Let Words Spill

Let words spill even if they must be covered up.

Occasionally a writer approaches the journal with a full heart 

and a mind turbulent with words to stream.

Yet the pencil, poised over the page, is frozen there. 

There are words of the heart that feel far too tender, 

far too skittish of white page exposure to be released in script. Though these are the very thoughts that a prayer journal has pages to receive and the power to sooth.

Let words spill even if they must be covered up. 

Let that pencil stream, dripping words of struggle across the lines, 

venting whatever there is, 

that is squeezing the life out of a heart. 

Let the pencil go to a nub releasing the soul’s troubles. 

And when interior struggles are too grey to remain in the light, 

sometimes its best to wash color right over it. 

Cover it with pattern and silhouettes of hope. 

Cover it with prayer and offer it to God’s abiding and tender care.

“Let us have confidence, then, to approach God’s throne, where there is grace. 

There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.” 

Hebrews 4: 16

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{Writing in a journal or on a blog has scientifically been shown to have strong physical and mental health benefits. Read more here.}

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Filled with the Spirit, Rejoice in It

“…the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove, 

and the voice came from heaven, 

‘You are  my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased’.” 

Luke 3:22 ESV

“But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name 

he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

John 14:26

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Surely air moved. 

If wings fluttered even once, 

air pressed against skin, swept past faces, and caused eyes to slide closed in a blink. 

Surely time… slowed… 

in the way it does at times of awe and inexpressible visions. 

Surely the beating heart of a white feathered breast came intimately close 

as it merged into the hearts of men. 

Feathers, pure white in layered accuracy designed for flight, must have brushed softly against any outstretched hand. 

Brilliant, unmarked, white-lit by the holiness of God’s presence. 

Beating hearts thunder in human chests. 

Souls rejoice in long awaited reunion with their source, the Genesis of creation.

In Faith,

Lisa

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“Holy Spirit fall fresh on me…move among us all; make us one in heart and mind, 

make us one in love: selfless, caring, sharing – Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.” 

Iverson, 1926

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Art & Spiritual Vitality

Faith filled living, for some of us, includes the visual arts. 

Images in every medium speak deeply to the soul, often in surprising ways 

as understandings are revealed to the conscious mind that might have been inaccessible through any other exploration.

Whether it includes enjoying the breathtaking beauty of church sanctuaries, gazing intently at creation’s many majesties, studying the composition of stunning art forms, or numerous other modalities; vision and visual art forms have long been a means of spiritual  contemplation. For myself, in recent years, that inclination has been expanded to embrace creating visual images through photography, painting, and visual journaling as a faith practice. In tandem with a slow progression into the arts I searched for writings about this realm of contemplative practice, arriving, in part, to the works of those quoted here.

“In an aesthetic experience, in the creation or the contemplation of a work of art, the psychological conscience is able to attain some of its highest and most perfect fulfillments. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. The mind  that responds to the intellectual and spiritual values that lie hidden in a poem, a painting, or a piece of music, discovers a spiritual vitality that lifts it above itself, takes it out of itself, and makes it present to itself on a level of being that it did not know it could ever achieve.” p. 34, No Man Is an Island written by Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk.

Merton so aptly describes what I have so often experienced myself, how an experience with art, in a multitude of formats, can lead one to a heightened sense of faith and closeness to God. Photography too, offers precious opportunities for walking more intimately with God, as writer Christine Valters Paintner describes in Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice …

“… one of the wonders of photography [is] to be able to frame a moment in time and, within my gazing absolute presence in that particular moment, discover holiness.” (p.5)… Photography can be an act of silent worship. When we see the world with “eyes of the heart”, we can engage in an act of both reverence and self-expression. We can discover how the living Spirit is being revealed in the world.” p.8

Paintner borrows the lyrical phrase “eyes of the heart” from Ephesians 1:18. It is a phrase that Paul uses in his letter to the people of Ephesus. Paul tells the people that he prays for them, in part, so that they will “have the eyes of their hearts enlightened” by the wisdom of the Spirit and the power of God. 

Working with inks, papers, paints, digital photography 

and the printed Word; 

is practicing the spiritual discipline of seeking enlightenment 

through God’s power and the Spirit’s sacred wisdom.

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Who We Love

“Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. “Proverbs 4:23

“The hands that made the stars are holding your heart.” Psalm 139:13

A scaffold of hearts, 

rolled on their sides 

and staggered vertically just to the left of center page. 

That’s where my attention fixed while scrolling through a multiple pages of beautifully designed visual prayer journal images. The inked threading of stitches and the narrow panel of dots down the side further pleased my eye. That particular art page was created and posted by robenmaries.com. 

In my imagination 

it provided inspiration for an inviting page-scape of color and form for my own journal; 

modified with colored pencil, scripted verses of scripture, 

and journaled reflections on God’s love: 

Its the loving we receive that primes the flow of our own outpouring of care and devotion that initially tumbles from our hearts. The security of protective arms that cradle us early. The hand that holds ours as a tether to keep us close, as a guide to show the way. The familiar and trusted voice that diminishes our fears in the darkness of night, or fever, or loss. We folks who walk upright, we’re innately designed to crave love, to curl tightly into the gracious gift when its given. In our human realm we seek love from our families and from the significant others who walk our way. As we approach God’s realm in search of divine love, an endeavor that has its own hardwired features, the experience can be much the same. We long for the strength that cradles us through every darkness of living. We seek the inner voice of Holy Spirit presence as well as the voice that speaks across the centuries through scared text. It is the divine loving, eternally offered from Creator God, that initiates the soul’s lifelong yearning to return to Him.

Visual journaling, the craft of combining art and print, is a prayerful activity that can be practiced for several  purposes. When used as part of daily devotionals it expands the experience into realms of visual forms and metaphor. Exploring faith meditations through art materials becomes a means of honoring God through a creative offering and articulating those art based meditations into words becomes a form of testimony or a form of prayer. Creating an artful page can also enhance the inspirational message of faith based writing. However visual journaling is used, whether to enrich ones devotional time or to visually represent elements of the faith journey or to pictorially elaborate a message of faith; the outcome is a heightened sense of communicating the power of faith.

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