Earlier this week I took Rose to see Brooke Fraser as a Christmas present. Needless to say, she’s a big fan. We don’t get out to concerts too often. They’re expensive and time consuming and they don’t often fit in our schedule that already has a lot of nights full. We both really enjoyed watching and listening to Brooke but I walked away thinking about the power of art. Art in this case, being music.

Art is all around us, but some of it lacks meaning to each of us, while some means everything to each of us. It’s a somewhat subjective thing.

Here are some ways (as I observed myself responding to the musical art at the Brooke Fraser concert) I think art has power:

• Art has power to inspire us. It’s no wonder many artists are behind the charge for clean water wells and cancer cure funding. Artists of all sorts inspire us to think of the big picture. Usually when I walk away from art that has inspired me I want to do something moderately epic. Go on a long run, run for President, etc. Art inspires us.
• Art has power to convict us. I think great art gets inside the human heart to show us where we’ve gone wrong. It’s introspective enough that we go from observing the beauty of the art, to seeing how it should change us as well.
• Art has power to comfort us. People can comfort with words and actions. Art can comfort often without either. It could be a picture, a sound, a scent. Even at the concert Brooke talked about the purpose of a song as one of comfort for people who are struggling. It took the song from being merely lyrics, to being a comfort.

In what ways have you seen the power of art?