Art, Faith and Family.

“Feeling secure is not a bad thing. It is a grace: being secure in the knowledge that the Lord is with me.” – Pope Francis.

Hello dear reader,

here we are again, about a week after my very first post. Still in quarantine, I am sure nothing much has happened to you lately, but then maybe it has. Sometimes the biggest life-changing moments occur when you aren’t working your ass off. It’s when you take a step back and reflect.

When I think back on my week I can say a lot has changed for me. No, I have changed a lot. Or maybe I have just changed back to who I really am. I know, it sounds very confusing, but I’ll try to explain it as best as I can. Let’s start at the beginning.

HOPE Gardening

Last week the weather was perfect. It was warm enough to go outside in a dress, but it wasn’t too hot to do stuff (like gardening). The sun shone bright, the leaves started to show and the garden flowers looked lovely—it was springtime! It won’t come as a surprise that I spent most of my time gardening—which I love—and while doing so I listened to the audiobook of Raphael, Painter in Rome by Stephanie Storey (which is my new favourite book and I will tell you all about it in my next post!!!) and it was lovely. Raphael, Painter in Rome As I mentioned I will give you an extended review next week, but there is one thing I’d like to share about the book since it fits this post so perfectly. As I listened to the story, there was something that almost brought me to tears. In the book the Renaissance painter Raphael Santi tells his story from the first person perspective. He mentioned many times that he tried to paint the world ‘not as it is, but as it should be’ and this reminded me so much of myself.

All my life I’ve strived for perfection. I am not just talking about making a perfect cake or getting a perfect score on a test, but trying to make a world that’s perfect for all of us. It’s not like I thought I was some superhuman who could actually pull it off on her own, but I felt like I should at least try.

But over the last few years I started to lose hope. I felt like every good thing I did was useless, because someone else would do two bad things instead, and with that erase all my efforts. I am not saying I suddenly started to do bad things, because that’s not me, but it’s a truly horrible feeling not to have hope, you know.

I figured I used to want to see the world as it should be, but now saw the world as it was. But listening to this audiobook I started to realise I had been wrong. The world isn’t supposed to be as it is. It only is what it is because we stop trying to make it better. I think the problem isn’t just the people who do bad things, but the people who stop doing good things because they stop believing it’s worth it.

At this realisation I felt like a was once again myself. I once again believe we got this! As Matthew Woodring Stover really beautifully wrote:

“One lone candle is enough to hold it [the darkness] back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.”

We can overcome anything, but we have to do it together. And in order to do that, we need to believe in it. And then we need to start acting on our beliefs.

This I all (re-)learned in one week. WOW.

WE ARE NOT ALONE Easter Then Easter came, and in a way it all came together. I just spend a week witnessing beauty come to life, a week of new beginnings and hope. Doesn’t that remind you of Easter? I should hope it does. I am not really one to tell a lot about the hardships I go through, but I can tell you there have been a lot the past seven months. When traumatic events happen I become a warrior who needs to protect everyone around me. And I am actually proud of that. But it also means people think I can handle anything, which I can’t. I know I am strong, but I am also human. And that’s why I am so grateful that I am not alone.

I love how Easter once again reminded me of that fact (trust me, I need a lot of those reminders). Apart from the obvious, here’s a few things that helped me remember:

- The Easter Mass I watched the Easter Mass at the Vatican (I mean: the Mass was at the Vatican, not me, I was at home sitting behind my laptop). I think we have a really great Pope, and I loved his message. He said a lot of great things, but two really got me:

1. “The Lord has not left us alone.” He hasn’t! Isn’t that wonderful news? Okay, it’s not news to me, I mean not really. But see how it also is? Didn’t I just tell you how I need constant reminders that we are not alone. There you go.

2. “May common difficulties lead to greater unity.” Yes please! Instead of being divided we can overcome anything if we are a unity, helping each other as much as we can. I couldn’t agree more. In our current situation being united means being apart, but that doesn’t mean we are in it alone. We can still be there for each other, even if we aren’t able to touch or see each other in real life. So please stop fighting over ridiculous unimportant stuff. Right now we have a common enemy (I mean the virus), let’s defeat it. TOGETHER, through social distancing. (And it’s not really social distancing, is it? We are still talking to each other all the time. It’s just in a different way.)

FAMILY IS FAMILY

Bocelli at the Duomo di Milano Have you already watched Andrea Bocelli’s concert at the Duomo? It’s on YouTube and it’s wonderful. Especially Amazing Grace in front of the Duomo is heavenly. I’ll put some links at the end of my post in case you’re interested.

Andrea and Matteo After watching Andrea’s wonderful performance I needed more. I searched and found a song of him with his son Matteo. I fell in love, because WOW their bond is perfect. Their voices are perfect. The song is perfect. It’s forever on repeat.

But back to their bond. From the very beginning you can tell how much they love each other. I get that. I get what it’s like to love your family so much you’d do anything for them. And I am not JUST talking about a ‘formed by blood’-family, but the Winchester ‘family don’t end in blood’-kind. I think you see that a lot with Italian families, and I think a lot of people could learn from that.

So family is important, right? It’s not like this is some great revelation to me, because I already lived by this. But when I look at Andrea and Matteo I see beauty. And I realise I am creating beauty by simply loving the people around me. WOW.

So to conclude all of this: Last week has taught me a lot. I remembered what it was like to be me, to have hope and to see the beauty in things. I realised we are in this together, and that we can make this work if we are all united towards the same goal.

Together we can be a family. Together we can make the world not as it is, but as it should be.

And that’s the best news, isn’t it?

Book Reviews: Bone Key (Supernatural #3) by Keith R.A. DeCandido ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Raphael, Painter in Rome by Stephanie Storey ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Star Wars: BB-8 on the Run by Drew Daywalt ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Check out my Goodreads account for more, you can find it at https://www.goodreads.com/bellsbooks94)

YouTube links: The Mass of Easter Sunday and Pope Francis’s Urbi et Orbi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avVPmGBIh0s

Andrea Bocelli: Music For Hope Live From Duomo di Milano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU Andrea and Matteo Bocelli – Fall On Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChcR2gKt5WM

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