What if some of the things we call failures are actually becoming something we never imagined? In this conversation, artist Scott Erickson tells the story behind his Shipwreck Lighthouse—a ship that fails at its original purpose, only to become a place of healing, hospitality, and light.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Use this guide for prayer and contemplation. Read slowly, pausing as needed for silence and reflection.

Opening

Take a slow breath.

Let your body settle where you are. Release what you are carrying, as you are able.

Notice the ground beneath you, the breath within you, and the presence of God already near.

Reflection on Contemplative Prayer

An image may take only a moment to scan, but it can hold much more when we slow down and allow it to connect with the ongoing interior conversation we are having with God.

Prayer is not only our words, images, or songs. Prayer is the ever-present conversation within us with God, about God, about reality, and about all of life.

Art can help excavate that conversation. It can bring to the surface what is already moving within us. You cannot pray wrong. You can only notice, neglect, or enter the conversation already happening in you.

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9–10, Inclusive Bible

And God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ; when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong.

Come, Holy Spirit. Let these words meet the places where we feel broken, failed, or unfinished, and help us see how grace may be growing there.

Artwork for Prayerful Reflection

Watch this video: The Light of Failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIs7OFXuP2s

This is a slightly different version than we used in our video, but this is the version he has on his website:

Shipwreck Lighthouse, Scott Erickson

In this image, a ship that seems to have failed becomes a place of shelter. Seeds grow in the wreckage. What was broken becomes hospitality, healing, and light.

Reflection Questions

What do you notice first in the image?

What part of the shipwreck feels familiar in your own life?

Where have you experienced plans changing through failure, loss, or an unforeseen storm?

What seeds may be growing in a place you once named broken?

How might God be turning pain into hospitality, care, or light?

What words from Scripture or wisdom arise as you look and listen?

What do you sense God saying to you through this image?

What grace is being offered in your weakness today?

What invitation will you carry with you from this time of prayer?

Closing

God of grace, meet us in the places that feel shipwrecked. Let your power be made present in weakness. Grow what can become shelter, healing, and light for others. Amen.