“Ichthys”

I wasn’t sure what to paint inside the fish symbol. I prayed for “what people need to see” and then trusted whatever the paintbrush did. I found myself making the skeleton/shape of an actual fish, then blending it so it is subtle. I wondered if the fish shape was recognizable, did it still look like a faint skeleton/head/eye of a fish, or no? So I asked my oldest daughter what she saw. She quickly said, “A cross.” I looked at it, and wow… sure does look like a cross. Later, I asked my youngest daughter what she saw… and I expected to hear either a cross shape, or a faint skeleton, head or eye of a fish. She saw a “heartbeat”. WHAT? She showed me what she meant. She saw a blip, blip, blip wave of a heartbeat monitor. All three of us saw something different.

The history of symbol of the fish, known as Ichthys:

In Greek, the first letters Iesous Christos, Theou Yios, and Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior) make the word"‘ichthys". Early Christians were persecuted. The symbol of the fish was how Christians could identify themselves to each other without either government or religious leaders recognizing them.  Upon meeting someone new, a believer would draw half of the fish symbol in the dirt and the other person would either complete the other half of the symbol, revealing himself as a Christian, or not recognize the action of the believer, revealing himself as not being a believer.  Because non-believers didn't understand the believers' actions, the believers' religious beliefs remained safely hidden.