nativity

today, this painting was my valentine.
somehow february 14th has a way of making my solitude all too evident. even when i don't care at all every other day! i don't feel a lack of love, but i am always alone on campus, so my literal solitude was very real. i walked around all day and ate lunch by myself in the moa cafe and went to the mall and walked around by myself before work (and let me just throw in there that gosh i hate the mall) but i stopped in front of this painting for a good fifteen minutes in the middle of it all.
it brought me to tears. it really did. looking at those faces and imagining what it was like to look down from the heavens on baby Jesus and what kind of reaction i would have. so many are surprised, or curious; many are joyful and are singing out to the heavens on their way back. there are four faces, though, with tears in their eyes, and they are what gets me. the man in the very right cranes his neck back to catch every glimpse he can of his Savior, while the rest around him make their ascent singing. he seems to deeply understand that one day this sweet baby would die for him, for all of us, and he is overcome with love. so am i.
we're never alone.