Over the years I have started collecting Blessed Mother statues. There are so many around. From time to time people look to get rid of them. I usually “acquire” them from flea markets or yard sales. Those people must never have known that you’re really not supposed to sell something religious, something that has been blessed. But they do and I am proud to pick them up, take them home and let them live out their lives putting a smile on my face.
I even have spotters. These are people who see the statues and let me know where I can find them. Or they usually just buy them or pick them up for me. They’re not much money usually so they just pick them up.
If the statue is too big for my “display” I have them find a home out in my yard at my rose bushes. They don’t last all that long out there but they continue to make me smile. I absolutely love them.
My sister gave me on that she found at an estate sale. It was simply beautiful. It was pretty big but more than that, it was a candle. I couldn’t put that outside, it would melt. It would have taken up too much room in my collection inside so, it rode around in my car with me for the longest time.
I needed to do something with it, but I didn’t know what. It needed to find a forever home.
I was driving the backroads one day and had to pull into a church parking lot to talk on the phone. Cell reception is not always good in rural areas so if I’m on an important call I’ll find a place to pull over to take the call.
So, I’m in this church parking lot, and their sign is right there, with a frame of bricks all around. There’s a ledge where I can imagine little kids “walking a tight rope” all around the sign. Inspiration strikes. that would really be a good place for my Madonna candle. Honestly. I sit and wonder what a non-Catholic church would think about a Madonna statue on their premises.
I don’t wait to find out. I dig her out of my car and place her in a corner on the ledge out of the sun. As I drive away I wonder what their members will think on Sunday morning when they see the Madonna on their sign.
The next time I go by, she’s still there. I start laughing out loud. I can’t believe she is still there. In no way will those people leave her there. I know they believe that Mary was the mother of Jesus but they do’t have the admiration for her like Catholics do. So, surely, they’ve seen her. No way will they let her stay.
This goes on, I’m not lying, for over a year. Every time I go by I have to look to see if she’s still there. It always makes me smile but sometimes it makes me laugh out loud.
I took the backroads last week. I had a friend in the car with me whom I had told my story. She had seen the Madonna before and she always commented on it and we would both laugh. But this time the Madonna was gone. We were both deflated.
What had finally happened to her? Did the people of the church have enough of her? Did they get new leadership who decided she had to go? Or (and this is what I hope), did someone decide to take her home? Did she finally melt?
It doesn’t matter. But anytime I drive by that church I will remember “the melting Madonna” and share a laugh with the Blessed Mother.