Painting Prayers on Pavement

Celebrating the security of impermanence and the power of eternal impact

Walking the bustling streets of Xi’an, China one morning, I witnessed a curious sight that left a lasting mark on my memory: An elderly man, armed with an oversized calligraphy brush, was painting Chinese characters on the busy city sidewalk. Intrigued, I turned to our guide for an explanation.

“Jenny” (as she liked to be called) revealed that the man was inscribing his prayers in water on the pavement, believing that as they evaporated under the morning sun, they would be carried up to heaven. It was a beautiful sentiment that, to me, carried a profound lesson.

Everything we do is temporary. Nothing lasts forever. Just as that old man's prayers were already beginning to disappear as the sun warmed the pavement, everything we create will eventually fade away. However, what endures are the feelings, emotions, and cultural impact we inspire.

While his calligraphy may no longer adorn that city sidewalk, I believe the words and images written by that old man will remain written on the memories of passersby for years to come, just as they have on mine. The realization that our work is temporary shouldn't discourage us from building or creating; rather, it should motivate us to act despite the impermanence of our efforts.

Gandhi once said, “Everything you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” This paradoxical wisdom captures the essence of human endeavor. While the physical manifestations of our work may not survive the test of time, the ideas, culture, and emotions we inspire will continue to influence others long after we're gone.

More recently in our lives, our hearts were broken when we lost the foster daughter whom we had hoped to adopt. Though she was only meant to be ours for a season, we have hope that the three years she spent with us left a mark in her life as enduring as my memory of the old man painting his prayers on the pavement.

Picture the scene: As onlookers watched and the morning sun slowly turned his work to vapor, the old man poured out his heart upon the street, hoping his prayers would find their way to heaven.

Just as we poured our hearts out into that little girl.

There is a certain power in impermanence. While it may seem disheartening to know that our worldly efforts are like “water painted on pavement,” evaporating in their time, we must remember that our present actions empower others to carry the torch forward in their own way. We are building a foundation for future generations to expand upon, taking the ideas and emotions we've cultivated and propelling them into eternal impact.