blue

i am

the blue in blue

that seeps through stone

bubbles up

spills over

drenches

i am

the blue in blue

that slakes a thirst

pours out

sinks in

quenches

i am

the blue in blue

discernment

i'm feeling around the edges of something...

i can't quite make out what it is

but i know i am touching it

and i know it is big

the shape of things to come

I found I could say things with color and shapes

that I couldn't say any other way.. things I had no words for.

-Georgia O'Keeffe

zechariah

how often i'm reminded

of things that i regret

careless words and actions

promises not kept

my comfort lies in knowing

god forgets what i remember

and remembers what i forget

belonging

Belonging

I am sitting in the coffee shop with my Dad

Drinking a cup of coffee,

waiting to pick up my children

And I realized how good it is to belong to people

He has given his best years,

all of them,

To my Mom and me and my sisters and brothers

To care for us because we belonged to Him

There is a bond between us; a union of life

Part of my soul is inside of him

And part of his soul lives inside of me

I can't explain it, but that is how it is

We belong to one another

The same is with my dear one

We've been sharing love and joy and pain

Laughter and tears

Children and grandchildren now

For more than 25 years

Part of each of us lives inside the other

I'd like to explain this to my children

But I'm not sure they would understand it

It might sound more like restriction than

Realizing part of one's true self

Is to belong to another

But maybe when I am eighty

And we're sitting at the coffee shop or somewhere else

They will see what I see now

How good it is to belong.

Maybe they'll see it sooner than I did

-Dan Wills

the urge to push

creating mandalas is like giving birth.

once the "urge to push" hits,

there is nothing i can do, but let it be born.

two left feet

i want to dance with life

and hold her close

i want to whisper

sweet somethings in her ear

i want to tell her

that she's beautiful

i want to...

but today i have two left feet

for the beauty of the earth...

i grew up going to sunday school and church at first christian church in savannah, georgia. in sunday school we often sang a hymn or two before hearing our gospel lesson. two hymns in particular stand out in my memory, fairest lord jesus and for the beauty of the earth.

it was the first verse of the latter that ran through my head as i drew this mandala.

For the beauty of the earth
For the Glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies

songs in the key of life

this past week has been intense. i can see it reflected in this mandala, songs in the key of life. for someone like me, who prefers life in the slow lane, finding myself in the fast lane feels totally discombobulating - is that a word? if it's not it should be!

there's a soundtrack to life - a song for any and every occasion...i hear them in my head all the time.

today, i find myself scanning the dial - listening for that song that will help ease me back into the slow lane.

a river runs through it

There is a river in my childhood

Where water flows slowly along the bank

And the grasses wave in the breeze

To greet the water on her way

There are trees along this river

Who offer their leaves as company for the journey

And shade to cool the current

For her long unending labor

And in my mind I am there

I hear the rustling

I see her unhurried pace

As she washes the stones in her bed

She moves along in happy sadness to another place

Happy to be moving, yet sad to be leaving

Wishing to linger just one more moment

In the sweetness of the present and the past

Flow over me childhood river

And let me see you once again

To know your coolness

To hear your soothing voice

Speak of peace yet to come

-Dan Wills

a brand new day

brand new day

i used to be a night owl. i used to joke that the reason i sneezed so much in the morning was because i was allergic to it. but now...dawn has become my favorite time of day. of course i have to give credit where credit is due - i have to credit middle age, and simply not being able to keep late hours. i have to credit a loving husband who brings me coffee and the paper in bed each morning. but even more, it's the promise of a brand new day that has made me a convert. each day, i'm given a brand new start...a clean slate...a world of possibilities. there's a line in the chorus of an old hymn (great is thy faithfulness) that i love which says it best:

"Morning by morning new mercies I see."

a different way to pray

prayer wheel

a few years ago, a wise woman gave me good counsel as i walked through a difficult time and found it hard to pray.

"have you ever thought of praying through your mandalas?"

that was a new thought for me. i've never been comfortable praying aloud, especially extemporaneously...rather, i have found more solace in the written prayers of others. but yet, i still yearned for a way of my own - something authentic and true to who i am - to pray about the things weighing heavy on my heart - situations - friends - loved ones in need of help or guidance.

was it really possible to pray through my art? to my great relief and delight, i discovered that the answer to that question is a resounding - YES! since that day, whole new pathways of prayer have opened up before me as i draw and paint. i am thankful for this "different way"...my way...to pray.

a prayer for the mourning

A Prayer for The Mourning

Father, tonight we lift up those who have no hope of comfort, no consolation, no warmth, only the crumbs of despair and the hiss of distance.

Let the power of your fatherly love break through their isolation and bond them again to your whole family in heaven and on earth.

We join our hearts as your heart is joined to the bereaved, and for their sake we cry out:

For the widow and the orphan whom you bind to your very heart

For the parents who will never see their little ones grow up

For brothers and sisters separated by accident, murder, suicide, or sickness.

Lord, comfort those who cannot be comforted.

For families still waiting for their loved ones to come home

For the mothers of the disappeared

For the fathers of the silent bitterness

Lord, comfort those who cannot be comforted.

For friends who gather at the graves of their fallen comrades

For grandsons and daughters who no longer hear the voice of their elders

For those who wail in grief and for those who have no more tears

Lord, comfort those who cannot be comforted.

Lord Jesus, we pray for the miracle of your risen life to manifest tonight on these:

That you would be The Resurrection and the Life to them;

that they would experience the living hope of resurrection and reuniting in the life to come.

Holy Spirit, take this prayer and make it a multiplied seed in the hearts of the grieving this season.

Cause our prayer of hope against all hope to be a part of the world’s healing tonight.

Amen.

(David Morrison)