Advent Journey -Day 12..

Apaquogue-Adolph Gottlieb

It is an unusual piece of modern art and I hesitated to offer it to the writing group a few years back.What a challenge.What would they see ? Each one now vividly remembers this art and we speak of it now and then.

My eyes immediately went to the pink circle and I thought, "This is Washington D.C. in the Spring." I have never viewed the wonderful explosion of pink in the Nation's Capital but I have seen pictures. Magical, light, swirling blossoms around the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Monument in the background.The Japanese mayor of Tokyo, Yokio Osaki,   gifted the United Sates with 3000 cherry trees as a reminder of the bond between our two countries. Twenty -seven years later, they bombed our Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Light and darkness. The black dot suggests the long wall of the Vietnam War  Monument , name after name carved in the shiny black granite. Lost in a war where the average age of the American soldier was 19.Light and darkness..

The red dot to me says that this city is the heart of us, where people serve and giants are remembered.Our history is on every street corner, in buildings, fountains and grass swathes of the cemeteries.I remember walking from tree to adorned tree one freezing January night, each one decorated to represent a state of this Union.Unique states, one Union.

The orange is the sun going down behind the city and shining on a page of a writer's book. He is Walt Whitman and this unique American is tending to the wounded of the Civil War while he writes poetry in the fading day. Light.

A visit to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here, years ago where I felt such love for the stranger sitting in front of me praying, that I thought I would burst. Light, just Light.

Another writer saw Nazi Concentration Camps and the trains coming in and out each day with bewildered Jews clutching their small bags. Visiting one in another time had brought such gloom to the writer that the black dot jumped out at her. Darkness.

I thought of this today because of the Cherry Blossom Hand Cream that popped out of Box 12 in my Advent Calendar. It is sliver, has pink flowers and I am smiling as I look at it. Henri Nounwen today is urging me to love the Lord with everything I have.Seek the Lord while He may be found. My whole heart,to Him.The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.What would our world look like if each of us had this as our main focus ? What color would that be?....

What do you see in this art? Please comment.