On the night of her funeral, I was zooming around on Wikipedia History and I came across a Dutch Artist named Bosch. Here is one of his Paintings
The painting is so small and I could not find a larger jpg to look at or post here, but I read the meaning behind this powerful painting and now I want to get a copy of this painting.
Here is the story behind the picture:
"In The Ship of Fools Bosch is imagining that the whole of mankind is
voyaging through the seas of time on a ship, a small ship, that is
representative of humanity. Sadly, every one of the representatives is a fool.
This is how we live, says Bosch--we eat, drink, flirt, cheat, play silly games,
pursue unattainable objectives. Meanwhile our ship drifts aimlessly and we never
reach the harbour. The fools are not the irreligious, since prominent among them
are a monk and a nun, but they are all those who live ``in stupidity''. Bosch
laughs, and it is sad laugh. Which one of us does not sail in the wretched
discomfort of the ship of human folly? Eccentric and secret genius that he was,
Bosch not only moved the heart but scandalized it into full awareness. The
sinister and monstrous things that he brought forth are the hidden creatures of
our inward self-love: he externalizes the ugliness within, and so his misshapen
demons have an effect beyond curiosity. We feel a hateful kinship with them. The
Ship of Fools is not about other people, it is about us." -Nicolas Pioch
WOW!! that to me is powerful. I love that description of humanity. It talks about how there is never long term joy in floating senselessly through life. You have got to have a destination in mind. Bosch being a man who believed in god, even put himself in the painting with the "sad laugh". He was not saying others were aboard, he was implying us as in all those who dwell in moments of selfishness.
My maiden name has a ship connotation attached to it, So I am biased to liking ships and boats. After reading and studying this piece of Art work, I thought, "The lord is our lighthouse and the light is ON, beckoning us back with love. However we are the captains of our lives and we decide the course to take.
Alta Johnson Brooksby was a great example to me of what it meant when you had your destination in route. It was a life that had hope, even when times were hard. It was a life of working even when your tired. It was a life filled with love and joy of her family. And peace of mind, because she did not put things above people or the Lord. She was not on the Ship of Fools. No, not Grandma, she had a destination and if you wanted to get on board she would bring you up. But the compass was checked often and she knew to look for the lighthouse in her life to see which direction to take. What an honor to be married to such a woman's grandson.
I am going to end this post with a quote from Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckey that I have always loved:
" I do not want to drive up to the Pearly Gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long perfectly manicured nails. I want to drive up in a station wagon with mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schneck's lawn. I want to be there with smudges of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with dirt under my fingernails from helping a neighbor weed their garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and a friends tears on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived!"
