How Much More Beautiful Are We

What They Left Behind That Day (or, How Much More Beautiful Are We)

dedicated to my friends at Cathedral YAM/Bookclubbers!

30x40 acrylic, $100

I have had this image (or something like it) in my mind for a few months now.  It first struck me during a reading of the Gospel of Mark at mass: “As [Jesus] passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.  Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’  Then they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:16-18).  I imagined Simon and Andrew having in their nets that day the most bountiful, beautiful, nourishing, and delicious catch they had ever had.  However, they do not make a practical decision to draw in their catch one last time, share it with friends and family, or sell it at the market.  Rather, they leave their nets behind and their bounty is lost forever to the sea. 

Preparing to move to a different city and start a new adventure, I have pondered how pursuing one life track necessarily excludes other options.  Decision leads to decision leads to decision, and we cannot know what our life would have looked like if we had chosen otherwise.  Yet, I think we can find comfort in knowing that, like Simon and Andrew, even abandoning a glorious catch in one life, if we leave with the trust that we are following God, we can count on finding beauty where He calls us.  After all, if Simon and Andrew abandoned what could have been their most bountiful yield, how much more precious must be the harvest that they now sought?