Dear Reader:

Haven’t the last few nights been beautiful with the moon so bright? Monday night Mandy, Eva Cate, Jakie, and I went out to see the moon as it appeared over the trees and reflected in the canal waters right by their home in Wakendaw Lakes.

The purple pond lilies were still visible by the dying light of the sun and the whole scene took my breath away when I snapped this photo.

As I stared at it…the moon peeking through the branches and mirroring itself in the waters seemed oddly familiar to me. It wasn’t until later that night that it dawned on me what was similar. The photo was like an abstract of  the famous painting of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane with the full moon shining down upon him and and a halo of light reflecting like a pool around his head.* Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane- Heinrich Hofmann 1890)

I immediately started doing some research to see if it would have been a full moon that night in the Garden of Agony…in Gethsemane. The answer was yes. That was why so many painters portrayed a beam of light falling upon Jesus on that fateful evening.

The Jewish Passover was/is always celebrated during a period of the full moon, sometimes called the Paschal full moon.

Some of you might remember in the 2004 American Biblical epic drama “The Passion of Christ” (Mel Gibson) the movie began in the Garden of Gethsemane with a full moon shining down brightly. The light only added to the agony and terror of everyone inside the garden. (Jesus, some of his disciples, and later Roman guards/soldiers.)

The full moon casting its shadows that night made everything scarier because ironically…the bright light made the surrounding darkness even darker and more forbidding.

It increased the darkening mood of those hours of fear and agony to a stressful momentum. No wonder poor Peter, James, and John fell asleep…probably because of the uncertain forebodings creeping inside each of them. There was emotional betrayal and physical pain swirling right outside the garden… just waiting for the right moment to pounce. Yet the moon continued shining down through the branches of the Olive trees.

What does “Maundy” mean?

Derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “commandment,” Maundy refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper: to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice.

Doesn’t that make the Maundy (full) Moon even more special? When we look at it during the Holy Week…we should think of the story behind Jesus’ last commandment:

As recorded in John’s gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34).

Perhaps from now on when we  admire the Holy Week Full Moon…we should apply the children’s rhyme: “I love you to the moon and back” to loving each other as Jesus loved us.

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for finding ways to bring light into our lives…even in our darkest days.
“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Our darling from Dubai, Ambika, sent a cute tongue-in-cheek  personal story based on some recent blogs. “Keep the Faith” and “Does God Have a Sense of Humor?”

Lovely blog Becky.. however, today a funny incident happened… It was between me and God, and it reminded me of your earlier blog, does God have a sense of humor…
We had an electrical power shut down for about 6 hrs.. we gradually started getting all mushy n’ sweaty, and I began sulking about how the power could’ve come back sooner and I was not able to do my work n blah blah… Then a voice asked me, ” How do u think the ancient people lived? They didn’t have power…”. I said, ” I understand, but at least we need some air, it’s extremely hot n humid here..” Suddenly a fresh breeze of windy air slapped me across my face. I was like “Well, Thank-you God”, and started giggling like a crazy teenager… 😂😂…
So I can say the Lord is indeed our “Double”.. ☺

Poor Jakie and Eva Cate both have had the croupy cough…but Jakie’s condition also requires additional air (in the form of a face mask) due to his asthma… stemming from allergy problems.

So Mandy and I had to set aside a sizeable chunk of time to get all Jakie’s meds in him each night and then pray he made it through the night without waking himself up coughing and hacking.

John has been out of town on a conference so Mandy and I have held down the fort for a few days. He returned yesterday and I know Mandy was ready to have him back home.

Yesterday Mandy pulled out all the ‘stops’ and had Eva Cate going from center to center around the house with different activities (from big bubbles to painting Easter Bunny ceramics) to keep her  active until daddy got home.