A Picture of Hope

Tuesday, June 21, 2022: Lou Chavepayre

Hope requires the practice of long-suffering and long-mindedness that embraces the mystery of not knowing what will happen while also embracing the mystery of what great thing might possibly happen. Hope is believing that, in the future, the seeds you plant will reap a good harvest. 

Dr. King spoke of having a radiant hope. I would like to have a radiant hope – wouldn’t you? But it doesn’t come in box. 

Hope is as Brené Brown defined it in an interview with On Being, “Hope is a struggle.” 

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A PICTURE OF HOPE

Lou Chavepayre is literally hope on a page. She is a French artist who was born with a motor disability. With the help of her family, she is able to create painting using her body as an instrument, as well as astonishing photography. 

Despite the difficulties she has chosen to create possibility where to the naked and disparaging eye there was none. In her artist statement she says:

I play with the limits of life. Turn my pain into strength, rather than being a victim. Being part of the world and touching it. Mobilize all possible and unthinkable tools such as touch, matter, others and my desiring body. Using my size, the most important for me, I jump into the void. When I jump into the void, I finally have a body.

This is a hope that emerges as the picture of serenity. 

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calme noir
geste
soudaine tension

chanson triste
joue sans cesse
sans cesse
sans cesse

dans ma tête
mal
gris bleu
mer
déchaîne
colère
orange
nuit sauvage

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SERENITY PRAYER 

Sweet Piercing, Eternal Light—
Grant me: 
Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference—
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking the misfortunes of this world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that all things will be made all right if I surrender to Light;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy in in the Glorious Light of forever and ever in the next.

Amen.