Let’s take a little different angle today. How about if we turn to a few good poets? Let me explain. I am trying to see things more clearly these days. I feel enveloped by fog, too many things to handle, too much uncertainty, too much anxiety all around. Maybe these poets can help me notice the little things. Maybe that’s the way to cut through some of this fog. Maybe this is part of God’s plan from the beginning.  

Over the last three weeks or so I’ve been looking out the window of my study onto this magnificent yellow tree. Spring is here, it seems to say. New life has arrived. I can’t imagine anything more yellow. More beautiful. It was breathtaking.

My daily poetry app, Poems Ancient and Modern, dropped a poem in my lap one morning last week. I’ve read this poem many times before, even memorized it at one point. The poem is The Lake Isle of Innisfree, written by William Butler Yeats, in 1888. One of the good things about reading poems all your life is that you get to reread them. This poem speaks to something I feel quite urgently right now: In our turbulent world, where can I find peace? And I thought, just maybe the poets can be helpful.  

Let’s return to Rembrandt one more time. We spent some time last week under the guidance of Rembrandt to learn better how to use our eyes to see into another person, how to see into our own lives as well. The painting I would like to consider today is the Artist In His Studio, painted when Rembrandt was just 26 years old. What is this young man looking for as he peers across the room at his canvas? Whatever it is, I’ve always been intrigued how much energy there is in this room, with this easel poised and waiting. Isn’t that always the way it is when we are face to face with what we love to do?