Quote: From “GITANJALI” by Rabindranath Tagore
Thou hast made me endless, search such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, nurse and fillest it ever with fresh life.

Thought for the Day: Sounds a lot like the wineskins Jesus talks about, yes?

Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913). The British Poet Laureate, W.B. Yeats, was a huge fan and instrumental in introducing Tagore’s work to the West. Tagore was deep and multi-faceted. He wrote poems, hymns, novels and plays—starting at age eight (kind of like Jesus teaching in the Temple). He was a critic of India’s socio-economic caste system, or of any system that promoted human inequality. Which also sounds like Jesus.

Tagore’s work grew increasingly contemplative and philosophical, and Yeats recounts that in it’s original language, the poems are, “full of subtlety of rhythm, of untranslatable delicacies of colour, of metrical invention—display in their thought a world I have dreamed of all my live long.” Much like the Qur’an or the Bible in their original languages.

We forget that much of the Bible is poetry, hymns, and songs, in addition to literature. I think God so often speaks to us through art. Who hasn’t been moved by a poem that transports you to another land, a song that stirs our soul, or a movie that touches your heart? Art has the power to change the world. Art continually fills us with new life, because at its best, art challenges us to think differently, and to look at the world with a new lens. And right about now, we could all use a new pair of glasses.

Prayer: Thank you, God! Thank you for constantly introducing me to new ideas, artists, philosophers and saints, in all the glorious languages, colors, and textures humans use to create. Amen.