karendanille.

I doubt you’ll find another

But there’s more here than that.  Van Gogh painted this while he was held in the grip of a debilitating disease.  We can imagine that he frequently battled the fear that he would never escape his prison to true freedom.  We can imagine his battle because each of us has faced our own personal prison, whether it be disease, the loss of a loved one, financial woes, addiction, or any  of the troubles that make us wonder whether God knows of our suffering; whether He will ever truly deliver us from affliction.  In such moments it is tempting to collapse in hopelessness.

    Looking at this painting, I imagine van Gogh in just such a moment of despair, when he is struck by the memory of one of those amazing night skies.  He recalls the sense that he is not alone; that there is a living, infinite, loving God who sees us and knows us by name.  A God whose awesome creation reminds us, sometimes, that He has never left our side. 

    And so the sky swirls across the canvas full of vitality and power that speaks of His presence.  The stars don’t just sparkle; they explode in radiance.  Looking closer, we notice that the earth itself seems to respond to the movement in the heavens, forming its own living waves in the mountains and the rolling trees beneath them.  In the sleepy village, the windows of the houses glow with the same light that illuminates the universe.  The church steeple in the center seems to struggle to point to God, who is so alive in this scene.  But the little church is dwarfed by the cypress trees at the left, which seem to capture the joy of the inhabited creation around them by  erupting in a living flame of praise. 

Starry Night reflects the anguish of the artist. The energetic strokes, the vibrant colours of the stars against the dark blues and blacks of the night reflect the need of a desperate man for hope in the middle of the “black night”. Starry Night is a fight between a man and his anxiety. A scream for hope, light and love.

(via wwishfultthinker)

so cool.

bomby.

i love sundays

i have a half sleeeeeve.