Stay or Flee !

This woodpecker had just arrived on this coconut palm for its habitual climb in searching for insects. A few crows landed in the tree which made the wood pecker to fly away. 

This is the freedom of movement. 

There are hindrances, obstacles or alarm signals which can make us ponder or deter us from the journey path we chose. This is natural and common.

In such situations there is a dilemma! To stay or flee!

To give up is not a good option, but to do so is a better option in some situations. 

I found a third possibility from the example of Leonardo da Vinci, whose painting of the Last Supper was displayed in a Dominican monastery in Milan sometime between 1495 and 1498. if the legend is true it has a message of some significance. Th painter looked for a model whose 'notion of the mind'  corresponded with the character of each of the disciples as described in Matthew 26:21-28. 

He picked up a man whom he saw singing in a choir as Jesus as his model. He subsequently found 11 others to represent each of the disciples. At last he spent 11 years or so looking for a person whose expression of face corresponded with Leonardo's impression of Judas.  He found a person in a street finally who he used as the model to paint Judas. While the painting was in progress the model became tearful and anguished. The model confessed that he was the model the painter used as Jesus 11 years ago. 

This story behind the painting of the Last Supper is true, then it tells su a lot about human formation. A man who looked sere enough to be a model for Jesus descended to bear teh expression of Judas!

Leonardo by waiting found a person who was both Jesus and Judas at different times in his life. It was the circumstances of life which made that man acquire a transformed look. 

To the question to stay or flee, this illustration gives a new dimension to consider. 

Each of us suffers from the anguish of life when made to live with the realities of life. Some who have had a 'smooth' sail in life might grow up to be mature or indulgent. Those who lived with harsh experiences in life can end up bearing the marks and scars of the experiences inwardly and outwardly or endure to find a new depth to life.

How long to stay facing the harsh realities at work is a question that I am often asked in conversations that I have with people who enquire this of me! 

It was easy for the woodpecker to fly away when felt threatened. It is not easy to walk out of marriage or leave a job or abandon the circumstances. 

Ours is not a community of trustful relationships where we have the assurance of confidentiality and personal mentoring without being made to feel miserable for our acts of commission and omission. 

The painting of Rembrandt Van Rijn, considered to have been done between 1661-69 of the Loving Father and the returning prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is a revelation about approaching life in difficult circumstances. Those of us who feel trapped in our circumstances  and feel heavy and not sure of either staying or fleeing have something valuable in this parable and the painting. 

The Father in the parable and in the painting is a welcoming, forgiving and healing Father. No matter how broken we might feel either by staying or fleeing, we have a place of refuge, which the hymn writer, Fanny J Crosby points us to:

'Safe in the arms of Jesus

Safe on His gentle breast,

There, by His love  o'ershaded

Sweetly my soul shall rest.

Hark! 'Tis the voice of angels

Borne in a song to me,

Over the fields of glory,

Over the Crystal sea!

Safe in the arms of Jesus

Safe form the corroding care,

Safe from the world's temptations.

Sin cannot harm me there

Free from the blight of sorrow

Free from my doubts and fears,

Only a few more trials,

Only a few more tears'.

We are those who are called to find rest and peace whether we stay or flee as the Farther has open arms to receive us just as we are.

To me,  this is a a question that I live with. When is the time to move having stayed!

My work situation has been heavy and is causing me turmoil for the last two years. I still stay because I feel the strength to stay, although it is fading!

I wonder whether the wood pecker was a messenger to me!

Whether we stay or flee, is not the issue. What is my orientation-towards myself or towards God! That shall reveal the motive. In either case, God is the refuge to those who stay and flee!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)