I adore this painting by Mary Cassatt of a mother combing her child's hair. It hangs in my hallway. Every Saturday I reflect on what it is that I need to pray about when I attend church the next day. Sometimes I look to this painting for inspiration. It is ethereal in a stunning and vivid way and combines, both, the act of mothering as a physical and as an emotional state.
Rarely is one done without the other. You couldn't comb a child's hair without actively thinking about being gentle so as not to hurt the little on. You don't want to inflict pain because you love the child.
There isn't a Christian emblem in this painting but I draw religious inspiration from it nevertheless.
God wants us to be thoughtful and reflective about the powers that we possess and how we can use these. So often life is about the act of rushing around and doing things, literally, without giving thought to the creative dynamism that can flow out of physical acts.
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