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| The Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo |
Deuteronomy 30:9b-14
"For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."
Today is my second wedding anniversary. On August 20, 2011 my wife and I exchanged vows with her priest and my father (who is a preacher) co-officiating. My wife is a tremendous blessing to me. No, honestly she is...It's not like I'm trying to score points with her because I forgot our anniversary or something. She is both the loveliest and classiest person that I know. It's like someone merged the personalities of Roma Downey and Clair Huxtable. Our relationship, with its growing, forgiving, patience and learning really does teach me more about the Lord. Honestly that's why I first fell in love with her... she truly was fascinated and amazed with who Jesus of Nazareth was (and is). It made me have an amazing draw towards her. There was something deep within my being that wanted to be around her. It was magnetic. As our relationship grew our denominational differences made us focus on what we both had in common, Jesus. And in the end that is the greatest thing to share with anyone. Now we are not necessarily your classic Christian family: the Duggars or the Winans or whomever your ideal. We are different but our differences lead me to learn, humble myself and grow. We are not perfect but Love itself is perfect and that's what we aspire towards. That is what we made our vows about: the ones written on paper and the that had been forged within the inside of us.
Being with my wife is terrific because we can share our whole world of references with each other. She exposes me to the worlds of Opera and Orchestral music and I expose her to McDonald's and witty Lil' Wayne lines... or at least I try to. We actually do share a love for music. Music can be a great means of sharing the lyrics of love that your heart felt but you never knew how to express. That's why I love listening to my wife as she practices singing in the evening while I paint. One of my favorites that she does is a song by Jewel called "Absence of Fear." The lyrics are so powerful because it delves right into what it means to love, want and need someone. It wasn't one of our wedding song (and it may not have been played at our reception) but it plays inside of me when I think of how beautiful her soul is.
Inside my skin there is this space
It twists and turns
It bleeds and aches
Inside my heart there's an empty room
It's waiting for lightning
It's waiting for you
And I am wanting
And I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear
Muscle and sinew
Velvet and stone
This vessel is haunted
It creaks and moans
My bones call to you
In their separate skin
I make myself translucent
To let you in, for
I am wanting
And I am needing of you here
Inside the absence of fear
there is this hunger
This restlessness inside of me
and it knows that you're no stranger
you're my gravity
My hands will adore you through all darkness aim
They will lay you out in moonlight
And reinvent your name
For I am wanting you
And I am needing you here
I need you near
Inside the absence of fear
-Jewel
Relationships are not perfect institutions. Vows are not always kept or respected. Maybe that's why so many people try and avoid marriage. Ironically they still involve themselves on some basic level, because everyone needs to be connected (except for this weird trend going on in Japan that I heard about, but that's beside the point). Art history is full of art couples. Some of them good, like Christo and Jeanne Claude, and some of them not so good, like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. But let's only discuss the bad ones because let's be honest, you are messy and you just finished reading MediaTakeout.com (a gossip website that makes TMZ seem like a church bulletin). Paramount among these tumultuous relationships amongst art giants is the marriage of Mexican painter/ feminist icon Frida Kahlo and Mexican muralist/ Communist activist Diego Rivera. The reason that Frida was such an amazing painter was that she laid it all bare on the canvas. Art had already evolved to being about the painter and not necessarily the patron, but Frida took it to the extreme and made it about a specific painter, herself. Her balance of her Mestizo identity, he debilitating health concerns after a tragic auto accident, her miscarriages, her love for Diego but her hate for his philandering ways: Frida exposed the whole of her self in her paintings. I doubt that Frida made a painting every day, but if she did her schedule would look a lot like this:
Monday: Make painting about my love for Diego
Tuesday: Make painting about my tragic accident
Wednesday: Make painting with me and a bunch of parrots
Thursday: Make painting about Diego breaking my heart
Friday: Make painting about the tragic health affects after my tragic accident
Saturday: Make painting with me and some random monkeys
Sunday: Make painting about Diego breaking my heart but me still loving him
This background gives us a peek into the meaning of The Two Fridas. In it Frida Kahlo has painted two self portraits holding hands. They are dressed differently but both have their hearts exposed. They one on the left wears the wedding dress that Frida wore at her wedding with Diego. She also holds scissors that have cut open her heart. This symbolizes the way that her husband Diego has repeatedly destroyed her heart while running after Hollywood starlets. The other Frida figure holds a picture of Diego in her hand... because in the end she still loves Diego and is willing to reconcile with him despite his past adulteries. Love can be messy. Love can be hurtful. Love can pierce you deep on the inside.
