Reflections on Art - "Safe Harbour"

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A Reproduction from (3) Original 5’ Canvas Hangings



For many years I have enjoyed the quietude of kayaking and canoing the southern coastal waters of British Columbia, often in some awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets.

Idyllic seascapes we can all enjoy, but there is another kind of awe that cannot be fully appreciated from the shoreline – as the mighty Fraser River rushes past Garry Point into the Georgia Straight there is powerful complexity of currents and tides, sudden and changeable winds that can turn a canoe into a kite blowing away from home.

The historic fishing village of Steveston nestles a harbour for more than 600 commercial fishing vessels; the largest commercial fishing harbour in Canada. At the entrance to Garry Pt. Park is a sobering Fisherman’s Memorial remembering almost 200 who have died since the 1940s.

There is an old gospel song, one of Elvis’ favourites, that croons:

“I thank God for the Lighthouse!” Film footage shows him weeping as the male quartet fills out the chorus: “…If it weren’t for the Lighthouse, where would this Ship be?” How deeply he must have longed for safe harbour, a solace no amount of money, drugs or alcohol could ever provide.

Life has its storms. They talk of a calm that exists in the centre of a storm-cloud; that is possible in our lives as well. The outside ‘environment’ of unpredictable circumstances does not have to disturb our inner peace. The ‘storm’ is not in me – I happen to be in the storm. Despite the daily trials of chronic and painful illness that happens to be my ‘stormy time’, I seem to keep bobbing back up to the surface like a cork. More than that, my inner spiritual life is deepening in ways I don’t fully understand. I have a stronger faith. The calmness works from the inside out; as a Mariner’s prayer says, “With Christ as our Guide.”

Kenton J. Kutney
“Safe Harbour”©


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