We stopped at a flea market in a little town somewhere near the Ohio river several years ago, and I was pleased to find a familiar framed print of an elderly gentleman bowing his head over a tiny meal. The portrait wasn’t in great shape, but I had to bring it home. The woman who was selling it excitedly called it “The Thinker” as she told me that her asking price was one dollar. I had loved this picture since I was a child and was shocked (and a bit sad) that the woman couldn’t see that the man in the painting was praying rather than thinking. Though she knew the painting was special, she didn’t quite appreciate it the same way I did.
When I was a little girl, the man in the painting reminded me of my great grandpa. Not only did Great Grandpa’s character seem to fit that of the man in the painting. He actually looked like him…from my memory anyhow. I was pretty small when I visited him, so I may not remember things exactly as they were. However, what I do recall is that great grandpa lived in a humble little farm house way out in the country. I remember a bible along with a magnifying glass for Great Grandpa’s old eyes, a tiny Christmas tree (which may have been out year-round), a kitchen sink with a handle to pump water and a table where he and his guests would play dominoes. Mostly I remember that Great Grandpa was kind, and his house felt full of love when family gathered to visit. From my observation, he was a man whose life was simple yet full.
This work of art is still special to me today, maybe even more special in that as I am growing older, I can now see my aging father as the man in the picture. As I stare into the face of the man in the painting, I see a godly man who is at peace. He is giving thanks to God and is content with what he has. He has surely known hard work, difficulties and struggles. Yet, he has lived a happy life, a life that is simple yet full.
After bringing my flea market treasure home, I later researched and found that “Grace” was originally a photograph taken by Eric Enstrom but later painted in oils by his daughter Rhoda Nyberg. “Back in the year of 1918, a bearded, saintly, old man, with foot-scrapers to sell, called on Eric Enstrom at his photography studio in the tiny mining town of Bovey, Minnesota,” explains the writer on gracebyenstrom.com. For the photograph, Enstrom arranged a table with bread, a knife, a bowl of gruel, spectacles, and a family book (which I believe to be a bible) and asked the peddler, Charles Wilden, to pose by bowing his head in prayer. Eric said, “I wanted to take a picture that would show people that even though they had to do without many things because of the war they still had much to be thankful for.”
Enstrom’s photograph and his daughter’s oil paintings became so popular that by 1945 he sold the copyrights to Augsburg Publishing House because he couldn’t keep up with the demand. Prints can be ordered from the Grace by Enstrom website, but I like my old, weathered copy just fine.
I see past the faded colors, the warped canvas board and the scuffed-up frame and remember what is important. God has blessed me so richly. Yet sometimes I take those blessings for granted and complain about what is broken, worn out or lacking. When I begin to get self-centered, I am always convicted. I stop making my mental list of what I do not have and start counting my blessings, realizing that God has blessed me with so much more than I need or deserve.
Not only has God blessed me with plenty to eat, a house with hot and cold running water, a dependable vehicle, a loving family and way too many physical blessings here on earth to count, he has also sacrificed his only Son, Jesus, to take away my sin and give me eternal life in him. With God, we can be content to live a simple life and still live life to the full in Jesus. As long as I have Jesus, I need only food to sustain my body and his Word to sustain my soul. I can live a life that is simple yet full.
❤❤❤Didn’t Grandma have a picture like that?