A Tale of Four Girls... Of the Monastery, the Mountain, the Messiah and Mine

Lowell and I were blessed to spend a couple of days last week in Arequipa, Perú without our kids. (Lowell's parents are here with us and took care of the kids while we were gone.) While I missed them all, Mikaela (who just turned 13 the week before) was especially on my mind. I couldn't help imagining what her life may have been like if she had been born here in southern Perú a few hundred years ago...

Of the Monastery... (Girl #1)

The Santa Catalina Monastery was founded in Arequipa in 1579. If Mikaela had been born in Spain or Peru 400 years ago, she could have been sent to the monastery there to live a cloistered life of solitude, meditation and prayer, never to have physical contact with the outside world or her family again. Girls would typically start their service as young as 12 or 13 years old. They could talk to their family members through a set of lattices and pass items to each other through a small rotating door, but no physical contact was allowed. Whether the young ladies went there and then stayed there permanently or not was all determined by the father of the family. The mothers had no say and their daughters (or other family members) didn't either.

We were told it was an honor. In a tangible way, you were your family's representative to God. The monastery there was indeed a beautiful and peaceful place. The wealthier nuns (young and old) even had private apartments and could bring their own slaves to do the chores (so the nuns could devote themselves to prayer, etc.) But I still can't help but imagine the heartbreak, sadness and loneliness their life would include as well, especially for a girl at the tender age of 12 or 13. And never being able to leave? To go to the beach or the mountains or outside the walls of the monastery? It's hard to imagine Mikaela living a life like that, now or ever.

Of the Mountain... (Girl #2)

The Inca Empire was in full swing around 1450 when the girl now known as "Juanita" was born. She was born into nobility and chosen from birth for a very special purpose: to be sacrificed to the mountain gods at the end of her childhood. She likely grew up knowing that would be her end - to give her life as a pure, perfect offering when the volcanic mountain gods would not stop the eruptions indicating their anger at the people. She was somewhere between 11 and 15 when she was led up the long, harsh, rocky climb to the summit of one of the volcanoes outside of Arequipa where her life ended. Again, we were told it was a high honor and a privilege to be offered. She was buried with pottery and other things she would need as she passed from this world to join the gods in the afterlife. The National Geographic video we were shown even dared to say, "Who knows? Maybe they were right." We know about "Juanita" because in 1995 archaeologists accidentally stumbled upon her frozen body that had been recently unearthed by volcanic activity. Her body was so well preserved (being buried and frozen for almost 550 years) that they even know what she ate that day and exactly how she died. (Coca leaves (locally used for altitude sickness prevention) and the alcohol in the chicha would have drugged her to some extent and a precise, hard hit to the eyebrow with a blunt ceremonial instrument killed her.)

To see pictures, do an internet search for "Ice Maiden Arequipa"

During certain months of the year, her still frozen corpse is on reverent display in a dimly lit museum room in Arequipa. We saw her last Tuesday morning. It was quite surreal. Her death and burial are described in rather hushed, reverent terms, but it doesn't change the fact that she was killed as a sacrifice to appease the gods. Perhaps she and others (17 other bodies have been found) who suffered similar fates felt honored, but it must have been frightening and in the end many families were left without their children, those who gave their lives did not go onto an afterlife with the gods, the volcanoes continued erupting and the fear continued. I'm so thankful that we no longer have to face that kind of decision (or "honor") and the fear and deception that led to it in the first place. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for "Juanita" or her family. I don't even want to imagine my daughter being chosen for an honor like that.

Of the Messiah... (Girl #3)

Maria. Her name was common 2000 years ago and it's various translations are even more popular all around the western world today. Yet common name or not, there was nothing common about her life and the special purpose she was born for. Maria (or Mary) was probably around Mikaela's age when she learned she had been chosen to give birth to and mother the Messiah. It's hard enough to imagine Mikaela being engaged at this age. But to imagine her dealing with the shock and emotions and very real dilemmas that came with this most unexpected, unusual, impossible pregnancy... it's quite hard to imagine. It makes me appreciate Joseph more than ever. (What a guy!) Oh, but then the journey... the labor and delivery and escape to Egypt... all without her mother nearby! (Sniff, sniff!) Oh, Mary... she had much to treasure in her very real, tender, human heart, didn't she? Once upon a time she was an ordinary girl with an amazing task and the amazing faith and grace needed to carry her as she carried the Christ child - from her womb to her arms, through the years that followed. She too was chosen. Honored. Blessed. HIGHLY FAVORED. But I have to say I am thankful Mary's job was Mary's alone and that Mikaela doesn't have to do anything of the sort today.

And Mine... (Girl #4)

Of course, it's Mikaela. : ) Her story is still being lived, though Psalm 139 suggests it was written long ago. I watch her grow more beautiful every month and I wonder what her future holds. Some things I know... Her father won't be sending her to live in seclusion in a monastery. She wasn't chosen at birth to die for her people on top of a lonely mountain as an offering to the gods. She won't be giving birth to the Messiah. But what has she been chosen and created for? What will her life calling and purpose be? God knows. As we watch her talents, intelligence and heart grow into who He is continually forming her to be, I thank God for the work He has done in her these two years we've been living in Peru. Mikaela may not have been chosen for the the monastery, the mountain or to mother the Messiah, but she has been chosen to know and love and worship her Maker and to reflect Him in all His glory. To make music and art and spread smiles and laughter. And I can't wait to see what her story looks like as my Girl lives the life she was born for. Here and now and in the years to come.

With Much Love from the Ens Family