Moses knew about the tumultuous love affair between God and His people well. As a prophet He was almost like God's wing man. He was the go between that would tell the Israelites how God loved the, remembered them and wanted to give them the world... or at least a plot of land in Palestine that is about the size of New Jersey. He also was the go between that would tell he people how God was infuriated with them, but that the anger was just because he loved them and didn't want to lose them.
In Deuteronomy 30 Moses tells how God will rejoice if only they would keep his statutes and commands, just like he did with their parent's generation... back in the beginning of their relationship, when they made promises to each other. God promised to be their God, to love and protect them. Israel promised to honor and obey Him... to put no one else before Him. Things weren't perfect back then, but Love is perfect and that's what they aspired to have. Moses reminds the Lord's beloved that the things that His demands are not far off. They are not unheard of. They are familiar because they are what their Love was based on. They are actually stored within the Israelites' hearts and souls. They were etched on their hearts and sung in their mouths. His commands were within them because His they were the vows of their love.
Scripture is a love song and a painting about heart break. It is about God and his wife Israel. It is about Jesus and his bride the Church. It is the courting of the Holy Spirit, whispering to your heart about you and God getting back together again. Sometimes our relationship with God is as beautiful and complete as what Jewel sang about. Sometimes we play Diego Rivera and leave God like Frida. But God never stops loving us, never stops wanting us back and like an Ex that won't give up He keeps sending us text messages through the text of Scripture (by the way, that was very funny). Maybe that's why it is hard to read the Bible when your life isn't quite right. It is not just about the guilt trips, but its that the guilt trips are based in something real, something beautiful, something that's gotten complicated, a relationship. So instead of talking to Him you just don't read His messages anymore. That's the thing, most relationships don't end with a huge break up. They fizzle out when you just stop talking. Sometimes absence doesn't make the heart grow fond at all. It just makes the heart grow cold... and suddenly you don't believe in or consider the other person at all. That's why I see loving relationships as one of God's secondary forms of communication. God repeatedly shows his love in Scripture wrapped in the metaphor of a loving relationship: as a parent, as a spouse, as a mother bird, as an adoptive parent. But he also shows his love in everyday life through relationships: for better or worse. More than often in life we experience God's grace through the hands of others. When I look at my wife I get a glimpse of how much God must love me. How much He can look past my faults and see my needs. How much He can be angry at me but still forgive me. And its all based on vows that we took together. Vows that are written on paper but also deep inside of us.
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."
Today is my second wedding anniversary. On August 20, 2011 my wife and I exchanged vows with her priest and my father (who is a preacher) co-officiating. My wife is a tremendous blessing to me. No, honestly she is...It's not like I'm trying to score points with her because I forgot our anniversary or something. She is both the loveliest and classiest person that I know. It's like someone merged the personalities of Roma Downey and Clair Huxtable. Our relationship, with its growing, forgiving, patience and learning really does teach me more about the Lord. Honestly that's why I first fell in love with her... she truly was fascinated and amazed with who Jesus of Nazareth was (and is). It made me have an amazing draw towards her. There was something deep within my being that wanted to be around her. It was magnetic. As our relationship grew our denominational differences made us focus on what we both had in common, Jesus. And in the end that is the greatest thing to share with anyone. Now we are not necessarily your classic Christian family: the Duggars or the Winans or whomever your ideal. We are different but our differences lead me to learn, humble myself and grow. We are not perfect but Love itself is perfect and that's what we aspire towards. That is what we made our vows about: the ones written on paper and the that had been forged within the inside of us.
Being with my wife is terrific because we can share our whole world of references with each other. She exposes me to the worlds of Opera and Orchestral music and I expose her to McDonald's and witty Lil' Wayne lines... or at least I try to. We actually do share a love for music. Music can be a great means of sharing the lyrics of love that your heart felt but you never knew how to express. That's why I love listening to my wife as she practices singing in the evening while I paint. One of my favorites that she does is a song by Jewel called "Absence of Fear." The lyrics are so powerful because it delves right into what it means to love, want and need someone. It wasn't one of our wedding song (and it may not have been played at our reception) but it plays inside of me when I think of how beautiful her soul is.
