Symbolic Sea Pictures

Symbolic Sea Pictures

Do you have a favourite picture in your home, perhaps one you have inherited, one which you have loved since you were a child?

Here is one which I have loved since my earliest childhood.  It was a wedding present for my parents three years before I was born.  My father used to be amused and puzzled whenever he lifted me up to look at it, because I would excitedly point, saying, “Wee Willie Winkie!”  He had to wait until I had enough vocabulary to explain that the little girl’s shadow has a pointed top, like Willie Winkie’s nightcap in my picture book of nursery rhymes!


As I grew older, I saw the picture in its entirety, and never tired of looking at this little girl standing alone on the sand by the edge of the waves, staring out to sea.  She is barefoot and her hands are clasped behind her, loosely holding the cord of a little orange cart in which lies her doll, unheeded.  Gentle white-crested waves are breaking a little way out, but the little girl is staring at a small white indistinct shape on the horizon.


Not only do I love this picture “at face value”, because it reminds me of happy days by the sea, but I also love it on a symbolic level.  For to me the sea symbolises the vast mysterious world of eternal spiritual reality.  Often when I am brooding over some startling experience which has seemed to transcend “ordinary” sensory reality – an amazing coincidence, for example, or a vision, or a strong feeling of intuition – I am reminded of this little girl staring out at the distant object on the horizon, trying to make it out more clearly.


For my recent birthday I received another sea picture, from my son Michael and his family.  Wendy, my daughter-in-law, chose this view of the island of Arran from Culzean Country Park because she thought it would remind me of happy walks there with my dog – which it does.
  

But I also love the energy which the artist (Tina Sloan) conveys.  The waves here are turbulent, driven by the strong south-westerly wind, bringing seaweed to the shore.  Gannets are riding on the air current, each preparing to make its torpedo-like plunge below the surface, to catch a fish.  There are rain clouds moving over Arran, with a shower apparently over Brodick Bay, but the little glimpse of blue sky beyond indicates that they may soon pass.


The seaweed in the foreground reminds me of another picture which fascinated me as a child.  It too showed the outline of Arran as seen from the Ayrshire coast, but on a much calmer day.  In the middle ground, on the shore, were a horse and cart.  I never gave this much thought, until one day my mother-in-law was fondly reminiscing about the big Shire horses which used to pull cartloads of seaweed from the shore to the nearby potato fields.  Seaweed!  So that’s why a horse and cart were in the picture.


As I thought about this, it occurred to me that sometimes my like-minded friends and I are rather like the potato farmers!  Ordinary “down-to-earth” folk, we are nevertheless occasionally aware of another element: the ‘sea’ of Unseen Reality. We do not wish to “dabble” recklessly in it, knowing that to try to venture into it, unprotected by faith and prayer, would be as foolish as setting out alone in a tiny canoe without compass, life-jacket, food or knowledge of the winds, tides and currents.


But like the farmers who gather seaweed from the shore, so we, in order to glean spiritual nourishment for ourselves and for others, seek to gather and use the gifts which God in His providence sends us from the mysterious element of the Unseen: evidence of life after death, spiritual healing and inspiration, and yes, startling coincidences!


This week, at a time of political chaos and general uncertainty, I leave you with this lovely Gaelic blessing.

Deep peace of the running wave to you,                                    

Deep peace  of the flowing air to you,                                                                          Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,                                                                              Deep peace of the shining stars to you,                                                                        Deep peace of the gentle night to you,                                                                          Moon and stars pour their healing light on you,                                                       Deep peace of Christ the light of the world to you,                                                       Deep peace of Christ to you.