feminine feminist

The peaceable kingdom

FOURTH LESSON (from Nine lessons and carols)
The peace that Christ will bring is foreshown. Isaiah 11
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Yesterday I discussed this painting with three women- only one of whom I'd met before. We talked about what it means to live in peace. When is peace something we have to 'fight' for? How do we gently push ourselves towards those who appear like the wolf next to our lamb. I am in situations at the moment where I want to run out the door. I want to retreat from any sort of difficult conversation. I wouldn't mind sitting silently beside this other person but 'playing on the hole of the asp....' (?!) I assume takes more than just silent (dis)engagement. Turning to face the other is the first step. Let's see if I can take it.

posted by Feminine Feminist @ 10:46 PM