Inside my skin there is this space
It twists and turns
It bleeds and aches
Inside my heart there's an empty room
It's waiting for lightning
It's waiting for you
And I am wanting
And I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear
Muscle and sinew
Velvet and stone
This vessel is haunted
It creaks and moans
My bones call to you
In their separate skin
I make myself translucent
To let you in, for
I am wanting
And I am needing of you here
Inside the absence of fear
there is this hunger
This restlessness inside of me
and it knows that you're no stranger
you're my gravity
My hands will adore you through all darkness aim
They will lay you out in moonlight
And reinvent your name
For I am wanting you
And I am needing you here
I need you near
Inside the absence of fear
-Jewel
Relationships are not perfect institutions. Vows are not always kept or respected. Maybe that's why so many people try and avoid marriage. Ironically they still involve themselves on some basic level, because everyone needs to be connected (except for this weird trend going on in Japan that I heard about, but that's beside the point). Art history is full of art couples. Some of them good, like Christo and Jeanne Claude, and some of them not so good, like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. But let's only discuss the bad ones because let's be honest, you are messy and you just finished reading MediaTakeout.com (a gossip website that makes TMZ seem like a church bulletin). Paramount among these tumultuous relationships amongst art giants is the marriage of Mexican painter/ feminist icon Frida Kahlo and Mexican muralist/ Communist activist Diego Rivera. The reason that Frida was such an amazing painter was that she laid it all bare on the canvas. Art had already evolved to being about the painter and not necessarily the patron, but Frida took it to the extreme and made it about a specific painter, herself. Her balance of her Mestizo identity, he debilitating health concerns after a tragic auto accident, her miscarriages, her love for Diego but her hate for his philandering ways: Frida exposed the whole of her self in her paintings. I doubt that Frida made a painting every day, but if she did her schedule would look a lot like this:
Monday: Make painting about my love for Diego
Tuesday: Make painting about my tragic accident
Wednesday: Make painting with me and a bunch of parrots
Thursday: Make painting about Diego breaking my heart
Friday: Make painting about the tragic health affects after my tragic accident
Saturday: Make painting with me and some random monkeys
Sunday: Make painting about Diego breaking my heart but me still loving him
This background gives us a peek into the meaning of The Two Fridas. In it Frida Kahlo has painted two self portraits holding hands. They are dressed differently but both have their hearts exposed. They one on the left wears the wedding dress that Frida wore at her wedding with Diego. She also holds scissors that have cut open her heart. This symbolizes the way that her husband Diego has repeatedly destroyed her heart while running after Hollywood starlets. The other Frida figure holds a picture of Diego in her hand... because in the end she still loves Diego and is willing to reconcile with him despite his past adulteries. Love can be messy. Love can be hurtful. Love can pierce you deep on the inside.
Moses knew about the tumultuous love affair between God and His people well. As a prophet He was almost like God's wing man. He was the go between that would tell the Israelites how God loved the, remembered them and wanted to give them the world... or at least a plot of land in Palestine that is about the size of New Jersey. He also was the go between that would tell he people how God was infuriated with them, but that the anger was just because he loved them and didn't want to lose them.
In Deuteronomy 30 Moses tells how God will rejoice if only they would keep his statutes and commands, just like he did with their parent's generation... back in the beginning of their relationship, when they made promises to each other. God promised to be their God, to love and protect them. Israel promised to honor and obey Him... to put no one else before Him. Things weren't perfect back then, but Love is perfect and that's what they aspired to have. Moses reminds the Lord's beloved that the things that His demands are not far off. They are not unheard of. They are familiar because they are what their Love was based on. They are actually stored within the Israelites' hearts and souls. They were etched on their hearts and sung in their mouths. His commands were within them because His they were the vows of their love.
Scripture is a love song and a painting about heart break. It is about God and his wife Israel. It is about Jesus and his bride the Church. It is the courting of the Holy Spirit, whispering to your heart about you and God getting back together again. Sometimes our relationship with God is as beautiful and complete as what Jewel sang about. Sometimes we play Diego Rivera and leave God like Frida. But God never stops loving us, never stops wanting us back and like an Ex that won't give up He keeps sending us text messages through the text of Scripture (by the way, that was very funny). Maybe that's why it is hard to read the Bible when your life isn't quite right. It is not just about the guilt trips, but its that the guilt trips are based in something real, something beautiful, something that's gotten complicated, a relationship. So instead of talking to Him you just don't read His messages anymore. That's the thing, most relationships don't end with a huge break up. They fizzle out when you just stop talking. Sometimes absence doesn't make the heart grow fond at all. It just makes the heart grow cold... and suddenly you don't believe in or consider the other person at all. That's why I see loving relationships as one of God's secondary forms of communication. God repeatedly shows his love in Scripture wrapped in the metaphor of a loving relationship: as a parent, as a spouse, as a mother bird, as an adoptive parent. But he also shows his love in everyday life through relationships: for better or worse. More than often in life we experience God's grace through the hands of others. When I look at my wife I get a glimpse of how much God must love me. How much He can look past my faults and see my needs. How much He can be angry at me but still forgive me. And its all based on vows that we took together. Vows that are written on paper but also deep inside of us.
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