The Arts of Faith
What do you love? Art has a powerful way of capturing not just a thought but a feeling. It can often help us in being surprised at what we love.
Poetry is among those forms. I have had various poems mean something to me over the years. And recently I found one that I thought might be interesting to you.
This one captured my mind in the middle of this devotional that takes a Christian theme and expresses it in various art forms such as a reflection, picture, poetry, or other elements.
This one came from Matthew 25:1-13 which is a parable about the bridegroom and being attentive when it is difficult. It is a story about discernment, both of what is going on externally but also discerning what is going on inwardly in us.
This poem captures those themes and how sometimes we don’t realize what we need until we don’t have it. And explore the whole devotional for more.
Poem: Missing the Boat by Naomi Shihab-Nye
It is not so much that the boat passed
and you failed to notice it.
It is more like the boat stopping
directly outside your bedroom window,
the captain blowing the signal-horn,
the band playing a rousing march.
The boat shouted, waving bright flags,
its silver hull blinding in the sunlight.
But you had this idea you were going by train.
You kept checking the time-table,
digging for tracks.
And the boat got tired of you,
so tired it pulled up the anchor
and raised the ramp.
The boat bobbed into the distance,
shrinking like a toy—
at which point you probably realized
you had always loved the sea.
As you think about your life and faith now, what might you be missing or blinded to right now? We’d love to hear the conversation below.
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Photo by Thought Catalog from Pexels
