Camille Pissarro painted this picture, Entering the Forest of Marly, Snow Effect, in 1869, age 39. Here we can begin to see something of his new technique. His brush strokes have changed from his earliest work and the image is less camera like. Look at that wonderful sky! We know what this kind of snow feels like. The wall is tumbling on the left. The painting is not simply of the forest, but the entering of the forest. Indeed, two pilgrims are approaching that entrance.
Like the desert, the forest is a place of important symbolism. Our childhood stories often took place in or near the forest: Hansel and Gretel, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White. The forest is a place of testing; a symbolic place where we search for meaning. In the forest, something of mystery is revealed to us. It is a realm of yet to be explored unknowns, where we discover something new about ourselves.
Some people are bitterly resistant to self-discovery or self-knowledge. Such insight might well require change. "I'm fine, just the way I am; take it or leave it." I can't very well claim to be a follower of the One who calls himself, LIGHT, and talk that way.
We might say on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, along with the two pilgrims entering the forest: I want to know myself better before God.
The forest can be dark and daunting. We can get lost in the forest. But Pissarro has wisely (if unconsciously) filled the front of the picture with snow. We can even see some pilgrim footprints. The earth, and our journey-ing along the earth-way, is sprinkled, even covered with heaven. Let's trust that as we set out these forty days - that we won't just bump around in forest-fear, but come out the other side of the forest, glad for something of the new maturity, wisdom, trust and insight of Easter.
