Sacred Whispers in the Storm

Opaque heavens have shed rain with vigor in recent days. Out back, quiet streams swell to roaring rivers of sorely needed water. The flow works its way further along, gushing down rocky falls. I stand on the walkers bridge where the path crosses an engorged waterfall. The whir and spill of its hum muffles the racket of an over active mind. My thoughts are carried away along with the natural debris as currents continue to wind and crash downstream. 

The emptied mind opens space for the whispers of Holy Spirit, 

like the welcome rain cooled breezes that follow a storm. 

The air is oxygen rich, 

the Spirit whisper is sacred and equally life giving.  

Standing there above the powerful cascade of water,

I reminisce over the ravages … that my life’s storms left behind…

The indelible marks of flooding water and destructive winds are still felt on my heart.  

Yet I stand here today, despite the scars and markings of tumultuous events, 

because Holy Spirit whispers 

have always been present, 

pouring life giving strength into my soul.

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Linking with the communities at Still Saturday, Weekend Brew, and Tell His Story.

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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This post is linked with the online communities of Still Saturday, Weekend Brew, and Playdates With God. Join us for more thoughts on the pursuit of Sabbath and the experience of God moments in daily living. 

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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Linking with Playdates With God an online community hosted by Laura Boggess and Still Saturday, hosted by Sandra Heska King. Join me and the other writers gathering there to share our God Moments.  

Kitchen Memories: Winter’s Late Afternoon Light

The late afternoon sun throws rays of winter light across the kitchen, low and soft. Savory aromas rise from sautéing meat and simmering stock on the stove. Color rich vegetables lay diced across the cutting board and spices add to the scents wafting through the house. Candlelight flickers in the lengthening shadows on the counter top.

My thoughts slip back to decades ago. As a college student commuting between campus and my parent’s home, I would return from classes in the late afternoon dark of our far north region. Entering the warm house through the kitchen door I would be met by the subdued lighting under the cabinets illuminating my mother working at the counter surrounded by salad makings and the smells of supper warming on the stove. These treasured images evoked such comfort and affection. I have strived to recreate them for my own family across the years. Even in the years of a demanding career, preparing supper at home, reclaiming the house after the day’s absence, filling it with food aromas, it remained essential to create a haven that cradled myself and loved ones at the end of each day.

Warm light in the darkness, 

a safe haven, 

the promise of nourishment; 

all elements of a home …

all elements of a living faith.  

Nurture faith as you nurture loved ones. 

Guard faith as you guard the haven of your home.

Light a candle, 

put something on the stove,

savor the moment, 

offer whispers from your heart 

to our Lord.

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Linking with Laura’s community of writer’s over at “Play dates With God” and Jennifer's folks at TellHis Story.

Join us. We are sharing

our moments with God.

The Cusp of a New Year

Teetering on the edge of a year, 
on the end of another 365 days, 
a brisk glance back brings a few thoughts to mind;
some are simply musings.
Others, really essential.

1. It’s beneficial to record a list of the Books I’v read. For one thing, I surprised myself by the shear number of titles that I’v poured through this past year. 34 books, from several genres, on multiple topics, with faith, art, writing, and strong female characters being predominant themes across nonfiction and literature. Another benefit of the list are the cues offered in remembering titles and content, not to mention insight as to the ebb and flow of my interests, and finally, it makes recommending books easier. 
2. Fiction that taught me the most: Orphan Train and The Invention of Wings.
3. Memoir that made the most indelible impression: Lit by Mary Karr and The Sacred Journey by Buechner.
4. Writers greatly entertain me when they write about writing, such as The Memoir Project by Marion Smith and Pat Conroy’s, My Reading Life.  
5. Talking to my Pastor is something I’ll do more often. Especially when a well known, highly respected, Bible curriculum writer puts forth an interpretation that resonates badly with one’s heart. A good conversation on theology with a compassionate and learned pastor is enlightening, not to mention, good for the soul.
6. Being the Nana of 4 year old  twins is even better than being the Nana of three year old twins. Four year olds send you a hand signed Christmas card. Four year olds remember those swimming lessons that you and grandpa took them to. Four year olds ask their mother if they can call Nana (well, of course!). Four year olds ask “Can we make muffins?” and “What project did you bring for us to do together?”. 
7. Reflections are a second chance to see the wonder. I have taken to noticing the myriad of images that are reflected in our immediate environment. I wrote about it over here. It’s magical to consider the optical science at work in this often missed mirrored world that we pass through every day. It has become one more of those spiritual practices that I weave into my living in order to attend more closely to God’s complexity and awe.
8. Have no doubt. In the midst of wrapping worry around the world’s ongoing traumas and raging atrocities, I wrote here about those three words that rose to my attention last summer. Three words that remain bold within my heart, a bold proclamation of God’s Time regardless of what new year may be marked by mankind.
9. Time is rolling waves of blessed potential. Truly. Capture its gift with hungry hearts. This post last December recalled the words from the 90th Psalm. 
10. The New Year bells come faster across a lifetime; ringing out that snowy year in the seventies just old enough for the first toast with champagne, ringing out in ’81 with a newborn at my breast, ringing out in ’97 newly remarried walking home in the starlight and glitter of softly falling snow, ringing out in 2010 grateful for husband's restored health and the birth of infant grandsons, ...and here they are again, ringing out in 2014. 
11. God's blessings are abundant. Every season, every year. More on abundance over here. With vigilance the reward is sacred. Warm your soul in the abundance of God's grace this year and every year!

