I (Vanessa) have come to believe that joy exists on a spectrum and that the other end of the spectrum is actually deep sorrow and grief. Birthing three children through hours of labor and pain culminated in meeting each of my children face to face, eye to eye, and skin to skin. Not long after came sleepless nights and acid reflux combined with the emotional experience of witnessing their first smiles and movements. Joy comes in moments that can catch you off guard.
I’m sometimes asked about hope in the context of activism, justice and antiracist work, and while I often find the question to be an avoidant one due to our collective inability to sit with grief, I do believe wonder and awe are necessary to sustain this journey. I also believe it is the height of hubris to consider joy as an experience that can be recognized apart from its connection to profound suffering. Joy comes in moments. Moments you are meant to embody and take into your being as echoes and refrains of an eternal joy to come.
Recently I was introduced to an 89-year-old artist by my colleague Sam Lee. He shared about his experience waiting hours in line to see an exhibit called "Infinity Mirror" by Yayoi Kusama. The observer sees a room of mirrors with lit lanterns essentially stretching on forever in all directions.
What’s interesting to me is that because the exhibit is so popular, each person or small group only gets to experience the room for a few minutes. Of course this makes sense—the space is about 15 square feet in size and can only be fully taken in once a person is enclosed in the room and the door is shut. Yet in those few moments, the observer can experience joy.
Visio Divina (Latin for divine seeing) is a prayer exercise in which you ask God to speak to the eyes of your heart as you meditate on an image. The image can be artwork, a photograph, a scene, or even an icon.
As you gaze at the painting below, consider the questions in quiet reflection. Some parts may speak to you while others may not. Allow about 5 minutes of contemplation per section, but there are no hard and fast rules. Simply be present to the image and allow God to speak to your heart without any particular agenda.
