On Santorini I found the icon of my heart. I realised why it wouldn’t leave my heart until I got it. It is actually very well made by a Greek artist. It has beautiful colors, and in particular the red color of passion. I actually believe this version of Mary is called Mary of passion.

The icon was put only in a plastic bag when I got it. And I put it in my backpack where I kept it while on the beach of Kamari. I was surprised and saddened when I took the icon out and realised some spots of paint had loosened and were gone. You can actually see one of the white spots in the semicircle on Mary’s head cloth. It was sad because I think my lack of knowledge of how to treat icons actually caused the damage to the icon. The white spot also stands out, and it is difficult to unfocus your eyes from it once you have really noticed it. Yet, I must only tell myself, that the icon is still very beautiful even if it is a bit broken.

Now I also got all these revelations when thinking about the broken icon. It is like some of the sadness, but also the love I see in the faces of Jesus and Mary, has touched my heart, and connected me to this sadness and passionate love. All this really reminds me of why I like icons so much and why they have such an effect on me. It is about the feelings they convey and reveal. They touch some deep place within me and reveal to me hidden truths that I need to feel and know.

The icon is a bit broken and I have to accept that. Still, when it is broken it doesn’t necessarily make it less beautiful. Maybe the icon is telling me, that when something is broken, it still represents wholeness and beauty, and maybe even more so, in the broken state. If the icon can reveal beauty in its brokeness, so can you and I.

Of course it is easy to become a bit too romantic here, but still the message of things shining in their broken beauty, is a beautiful truth. The white spot of missing paint is there, right in your face and the icon cannot hide its broken part. Isn’t this what we all know to be true, that when we share our brokeness with someone and when we are honest about what feels missing in ourselves, that is when real healing and freedom can happen?

I encourage you to spend a few minutes looking at this icon now. What thoughts, and maybe just as important, what feelings reveal themselves to you while you are looking at the beautiful icon of Jesus and Mary, with some white spots of missing paint? Maybe the white spots reveal something to you too?

Peace!