Linking with others pondering the New Year over at Emily's blog. Join us.
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A Second Chance to See Wonder

A heightened appreciation for reflections rose out of viewing the world through a camera’s lens. 

Consider the science of light and the multiple lenses, mechanical and biological that are at work as one’s brain receives and then interprets a reflected image. Imagine a flow chart of that: from the reflection’s source to the camera, through the eye, along the dendrites, picking up metaphors of meaning from amygdala’s treasure trove of emotion. 

Once the concept captured my attention, the presence of reflections became more abundant. The common images thrown back from blocks of storefront windows, shimmering puddles of rain, or the glassy, mirrored surface of water, certainly. But then the more subtle sources caught my eye. Reflected images etched on the surface of brewed green tea or in a flower’s mounded raindrop. Images bouncing back from the silver tray, the brass pendulum, and the glass door of the anniversary clock. The blue stained-glass cross reflected on a granite surface and the river rock repeated against dark pottery. 

From images of clouds viewed close-in and tiny on that orb of a raindrop, to images of lush shoreline seen from across the pond reflected back in the long length of wall to ceiling windows; our world is shimmered back for us, to appreciate, maybe without even turning around, to take second look. 

"See things from His perspective." Col. 3:1 MSG

To do so might change your perspective. It might prompt you to ponder how closely you’re looking at all that is before you. It might reveal bounty and wonders that have otherwise escaped your attention.

Linking with:

Still Saturday

Tell His Story

Weekend Brew

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Summer Remembrance

Early morning temperatures dipped by almost ten degrees this weekend, 

as August bids its 2014 adieu. 

The cooler morning offered a delightfully fresh hint of the next season, though we all know we still have many more weeks of extended summer that is par for our region. None the less, there was this brief interlude, this breath of coolness, this nod to softer days of less light and a planet tipping away from the sun’s blaze. Summer’s green begins to take on that more rustic shade, edged with crisped, drying hues. Blooms are worn, somewhat ravaged by the boldness of summer. The new blossoms are unfolding smaller, dropping petals sooner, there satin beauty not lasting as long as their predecessors. 

We turn to one another and say, Where did it go? 

Every season we say that. 

Remember when we were celebrating those glorious buds opening at the ends of stems and marveling at the late-into-the-evening sunsets painted orange across the blue sky. Remember children in the pool for hours perfecting their under water skills, extending their bravery in the deep end, diving endlessly to retrieve rings thrown to the bottom. Tomatoes and watermelon have been sweeter these recent months and sweet corn is still fresh in the produce department. Remember the lazier mornings of summer with coffee on the back porch, serenaded by birds, entertained by squirrels, and occasionally visited by that resident rabbit who lives in the Indian Hawthorn hedge. We watched lizards scamper across the top of the fence and fledgling Blue Jays teeter on the edge of their nest outside the bay window. We have watched Herons catch fish as turtles basked on the pond’s banks and the Mallards floated endlessly. 

And though the events of the world were far less bucolic through this summer, it remains important to remember that which was abundant, that which was brimming with blessing and goodness. In every season harken back to treasures that came your way, whispered from the heavens by God’s grace to season your life with His love and provision.

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord...” Psalm 77:11

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Tell His Story

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