Crickets @ Twilight

This isn't something I designed for our prayer garden or Creative Collaborative. But after designing some of the materials for our prayer garden/sanctuary for this series, I am feeling drawn to continue on in this vein. The words were taken from a prayer I wrote two years ago:


Dear Father,
In the crazy, busy, stressful
Torrents of churning life,
In the storming downpours,
May you be a gentle rain,
A calming brook,
A deep and quiet river within us.
May your voice be a summer’s breeze,
A gentle lapping of waves
on the shores of our soul.
May you fill our hearts with peace
Like the whisper of wind
Caressing the meadow grass,
Like the cricket’s song welcoming twilight.
Amen.

Lake Faith

I went to a lake last night to watch the sun set. The weather was perfect, the sky was pure blue, and the leaves...oh, the leaves were every shade of green imaginable. The lake's right near me, but I'd never been there before. I don't get out enough, I don't see a still lake with gentle ripples from hungry fish as the sun goes down. As the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, the water turned shades of pink, blue, aqua, and silver. The quiet wooded trail made my soul sing. I think my theology keeps getting stripped down to having my spirit filled with beauty and love and cherishing each moment I can create an awareness of how grateful I am to God for this life.

Yes. You.

Pretend an angel suddenly appears before you and says, "You are God's favorite". How does that make you feel?

In Silence

For the prayer garden we'll be using for this upcoming series. A place to be in silence would be a wonderful sanctuary for me. Tonight it was my small backyard, with a beautiful breeze blowing through the trees. I'm grateful for this perfect evening weather, when I can sit outside and feel God's presence in all of his world around me.

Crayola Prayers

More people I am colorfully praying for.
"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant." The Message

Jennifer & Krista

First coffee with Jennifer, a new friend who just started going to church. Chai tea and God talk in the artsy, hippie coffee shop. How beautiful. Then Krista stops in late at night, and we sit on my stoop for more God-soaked conversation. It was warm with a strong summer breeze, and crickets chirping madly. In one of those moments of heightened awareness, I saw the memory of it all and how all that is perfect about life was right there on my front steps.

Two beautiful young women, two separate spirit filled encounters. How blessed am I.

Praying in Color

I just started reading Praying in Color. You know what surprised me? I love it. I love how it's written, and the design of the book. Mostly, though, I am finding I love praying in color. It focuses me, and combines joy with prayer.

"When I draw as a way to enter prayer, I get to delight in my prayer and to feel God's delight that I am making an effort to pray. Prayer can be the heavy labor of my heart and mind where I am the foreman of a job site. Or prayer can be my joy and freedom, the place where I get to play in the presence of my Creator; where I get a taste of the 'glorious liberty of being a child of God.'" ~Sybil MacBeth

Jim Kicks Ass

Jim was one of my daughter Kelly's best friends in high school, but they'd lost touch the last few years. When Kelly wrote him a few nights ago, she didn't expect to hear that Jim was sitting in a hospital room getting IV drips of chemo and playing Guitar Hero while he waits for a stem cell transplant in a few days. Before that, he was finishing up law school. Leukemia was an unexpected interruption.

Jim's friends have decided that it's Chuck Norris who is defeating the evil Louis Kemia. Through Jim's blog posts on the web site his friend set up, you'll see an amazing spirit - both Jim's and all his friends.

My daughter was understandably sad and upset when she found out all Jim is going through. As a mother and a graphic artist, I did what I often do when my children are sad - I design something. So I decided to make these blog buttons so people could add them to their blogs, because I don't think you can ever get too many positive comments or prayers during a time like this. In fact, I'm sure of it.