Today, I would like to encourage you to spend a little time with a picture. It was created by Kelly Latimore and is called “Christ in the Rubble”. It is a powerful image of the little family in the midst of a broken world. Take a look at the image below and allow it time to speak to you. Let your eyes take in the whole of the image before you move on to the individual elements you can see in the middle ground, foreground and starry background of this art piece.
Concrete blocks, fire and maybe sheets of paper or bricks? Stars, halos and a holy child at the centre of it all, almost being held out to us, and certainly being held close – either to comfort the parents or for them to seek comfort in the child… Where is there ‘movement’ in the picture? Where is there stillness?
What in this image speaks to you? Where do your eyes stop as you scan the image?
If you were somewhere in the picture or just outside it, where would you be? Where are you observing this scene from?
Does this piece of art resonate with your life, either now or in the past? Is it a picture of hope? Of peace? Or an image that is more complex? How do you view the image as a whole, as you take it all in? What emotions does it evoke for you? They may be mixed, or they might be very clear.
Is there anything you would like to talk to God about, inspired by this picture or otherwise? Take a bit of time to do that now.
End this short devotion by spending a couple of minutes near the Christ-child in the centre of the picture, sitting on the ground, kneeling, humming – whatever seems right to you – before you let go of the image with gratitude for what it has shown you.