The Fog Warning

The background for this blog depicts repeating tiles of a Winslow Homer painting titled 'The Fog Warning'. For a brief analysis of the painting click here.

Most recently, I have felt like that fisherman in the dory boat. Miles out at sea, the shoreline miles out of sight, my only hope is the large, main fishing vessel. My only hope rests in the ship from which I have launched hours ago and to which I hope I will soon return with my day's work, my day's catch, in tow.

The fisherman's lot fascinated Winslow Homer as the priest's lot fascinates me. Each of these lots is so profoundly solitary, so inescapably meaningful, so easily overlooked, so fraught by the peril of fog, so perpetually desirous of greater clarity, greater discernment, with regard to where to point the bow and chart the course.

I once was told that in ancient, native Australian wisdom, the human walks backward through time and life. The person can't clearly see where she will be, but she can see where she has been.

I have grown up thinking that my future was ahead of me and my past behind me. I thought I had to turn myself around to view my past, and I thought looking back at my past was a counterproductive and sentimental ceremony. Now, I believe my future is behind me and my past ahead of me, stretched out before my eyes. I believe that my discernment essentially consists of conforming my position and my posture to match the fisherman. I cannot face the ship if I wish to reach it. I must turn my back to it, point the bow, chart the course, and work. Sure, I have to peek over my shoulder to measure my movement, but my vision is better spent studying where I've been and where I am than escaping into the fantasy of futures beyond my control and beyond my vision.
Easier said than done, I guess.

As I rock and reel in this tiny boat, I, too, sometimes hear the fog warning and know that there may come a time when I can no longer see the ship at all, when I am lost at sea, blinded by the fog and blindly hoping to find the ship once again.

Please pray for me to row hard, to turn my eyes rightly, and to hope through the fog, and I will pray for you in your fog.