As I walked the night streets of downtown Beirut, I was captured by Bassam Kyrillos’ sculpture. It is set between two modern buildings with the shell of a building standing silently in the background. The reverse contrast, the modern emerging from the abandoned shell, a man breaking out of the metal that binds him, took me to a reflective place and silence. The buzz of the nearby restaurants disappeared. Even the cars and street noise faded into the background. The reality of a soul’s recreation and freedom was the night’s lesson.
Recreation within is often beyond what we can do. I find it takes more. A great idea. Inspiration from something kind and beautiful. Something external to who and what I am. Paul’s discovery is one way to describe my own with the artist’s work; “What the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.” (Romans 8.4)
A new birth begins with the old and leaves us with the new. Across time, writers remind us of Divinity’s unconditional love for every individual as her child. It is this love that refuses to leave us abandoned, alone, and struggling to be free. Divinity invites us to be reborn, to let go of pain and a relentless fear of what will happen to us, and to embrace the awareness that we are children in a family defined by kindness, care, and compassion.
As I moved on from the sculpture, I walked past, a series of restaurants with people eating at fancy tables set up on the sidewalk. I imagined where each person was, young, old, excited, hungry, satisfied, and hopeful, on her or his path of rebirth. How aware were they of the process? Did s/he understand the relationship between freedom and actions of the day?
Today is an opportunity to add fresh details to my story of rebirth and recreation. It is an opportunity to write with actions of kindness and empathy in the community. My emergence continues.
