"I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you." 2 Corinthians 7:16
"Seaside Residence II", 1994, Pia Stern
Pia Stern's Seaside Residence II shows a structure (A 'residence') on the very edge of the waves. They surge relentlessly towards it, almost, it seems, engulfing it; yet the structure stands. The unpredictably of the furrowed water, swaying inexorably inwards, does not substantially affect the 'residence'. It is a bright fortress, which apparently exists by other principles. If wild water is black and white, then the human home of the spirit is luminous with color, bright enough to reflect onto the incoming waves, though not to detect them. Stern shows us two ways of being: the physical, answerable only to accident, to wind and tide; and spiritual, answerable to inward truth. One is free-flowing; the other is fixed, confident, grounded in more than its own small compass - in God.
Psalm
146 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
Prayer:
Merciful Jesus, you are my guide, the joy of my heart, the author of my hope, and the object of my love. I come seeking refreshment and peace. Show me your mercy, relieve my fears and anxieties, and grant me a quiet mind and an expectant heart, that by the assurance of your presence I may learn to abide in you, who is my Lord and my God. Amen.