abstract work and it became clear to me that I had been missing something.  I never really took the time to both look and see thoroughly.  Because I could not find anything recognizable in them – I had pretty much dismissed abstract works.  When I sat with this painting for the first time, the sense I had from it was that it was actually saying something to me – talking.   Seems funny – it was a communication style I had no real experience with previously – not like words from a mouth or on a page or talking in any sense with sound or language or even thoughts.  But the best I can describe it (with words) is that it was talking to me.  I don’t know what it was saying, but the sense of it was kind and the tonal quality was both deep and bright and animated.   As I looked at this work, there were areas that drew my eyes again and again. Blue and white areas toward the upper center left of the painting, a yellow triangle almost at the edge of the canvas on the right about half way up as well as the yellow motion sensation all across it and a few other areas that always catch at my eyes.  I found it a one of a kind experience just to view it.  It left me with an uplifted sensation and I still take time to look at a photo of it now and then for periods of time - funny thing, it’s still talkin! J  Its effect on me is like that of a field of bright cheery flowers – you see those and it just makes you smile inside.   

I believe, as with many things, abstract art is part what you observe mixed with what you yourself bring to it.  Various people will take away various things because they all notice different things about the work and bring something different in and of themselves to it.  If you like, try it,  take time to look at the painting and see it.  Afterward – notice how it affected you.  It may be very different from what I experienced and that is completely legit.  You can do this with various abstract works to see the various results you may get.  I usually have a better experience with live paintings in person than in an electronic image.  It’s pretty fun, actually.  I’ve been to many famous museums and seen very great works; it’s fascinating how different each of them is.

Our world is filled with many visual things all vying for our attention.  Some are very healthy and good and some are not.  All of them affect us subconsciously - some rather insidiously.  It is important to be aware that while words can influence us – the visual images we allow through our eyes do so even more quickly, strongly and below our conscious awareness.  Its one reason advertisers and movie and television producers use sexualized images of women and other subconscious inducements, and carefully craft what they present – nothing is by chance. It’s up to us to intentionally guard our eyes as they are a direct gateway to our brain and mind.   It can sometimes be tricky to look at some things and have a sense of whether or not they are harmful.  It may be helpful to: 1. Know the source – sometimes knowing what’s behind something can help us discern the motives involved.  2. Make a concerted effort to notice how it affects you – if you’re put in states of mind that are causing problems it may not be for you.

I believe God is releasing many artistic individuals in their gifting to create all sorts of works that stir responses of honor, joy, love, purity and goodness in our world via many things we see all around us every day.  Take some time to take notice of them and buy and gift the ones that are promoting and perpetuating good things.  Additionally, it’s a time where taking time to expose our eyes to expanses of nature and interaction with live human faces and uplifting real visuals vs. electronics and virtual visuals should be intentional on our part.  Our brains know the difference.  Take time to nourish your vision and brain with something uplifting and good!

Thank you, Mark, for allowing me to use an image of your painting. 

Creation: The Fifth Day - In The Air. © Mark Dahle 1992