MelissaWrites Blog

Purpose: What Selma Burke Taught Me

A Reflection on Art, Perseverance, and Discovering One’s Calling Through Faith

by L. Melissa Smith

There are moments in life when purpose doesn’t whisper: it chisels. It shapes the way a sculptor carves a figure from stone: one strike at a time, through pressure and persistence. That’s what Selma Burke’s life taught me.

When I began researching Graven Images: An In-Depth Chronicle of the Life of Prolific Artist Selma Hortense Burke, I expected to discover an artist’s biography. What I found instead was a living sermon on faith, endurance, and divine calling.

The Art of Becoming

Selma Burke once said, “I really could feel the sculpture inside the stone.”
That statement became a mirror for my own understanding of purpose. She didn’t just create art, she revealed what was already there, waiting to be uncovered.

Purpose works the same way. It isn’t something we invent; it’s something God places deep within us from the beginning. Our task is to keep chiseling, through fear, doubt, or resistance, until what He designed comes to light.

Selma’s story began in a small town in North Carolina and took her to the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. Along the way, she faced racism, sexism, and the constant weight of being overlooked. Yet, she never stopped creating. She sculpted because she had to, because it was how she communed with the Creator Himself.

Her journey reminded me that our calling doesn’t always bloom in comfortable soil. Sometimes it grows in the cracks.

Perseverance in the Face of Silence

When Selma Burke completed the bas-relief portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the very image that inspired the U.S. dime, she didn’t receive full credit for years. Many artists would have been crushed by that injustice. But Selma didn’t let the world’s silence define her worth. She kept teaching, mentoring, and building community art centers because she knew that legacy outlives recognition.

That truth humbled me. There are seasons when purpose feels invisible, when your work, faith, and effort seem to echo into an empty room. But Selma’s perseverance taught me that silence is not the absence of purpose; it’s often the refining of it.

She believed faith was as much a material as clay or stone. You have to mold it, fire it, and keep it from cracking under pressure.

Discovering Purpose Through Faith

Selma Burke didn’t separate her art from her faith. She often spoke of God as the first and greatest Artist, the One who shaped humanity from dust. To create, for her, was an act of worship.

That perspective reshaped how I view my own calling. Writing, publishing, or preserving history isn’t just work; it’s an offering. Like Selma, I’ve learned that the goal is not fame or applause: it’s obedience. When we create what God places in our hearts, we participate in His divine design.

Purpose isn’t always glamorous. It’s often steady, patient, and deeply spiritual. It’s about showing up to do the work, whether the world notices or not.

The Legacy That Still Speaks

Every time I revisit Selma Burke’s story, I’m reminded that purpose doesn’t stop. Even after her death, her work still speaks, teaching us that creativity guided by faith leaves an eternal mark.

What Selma Burke taught me is that purpose is a sacred dialogue between the Creator and the created. When we listen, trust, and persevere, we become living testaments: sculptures of grace shaped by His hands.

Call to Action:
If Selma’s story inspires you to uncover your own calling, take a moment today to ask: What’s the purpose hidden within my stone? Then, like Selma, start chiseling.

About the Author

L. Melissa Smith is an author, publisher, and librarian whose work explores faith, emotional wellness, and untold stories. Through Grace to Bloom Publishing, she creates books that inspire healing, spark hope, and reveal grace in unexpected places.

Visit her author site at MelissaWrites.com and discover her biography Graven Images, a powerful tribute to sculptor Selma Hortense Burke.