The Voyage of Life - Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole's four panel sequence, The Voyage of Life, challenges us more today than when painted in 1842.  Its timeless symbolism offers a graphic visualization of the spiritual dimension of situations and choices of life and the outcomes of decisions we make along the way.

Childhood is full of opportunity and promise. The sheltering of young children challenges caregivers to go beyond providing for and protecting their charges. Angels represent our duty to nurture children in the ways and principles of God's kingdom. Is it a stretch to read into the floral beauty on the riverbanks a reference to Eden and therein the presence of God walking with man in the cool of the morning? The challenge to caregivers is to build a relationship between children and God that is so normal that they take it as a given throughout life.

During youth - adolescence and young adulthood - individuals begin to make their own choices:  decisions about their goals, values, and lifestyle. Cole suggests that youth are drawn to a grand vision of earthy empire such as a distant castle or city in the sky. About the youth's immediate surroundings he wrote, "The scenery of the picture—its clear stream, its lofty trees, its towering mountains, its unbounded distance, and transparent atmosphere—figure forth the romantic beauty of youthful imaginings, when the mind elevates the Mean and Common into the Magnificent, before experience teaches what is the Real." But there is more than dreams versus reality in play here. Although angels are still carved on the boat (to represent the form of religion), the guardian angel has disembarked and the young man steers the helm toward the worldly vision.

How can we challenge youth with the reality that there are more important things in life than pursuing what the world offers? Many never even consider that there is an alternative. Doing things that really matter as a teen or young adult is far superior to reconsidering basic choices at a mid-life crisis. Books, such as Do Hard Things (by the Harris brothers), can challenge teens. Retreats encourage young people to make life choices that count in the long term. When young people catch a vision of things eternal, and choose to do great things to build the Kingdom of God with energy, they set a course for their lives. Sadly, Cole shows a youth headed for the world.

Manhood shows reality: Dire trials over which we have no control (the tiller is gone from the boat, the man is praying). Choices made earlier have led this sailor downriver to the rapids of life in a damaged ship. The guardian angel watches from a distant perch while three malevolent powers are much closer (the greenish triangle in the storm clouds symbolizes vices or worse). An alternative metaphor might be that the greatest victories are won in the hardest fought battles. Man at his peak of power decides the fate of his soul, if he has gone down this river. His soul may be changed by the revelation of the forces behind the worldly things he sought, and rejection of them. Or he may be broken by the shattering of his dreams. (Think of Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins.) The challenge is to recognize God behind it all, and respond to Him rather than circumstances. Manhood, mid-life, is the time for the unveiling of the forces behind the world system. If we did not turn to God in youth, God in his infinite mercy and love makes another attempt to gain our allegiance in manhood.

Old age brings the end game. Cole wrote, "The chains of corporeal existence are falling away; and already the mind has glimpses of Immortal Life." The guardian angel is close, while other angels approach. All that is left on earth is barren rock and a battered boat. What does 'finishing well' mean? In the period before death God intervenes a final time to get us to grow more into His image and likeness. Why do so many endure pain and helplessness in extended terminal illness? Perhaps when in pain we turn to Christ with fervor, resulting in an extended season of intimacy with Him. Our character continues to be shaped up to the time of death, so God has one final season for us. For many, God brings crises before terminal illness sets in. We finish well if we pass these tests, but even if we fail, God is refining our soul.

The common theme in this voyage is whether and how we respond to God's challenges. Will we work for Him to do things that matter for eternity, for building His kingdom, in a world that opposes and tries to lure us away from that course? How will we respond to His challenge to live like Jesus, in the sense of doing the Father's will? Guardian angels are part of God's economy, but it is our decisions throughout life that count for eternity.

The original paintings are at the National Gallery of Art.