Saint Joseph "Square to Love"

Square to Love

This piece is about Joseph. Not the background figure. Not the silent extra in someone else’s miracle. But the man who had to decide in the dark. The artist's lines in the accompanying song “Do not fear… Take her home,” reference Matthew 1:20–24. The angel tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. That’s real Scripture. That’s real instruction. Joseph had to move forward without understanding everything.

“Take the child” isn’t a direct quote — but it’s the life he stepped into. Protection. Responsibility. Fatherhood by obedience. “Rise and go… Into night… Into trust” comes from Matthew 2:13. “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.” That is exactly what he was told to do. He didn’t argue. He moved.

“No room. No bed. No crown.” Luke tells us there was no room in the inn. The crown was hidden. Kingship without announcement. Glory without comfort. “Now let Your servant go in peace,” layers in Simeon’s prayer from Luke 2:29.

Sacred moments aren’t separate— they echo. “Did you not know… I must be in my Father’s house” is from Luke 2:49. And “They did not understand” follows in Luke 2:50. Joseph lived inside mysteries he did not fully understand — and stayed anyway.

That’s what this drawing holds. The lilies in his hand represent purity and obedience. The tools on the table represent measure and order. The lantern represents light in uncertainty. The child looks up in trust. Joseph looks down in contemplation. The song outlines hands to the wood, wood to the line, line to the measure, measure to light is about more than carpentry. It’s about alignment.

“Square my life to love” isn’t Scripture. It’s prayer. It’s the quiet desire to bring everything — hands, heart, decisions — into alignment with God. This is Joseph as a man who trusted in the night. A man who didn’t need a crown. A man who squared his life to follow God.