18 Comments
User's avatar
Patti Adkisson's avatar

This made me feel tearful. How fleeting it all is!

Expand full comment
Jody L. Collins's avatar

Oh..... deep heart sigh and tears, again. Of course. Shawn, this was soooo beautiful. The children, the songs, the verses, Isaiah. What a wonderful weaving.

Expand full comment
Mary Ryherd's avatar

Beautiful kids. So lucky to have you and Maile

Expand full comment
Linda MacKillop's avatar

Beautiful and powerful piece. My husband attended an “album party” last night with a group of friends. They brought vinyl and listened to old songs and reminisced. Maybe we should make this a thing for us all!

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

I like that idea!

Expand full comment
Jaclyn's avatar

So beautiful. I’ve just binged So We Bought a Bookshop the past few days. You and Maile give me so much hope. Thank you.

Also, if you have time (which, I’m sure you don’t) you should listen to the Faith in the Arts podcast episode that came out today with Mary McCampbell on the Prophetic Imagination. It was a session at Hutchmoot UK and she has so much amazing insight.

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

Thank you, Jaclyn!

Expand full comment
Lore Wilbert's avatar

Gosh. Making me cry on a Friday, Shawn Smucker.

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

Cloudy Fridays are good days to cry. :)

Expand full comment
Christina's avatar

Art is so often prophetic! Thanks for sharing this

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

Thanks for reading, Christina. I agree.

Expand full comment
Leander's avatar

This was a good one. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

Thanks, Leander.

Expand full comment
Sherry V. Chidwick's avatar

Ah, Shawn. Thank you. Somehow you've taken the underlying sense of quiet despair in my heart and given it butterfly wings. The wings are heavy-laden yet with the morning dew, and they will take some time to dry out and be useful again, but I will stretch them in the sunshine and hope for the best. I'm one of the writers, too.

I hesitate to use my pen as mightily as I ought, as everytime I veer into prophetic mode, I lose subscribers. I hate to further the tribalization I see around me by tipping my hat to what I actually feel and, in so doing, lose the very readers who I believe need to hear what I have to say. It's such a delicate balance. But this post reminds me to continue striving and not give up. Thanks.

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

Ah, I'm glad, Sherry.

Expand full comment
Mary Ryherd's avatar

I was transported. Music… speaks a thousand languages and a thousand memories. Thank you for your beautiful words.

Expand full comment
Shawn Smucker's avatar

It does!

Expand full comment
David Pigg's avatar

The exquisite agony that all know yet so few can sum up in words.

Precious words of truth for we cannot lie to ourselves.

God bless you Bob. 🙏

Expand full comment