SOS - Save Our Souls

"No one puts their child in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." - Warsan Shire, poet

It was All Hallow's Eve, and it made sense to visit a haunted house.

Haunted, as in the presence of the spirits of the dead, maybe still whispering, "Save Our Souls."

House, as in a church sanctuary with a special exhibit: Arte de Lagrimas, or Art of Tears.

Arte de Lagrimas is a Refugee Artwork Project giving voices to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants by sharing their stories of migration through art. Founded by Dr. Gregory Cuellar and Mrs. Nohemi Cuellar in 2014, the project has collected art from artists (toddler through young adult) migrating from the Global South to the US Mexico border. Through mobile exhibits, the artwork bears sacred witness to their stories.

"Because stories and names soften hearts," Dr. Cuellar reminded the audience.

Because "home" and "journey" and "dream for a brighter future" are themes of all souls.

Because humans are beings who both love and long to be loved,

whoever they are and wherever they are from and whatever they are going through.

Could we ever fully comprehend the journey of another?

Many artists from the Arte de Lagrimas project included a river in their drawing.

Octavio, 3 years old, used aggressive marker strokes on the page to show a vicious river;

Tatiana, 7 years old, sketched small figures wading into wide waters "with Jesus watching;"

Paula, 17 years old, drew bodies clinging to a small raft across deep dangers.

And Lisseth, 23 years old, whose boat began to sink, recalled Psalm 121 with her piece.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth...

The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going,

both now and forevermore.

Crossing over a river is a crossing-over toward hope for new life.

"Save our souls," the artists speak to God.

"Save our souls," the artists implore to those witnessing.

"Save our souls," we witnesses speak to our own hearts,

each page waving like a flag from each pedestal, asking passers-by to notice.

Pages can be platforms for processing.

And pages of L'arte de Lagrimas are public archive to bear witness of these souls -

their homes, their journeys, their dreams, captured on paper.

Public engagement with the exhibit is a process of soul-examination:

Can we see and turn a blind eye?

Will our faith move to act?

Programs for expression can help with river-crossing:

Programs can be safety vessels.

People can be protective crew.

And paper - the pages on which to express and share story?

Paper can be a life-vest, a preserver of voice to assert, "I am here, I have shape, I have room to belong."

With support, processing (emotional and spiritual) is possible.

Processing makes rivers passable.

Rivers of tears and trials and terrors can be passable.

Rivers hold potential for the recovery of souls.

Recovery is possible.

Eating disorder recovery, too, has its rivers to cross.

And similarly, pages hold opportunities.

Paper used for artistic expression, or pages for journaling and writing offer safer passage:

Now, suffering is paired with witness.

Hurting is accompanied by holding.

Sharing is met with seeing, hearing and validation.

"Save our souls," because crossing any river involves fear:

"Who will be with me, now and later?"

"How long can I endure?"

"Where will I end up?"

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall.

God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46, 4-5

How can rivers of tears and trials and terrors

contain streams which make glad the city of God?

Dr. Cuellar gently holds one of the pieces of art and looks into the faces of the audience:

"These gifts of art were freely given to us by the children.

They did not imagine that God was with them: they felt the real presence of the Living God with them."

The pages are witness, living testimony, telling all river-crossers:

Rivers are deeper and wider than the suffering!

God exists and is journeying alongside us!

Love never forsakes us!

And when we refuse to forsake each other, we (all) are...

...like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:3

As we process our own rivers on paper or pages, we will declare that God is there.

As we sit with others as they process their own rivers, we will declare that God is there.

Because only God can turn raging rivers into streams.

And only God can use those streams to nourish tender trees which can grow at the river's edge.

And only God can turn our trees into the paper and pages declaring His Glory.