David and Atlas - "I Carved Him Until I Set Him Free"

Excerpts from “I Carved Until I Set Him Free”

By Lynne Perry Christofferson

A sizeable crowd of tourists already surrounded Michelangelo’s seventeen-foot masterpiece, and we joined them, slowly circling the sculpture to view it from every angle. The statue certainly lived up to all the hype. One could not help but appreciate the artistic genius of Michelangelo, who was only in his mid-twenties when he was commissioned to sculpt this piece.

After viewing and photographing David for several minutes, Brad and I returned to the hallway through which we had entered, inspecting other statues and paintings. There we found more of Michelangelo’s work, including four sculptures called The Prisoners. Their bulky forms were left rough and unfinished, chisel marks evident, each work portraying the partial figure of a man or youth trapped in marble. The figure that most captured my attention, and has stayed with me since, showed a man struggling to break free from the surrounding stone. His head has not emerged from the marble, requiring him to support a heavy weight, which threatens to crush him. This prisoner is called Atlas, after the Atlas of Greek mythology who was forced to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders.

I walked back and forth between David and The Prisoners, returning to the statue of David to view the flawless stone image–smooth and completely free of its original marble block. But I was repeatedly drawn back to the figure of Atlas. It was both fascinating and heart-wrenching to see his struggle, and I sensed the tension between the stone and the man–the apparent wrestle. I have since wondered why the rough, unfinished figure of Atlas affected me more than the world-famous sculpture of David. I’ve concluded it’s because I empathize with Atlas–I relate to his struggle as I fight daily to break free of the constraints of the natural man.

Once, when Michelangelo was asked to describe his sculpting process, he explained, “I saw the angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free.” To me, the David statue represents someone who has put himself into the hands of the Lord–the master sculptor–the only one able to free us from our natural man prison. Like Atlas, we may push and strain and writhe against the stone that holds us captive, but we alone can never fully free ourselves from the bondage of sin and weakness and addiction. “…they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God.” (Mosiah 24:21).

One of the most interesting facts about Michelangelo’s David is that the huge chunk of marble used for the statue had previously been rejected by other sculptors due to perceived flaws and impurities in the stone. We can take great comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ sees the angel within our marble–that He has a true vision of who we are and what we can become through the power of His atonement. His “work and glory” is to set us free.

Your competition isn't other people

 

Boxcar Survival: Keep warm by making others warm

 

In Crown Heights, there was a Jew, Yankel, who owned a bakery. He survived the camps. He once said, “You know why it is that I’m alive today? I was a kid, just a teenager at the time. We were on the train, in a boxcar, being taken to Auschwitz. Night came and it was freezing, deathly cold, in that boxcar. The Germans would leave the cars on the side of the tracks overnight, sometimes for days on end without any food, and of course, no blankets to keep us warm,” he said. “Sitting next to me was an older Jew – this beloved elderly Jew - from my hometown I recognized, but I had never seen him like this. He was shivering from head to toe, and looked terrible. So I wrapped my arms around him and began rubbing him, to warm him up. I rubbed his arms, his legs, his face, his neck. I begged him to hang on. All night long; I kept the man warm this way. I was tired, I was freezing cold myself, my fingers were numb, but I didn’t stop rubbing the heat on to this man’s body. Hours and hours went by this way. Finally, night passed, morning came, and the sun began to shine. There was some warmth in the cabin, and then I looked around the car to see some of the other Jews in the car. To my horror, all I could see were frozen bodies, and all I could hear was a deathly silence.

Nobody else in that cabin made it through the night – they died from the frost. Only two people survived: the old man and me… The old man survived because somebody kept him

warm; I survived because I was warming somebody else…”

Let me tell you the secret of Judaism. When you warm other people’s hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage and inspire others; then you discover support, encouragement and inspiration in your own life as well. That, my friends, is “Judaism 101”.

- Michael J. Nadel

Your Smile is Your Logo

 

Jabberwocky

A great poem to go with this spooky tree in the Hall of Mosses, Olympic National Park:

Jabberwocky

by Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

by Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Don't Let Negativity In

          Quote by Goi Nasu

 

Without rain, nothing grows.

 

A New Chapter in Life

 

Advice from An Old Hillbilly

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Keep skunks, bankers, and politicians at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Forgive your enemies; its what GOD says to do.

If you don't take the time to do it right, you'll find the time to do it twice.

Don't corner something that is meaner than you.

Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

Don't be banging your shin on a stool that's not in the way.

Borrowing trouble from the future doesn't deplete the supply.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

Don‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin' you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin’.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.

If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Most times, it just gets down to common sense.