The knight at the museum
I recently sent my sisters and my mom a text, saying that, when I had time, I was going to send them my photos of the “knight at the museum”. As I sent this text, I recognized that play on words, as there is a movie with the title “night at the museum”.
I have not seen that movie but I read about it in Wikipedia and it talks about how everything in the museum came to life at night when no one was there to see, except that one man who worked there.
But it dawned on me, that I brought “knights” to the museum, and when I brought them there, in the daytime, everything in that museum immediately came to life. There was no waiting and no imaginary or mysterious events, it was an instantaneous experience for Damon and Eevie, when they were walking around looking at the beautiful paintings and finding ones that they really liked.
The way children can find beauty everywhere is why children are able to bring things “to life” that are otherwise dead, stale or stuffy, without magic and without Hollywood. By talking to them about honor, integrity and strength, I brought these knightly qualities to the forefront in their thoughts. We read about knights, drew knights and dressed up as knights.
Then on the last day of our “camp” we made the trip downtown in the heat of the summer, walked almost a mile to save on parking and took advantage of the kids a certain age being free. Everyone at the museum was kind and the building was cool and lovely.
I was grateful I brought a stroller and some bottles of water and some crackers. The kids absolutely LOVED the museum. To them it was awe inspiring. Eevie loved the religious paintings and literally danced through the rooms.
As we saw the “story” of baby Jesus and Mary his mother unfold, in the museum art on display, we were able to understand the power of God, expressed in art. That power of good, still the very reason for our existence, embraces us and uplifts us, when we go the extra mile, to read and reflect on the life of Jesus.
God is still in charge. There is no inflation, no illegitimate president, no climate change agenda and not even a war, that can cause evil for God’s people, as God has GOOD in store for us, and I “can feel it still”. I am so grateful that we have been blessed with supplies of energy still as yet untapped, children who yearn to do help others, leaders who still trust and honor God, and the strength and energy to do work and use our talents.
Those who do not believe in God or who do not seem to be listening to God are variables…but what is always truth is that God is here now, guiding and protecting us. God did not give us “inflation” to teach us a lesson, and God did not give us fraud to put us at the mercy of evil doers. God teaches us, throughout history, that we can rely on him. He gives us angel warriors and blesses us with courage to be steadfast. Those warriors who did, back in the day, were the knights in shining armor.
I wanted the squires (the kids who are my knights in training) to spend time with me studying knights, to realize that those religious and faithful individuals, who were loyal to God, were and still are, the modern day heroes and role models. Sir Lancelot, King Arthur, and the knights of the round table as well as ladies like St. Joan of Arc, are inspirational and worthy of our respect.
The knights at the museum are alive and well, and have ventured out into the light of the world. This knight at the museum is not imaginary and the good the knight does is very real indeed.
When was the last time you saw “the knight”? When was the last time you had “the knight” at the museum and watched it bring the museum to life? Just wondering.