What would you give up dinner for?

Last week I had the opportunity to see the Amy Sherald: American Sublime exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Sherald rose to national prominence in 2017 when Michelle Obama commissioned her to paint her official portrait as she was leaving the White House. It was Sherald’s first commission. Talk about a life-changing opportunity!

As I stood in front of her work, I was in awe. The subject matter, the colors, the scale — some paintings were 10 feet tall – and her technical skills were beyond impressive. One painting in particular stayed with me. It may not translate in this image, but the reflection on that slide looked almost like a photograph. It took me back to sliding in the hot summer sun and getting burned, but not caring because the joy of it was too good to resist.

Recently, I started reading Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. His reflections on art inspired me to write this piece. Written in 1946, the book chronicles his 3-year experience in Nazi concentration camps. It is a very powerful work that I will probably write more about next week. 

Frankl observed that some prisoners developed a heightened inner life that allowed them to perceive art, nature, and beauty with unprecedented depth. Many found themselves overwhelmed by this beauty even amid their horrific circumstances, perhaps even because of them.

Some evenings, prisoners gathered to put on performances for each other. They were given meager portions of soup and bread each day, always teetering on the brink of starvation. Yet sometimes they would travel to another camp for a performance, which meant giving up their dinner for that day!

I shared this with my partner, and he said, "Wow. It's like they traded feeding their bellies for feeding their souls." I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Art, live music, and other cultural experiences matter to me enough that I have built them into my vision, along with the cadence I need to keep my own soul fed.

What soul-nourishing thing do you need more of?

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