Day 32 -The Song Of The Lark

The Song Of The Lark by Jules Adolphe Breton is a simple painting about an everyday person. It shows a young woman at the beginning of her work day with the sunrise behind her. It represents the mundane, but there is something sublime in the beauty of the scene that represents our shared history of work. It also speaks to not giving up, stepping into a fresh new day with fresh opportunities.

It is not just evocative of a new day, but a new era. Patience is the goal and the road. With patience and consistent daily effort we can find unexpected solutions. Making sure we see the subtlety of colors each morning is part of how we can find that beauty supports us in facing challenges. 

This is not to say that starting fresh is easy. In the painting it is clear that it is a woman in poverty. She has no shoes and is doing a job of manual labor. However there is something transcendent, even heroic in her pose. 

The comic Bill Murray attributes this painting for saving his life at a moment when he felt ready to give up. Just as he was contemplating taking his own life he came across this painting at the Art Institute Of Chicago.

Murray describes the painting as “a girl without a lot of prospects, but the sun is coming up anyway and she is giving it another go.” As Murray stood at the precipice of failure it was this painting that inspired him to  go on. Later he was to become the iconic figure we know today. However at that time he was a failed actor  with no sign of a positive possibility. 

The sun will come out tomorrow. Regardless of what is happening, be present to it. See the beauty of another sunrise. All you have to do is give another go. The Song Of The Lark is the song of our resilience.