The Hidden Key

“Sometimes questions are more important than answers” ~ Nancy Willard

I recently asked a friend to paint a portrait of Elegba, the Saint of doors and crossroads, to display in my living room. When she brought the painting over I was speechless at the quality of it – the spirit is shown as a gentleman walking gingerly toward a natural crossing in the midst of a bayou, looking over his shoulder with a peaceful smile as he holds a silver-tipped cane in his hand.

The day she delivered her work (shown here), Pam told me she had painted a small skeleton key – about an eight of an inch in length – somewhere on the painting, but wouldn’t tell me where it is. Needless to say, I have stared at the blessed thing for hours, looking for the key with no avail.

Yesterday, while talking on the phone, I jokingly asked if she is ever going to tell me where the key is, and her reply was: “It’s there for sure, but if you can’t see it, it is probably because you are looking for the obvious. Solutions aren’t always obvious.”

She explained that while painting, she felt compelled to add a small key, but as soon as she did, her brush accidentally hit it and it became hard to see. She thought of fixing it, but immediately felt very strongly against it.

Having a key on this particular painting is very symbolic, as the spirit portrayed is known as the keeper of doors, and his seal is usually represented by an equally-armed cross with a skeleton key intersecting one of the arms. The four arms of the cross represent the directions one can walk, and are each associated to elemental forces, with the middle point being the home of Spirit. The key symbolizes that only one of the paths leads to solution.

After hearing what my friend told me, I realized that I really don’t need to know where the key is – I don’t have to see it to know it is there.

I thought of her words as well…’solutions aren’t always obvious’. We run around in circles, looking as hard as we can for a solution we can validate through our senses, but one isn’t always readily seen. Sometimes, stepping back a little and taking our focus off the problem allows us to see a greater portion of the picture, and thus the right path to walk.

So I’m no longer looking for the key, although a part of me struggles not to scan the painting whenever I walk by it. All I need to know is that a key is there; someday it will hopefully sparkle through the moss-dripping branches of the ancient trees.

Today's Blog for Hope

(Please note that every Saturday my blog tends to focus on my local GOLO community blog to help others in our community, found at the Raleigh-area GOLO site as a regular feature called "Blog for Hope")

For my generation, the hardship we are living today is the sad incarnation of all the stories we heard our parents and grandparents tell when they shared stories of their youth. We never thought we would experience anything similar, and probably rolled our eyes in desperation when they told us about their sacrifices over and over again. Life couldn’t be that hard, we surely thought, they are just blowing it up for shock effect. Today we are getting a taste of extreme financial hardship within our own realities, and suddenly we know our parents weren’t joking after all.

Communities have felt the need to reach out internally and create a web of neighborly support, while many businesses have silently closed their doors after years of service. Home owners are desperate to sell their houses, but can’t afford the cost of giving their home a little facelift which will make it stand out in the overly saturated market.

Jeff Harless Painting has been able, so far, to hold its own, although it could use a little boost of business. Located in Spring Hope NC, this venture is family owned and operated, and hung its first shingle in 1999. They offer interior and exterior painting for both residential and commercial. They also provide small home repairs, lying of vinyl flooring, cabinet refinishing, staining, deck repair and construction, pressure washing, installation of gutters, replacement of damaged siding on homes and a variety of other services.

Why, you will ask, do I find this company particularly attractive?

Quoting the words of the owner: “We are at this time reducing our prices due to the economy. I feel sure that if a prospective customer has a bid for painting or repair from a reputable company we can beat their prices as to where the customer will save a noticeable amount. However, these times call for us to, in some cases, be willing to negotiate a price based on the need and financial situation of the customer. We match the paint type based on the need of the customer. Customer satisfaction is the best advertisement we have. We thrive for all customers to be completely satisfied upon completion of the job. We always clean our job sites to be at or near the condition before beginning the job. We have a lengthy list of references. 100% of our jobs for the past five years have been because our customers have referred us to others.”

Jeff Harless Painting is a Christian-owned activity, and it is greatly praised by customers for their high business ethics, integrity and honesty.

If anyone is interested in their services, they can be reached at 252-478-4779.

It is time for our community to take care of its own. Why not start by taking care of the repairs we need at a price we can afford?