Fleur de lis

Psalm 33:12--"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance."

This is the scripture that I am ascribing to this journal. The fleur de lis symbol was suggested by Amy, the owner of S'More Couture where I have some of my art pieces. I knew nothing of the history of the fleur de lis and on researching, I found that it had some religious background in early France. Here is some of the information I found.

The symbol depicts an opened lily traditionally representing French royalty and signifying perfection, light and life. Legend has it that Clovis, the Merovingian king of the Franks, was presented a golden lily on the day of his conversion to Christianity. King Louis the VI or VII (it's still undesided) became the first to use it on his shield. Later, English kings used the symbol the times that England ruled over France. It became a common armour insignia and was incorporated into many coats of arms. Unfortunately, many times in history, religion and war have mixed. Some examples follow:

+Joan of Arc carried a white banner that showed God blessing the French royal emblem, the fleur-de-lis, when she led French troops to victory over the English in support of the Dauphin, Charles VII, in his quest for the French throne.
+The Roman Catholic Church ascribed the lily as the special emblem of the Virgin Mary.
+Due to its three "petals," the fleur-de-lis has also been used to represent the Holy Trinity.
+Military units, including divisions of the United States Army, have used the symbol's resemblance to a spearhead to identify martial power and strength.
(Information from fleurdilis.com/fleur.htm.)

The history of so many nations includes the belief in Christ, but what happened? Many are now denying that such history exists. They don't want to feel responsible to God in any way. They want to denounce that He even exists. Christians need to stand up whenever we are confronted with such heresy. We can't expect to be blessed by God if we don't.

I used a large sewn notebook, scrapbook paper, assorted ephemera for the inside covers, old lace, gleanings from an old sweater, vintage buttons, old French text, muslin, linen, old hankie and I beaded a little leaf to the background.