After Rembrandt’s “Simeon and Anna in the Temple”

“. . . and a sword shall pierce through your soul.”

Maybe Mary missed those shocking details 

Simeon spoke as she looked at Jesus 

in his ancient arms. With her memories  

of angels and shepherds, one could understand 

weariness at his unexpected words.

Except, she was in the habit of

listening to astonishing and strange

prophecies—as if she knew the ways of the

world were revealed through donkeys and old men.

(I think I would have asked him one or two

questions and maybe for a timeline.) Yet

young Mary had been learning that even 

as a small candle breaks the shadowed dark, 

hard paths are lightened by sustaining grace. 

This year I have been greatly intrigued and encouraged by Mary’s faith and her trusting God as he called her to walk some hard and unknown paths. Thinking of her (and then of Jesus following in her footsteps of submitting to the Father’s plans) has been a help to me as I have lived more than two years with cancer and an unknown future. 

Featured image is courtesy of Carolyn V (Sixteen Miles Out) via Unsplash. We are grateful for her generosity.

Leslie Bustard

Leslie Anne Bustard takes great joy in loving people and places, whether at church, around her kitchen table, in a classroom, or traveling around. She delights in words, and marvels at the beauty found in the details of ordinary life. Reading, writing, teaching literature, baking, producing high school theater, and museum-ing are some of Leslie’s favorite things.  Leslie is the host of The Square Halo, a podcast for Square Halo Books  and is developing a book titled Wild Things and Castles in the Sky: A Guide to the Best Children’s Books. She and her husband Ned have been married for 30 years and live in a century-old row house in Lancaster City, where they raised their three daughters.

www.squarehalobooks.com/