a separated son
I want to tell you a story about this painting. A woman who has previously purchased my art on eBay emailed me recently asking about a painting I had on eBay called “Separated Friends“. She wanted it, but it had already sold. We made an arrangement for me to paint a similar one on commission. The painting above is the finished product, called “Separated Son”. Here’s why I named it that. She told me why she wanted it. I quote:
“I had a son who vanished without a trace here on his 23rd birthday, November 4, 2000. When I saw that picture, it tugged at my spirit. It was like what has happened in my heart with my son. His name was… is Joshua. I loved it, and I love how looking at your work makes me feel in my soul.”
I can’t tell you how deeply her story moved me. My oldest son’s name is Joshua, and I couldn’t imagine the pain she must have and must still be enduring. We emailed back and forth, discussing the painting, and she confided even more:
“Joshua left us beside the ocean in the nighttime. It’s a long, strange story… one that could take hours of sharing. I am a believer. I have survived through faith. Some people said: “Oh, God would never make you have to live with the not knowing. He will let you know what has become of your son.” He didn’t. And we have learned the true meaning of faith, not on a day filled with sunshine and fulfilled dreams, but in the trenches where it would be oh so easy to throw up the hands and stomp away in anger… for lack of answers… in anger over the loss… in the trenches… the hurt… the disbelief… the agony of the hunt unreconciled with the child we sought so frantically…”
She is one of my heroes. I commend her faith. She’s running a good race. She’s fighting a good fight. She’s keeping the faith. Click here to read the news stories about Joshua Smith.
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How a person could carry around such pain on a daily basis, I just don’t know. I’m glad that you are an accessible artist and that she was able to alleviate her regret in missing out on the sale of that painting. It will probably be one of the few things that has the ability to visually communicate how she feels. This goes to show that people who follow their passions, as you do with your art, inevitably fill a need for someone else.
So glad to have come across your blog. The missing son story is powerful, and how amazing that you have painted something to comfort a mother in pain.
I love your quote about artists and detecting fakeness. Bless you.
Reading this touches me deeply. At her worst moment she knows God is with her. Her personal experience clarifies why you can’t “prove” God through intellect or debate. Just as I view an incredible piece of scenery and know that God created it and no amount of debate would convince me otherwise. I like many have felt the Lord’s presence in my darkest hours….often it isn’t something you want to share but can’t because it is open to mockery or debate….but it is real…as real as the love I feel for my husband or children…I can’t prove it in a scientific way…it just is.
The fact that this event revealed to her the suffering of the homeless moved me as well. She is looking into the faces of the homeless and prays to find her son….in doing so she has discovered their humanity. As she points out, we only see faceless people. Her strength and faith moved her to a level of compassion & action that is humbling. I appreciate you sharing her story and how your painting brings her a spiritual connection to her missing son.
Thanks Wendy for your comments. Beautifully said and written.
Wow…your painting has completely captured how I would guess this mother would feel, especially after reading her story. It is moments like these when I wonder how people get through without God? That would be tragic, indeed. I am grateful they have called on God to help them through.
P.S. I am an artist as well, and wish anything I did could be such a blessing to someone as this painting has been to them.