Wishing on a painted star

This past Friday, Christel picked me up at the office for a lunch date at a great local Thai restaurant. We then walked over to the Yale University Art Gallery for the rare opportunity to see a special exhibit of Vincent Van Gogh’s original Cypresses and The Starry Night. I’m not an art connoisseur, but The Starry Night took my breath away.

I think what adds even more beauty to these stunning works of art is the fact that Van Gogh painted both of these masterpieces while confined to a mental asylum during a very dark time in his life. The paintings depict the view outside his sanitarium room window.

I never cease to be inspired and challenged by those, who by life’s circumstances should by all rights only see darkness and night, but somehow are still able to see beauty, light and even stars.

I remember when I was little, there were times when I would look up at the night sky and wish upon a star. As I’ve grown older, these wishes look more like prayers. Yet they still have the same longing and ache.

As I was looking at Van Gogh’s, The Starry Night, I thought to myself; ‘if you’re going to wish upon a star…now is the time, because these are some REALLY nice stars.’ So off into Van Gogh’s starry night went my wish. And off into heaven went my prayer, which hopefully even caught the attention of the God of the fatherless, the orphan, the broken, and the least.

-Rob