The image can be artwork, a photograph, a scene, or even an icon. As you gaze at the painting below, consider the questions at the bottom 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.

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There are many cues about life and death we can take from our non-human relatives—and creation at large. Art imitates life in these powerful images captured by photographer Daniel J. Cox on the Riiser Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Penguins lay prostrate in staggering numbers, mourning the loss of their chicks (left), and a singular penguin walks aimlessly among the chicks who have died (right).

 

These pictures are moving. Yet so often we become numb to the loss of human life, especially when the names associated with those losses disappear in the news cycle or only make it onto the news ticker scrolling at the bottom of the screen. 

 

As we consider what rhythms of communal and individual lament could look like in our lives, may these penguins serve as a reminder to us that there is an impact on the collective if even one life is lost. The ripples of loss reach far and wide.