Messy Glory

“He had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the young woman was fair and beautiful, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. When the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered in the citadel of Susa in custody of Hegai, Esther was taken into the king’s palace and put into the custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. The young woman pleased him and won his favor as he quickly provided her with cosmetic treatments and her portion of food and with seven chosen maids from the king’s palace, and he advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell.” Esther 2:7-10 In her 1982 interview with Bill Moyers, Dr. Maya Angelou shared, “When I reached for the pen, I had to scrape it across scars to sharpen the point.” Her memoirs are read in the most privileged of classrooms. Often, they are purchased from bookstores serving up decadent café lattes and blueberry scones that cost...