Visio Divina Eastertide Day 8

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Today’s image is from Deacon Stephen. From Stephen: “It is a Bonsai tree looking up to the morning sun through an approximately 20 year old Japanese maple planted as if growing out and over a rock. The idea of Bonsai is to realistically create the  sense of nature in miniature. These trees endure much as we do the ups and downs of life and nature as they live their lives in the outdoors and in a confined place to see and feel the world pass by.”IMG_0551.jpg

1. Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you and to speak to you through the image. 
2. Open your eyes and look at the image. Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image that you are first drawn to. Gaze upon just that part of the image for a minute or two. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you? Are there questions that come to mind? Then close your eyes, still seeing that part of the image in your mind. 
3. Open your eyes and now look upon the whole image. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you?  Are there questions that come to mind? 
4. Close your eyes again and rest in God as long as you need to.
5. Open your eyes. While looking upon the image, respond to God. Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that are now on your heart. Continue to look upon the image as you pray. 
6. Close your eyes and rest your eyes briefly.
7. Open your eyes and gaze again upon the image as you finish your prayer time. Reflect upon this prayer experience. Consider how you’ll take this into your life. You may choose to journal about your experience

Visio Divina Eastertide Day 6

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Today’s image comes from my back yard. I love watching the cherry blossoms fall from the tree. It looks like it is snowing blossoms that cover my lawn.
This tree reminds me where I first met God, where I had my first glimpse of something transcendent. That experience planted a seed of wonder that has mostly stayed with me. It was not a cherry tree, but a crab apple tree in my backyard in Farmington, Michigan. We lived at the edge of a forest that became my sanctuary.
IMG_0347.jpeg1. Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you and to speak to you through the image. 
2. Open your eyes and look at the image. Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image that you are first drawn to. Gaze upon just that part of the image for a minute or two. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you? Are there questions that come to mind? Then close your eyes, still seeing that part of the image in your mind. 
3. Open your eyes and now look upon the whole image. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you?  Are there questions that come to mind? 
4. Close your eyes again and rest in God as long as you need to.
5. Open your eyes. While looking upon the image, respond to God. Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that are now on your heart. Continue to look upon the image as you pray. 
6. Close your eyes and rest your eyes briefly.
7. Open your eyes and gaze again upon the image as you finish your prayer time. Reflect upon this prayer experience. Consider how you’ll take this into your life. You may choose to journal about your experience

Visio Divina Eastertide Day 5

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Friends,

This image and reflection below came from a facebook page about poet John O’Donahue.

Where is this Eastertide season leadings you to explore?

 

93803367_3148039625229526_5227808190959190016_n.jpgThere is a beautiful complexity of growth within the human soul. In order to glimpse this, it is helpful to visualize the mind as a tower of windows. Sadly, many people remain trapped at the one window, looking out every day at the same scene in the same way. Real growth is experienced when you draw back from that one window, turn, and walk around the inner tower of the soul and see all the different windows that await your gaze. Through these different windows, you can see new vistas of possibility, presence, and creativity. Complacency, habit, and blindness often prevent you from feeling your life. So much depends on the frame of vision — the window through which you look.

JOHN O’DONOHUE

Excerpt from his book, Anam Cara

Visio Divina for Eastertide Day 4

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“Without attention, the human sense of wonder and the holy will stir occasionally, but to become a steady flame it must be tended.” Huston Smith

Vision Divina:
1. Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you and to speak to you through the image. 
2. Open your eyes and look at the image. Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image that you are first drawn to. Gaze upon just that part of the image for a minute or two. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you? Are there questions that come to mind? Then close your eyes, still seeing that part of the image in your mind. 
3. Open your eyes and now look upon the whole image. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you?  Are there questions that come to mind? 
4. Close your eyes again and rest in God as long as you need to.
5. Open your eyes. While looking upon the image, respond to God. Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that are now on your heart. Continue to look upon the image as you pray. 
6. Close your eyes and rest your eyes briefly.
7. Open your eyes and gaze again upon the image as you finish your prayer time. Reflect upon this prayer experience. Consider how you’ll take this into your life. You may choose to journal about your experience.

 

 

Visio Divina for the 50 Days of Eastertide Day 3

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Artist Statement: When You send out Your breath, life is created, and the face of the earth is made beautiful and is renewed.(Psalm 104: 30)

“My inspiration came from Psalm 104, which is a celebration of God the Creator and Sustainer of all things. I have appreciated it as the intricate web which connects all living creatures. My intention of creating artwork is to suggest the essence, the eternal qualities of the beauty beyond reality, something sublime. It is imbuing artwork with a “spirit resonance” or vitality. The process of the work is a record of “breath” being transferred from the artist into the work.”

https://ecva.org/exhibition/Telling_God_Stories/exhibit61-SC01.html

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Textile Museum at Washington DC, Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, the Palais des Nations (United Nations’ headquarters building), Geneva, Switzerland, and Uijeongbu Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea.

Artist Statement: When You send out Your breath, life is created, and the face of the earth is made beautiful and is renewed.(Psalm 104: 30)
My inspiration came from Psalm 104, which is a celebration of God the Creator and Sustainer of all things. I have appreciated it as the intricate web which connects all living creatures. My intention of creating artwork is to suggest the essence, the eternal qualities of the beauty beyond reality, something sublime. It is imbuing artwork with a “spirit resonance” or vitality. The process of the work is a record of “breath” being transferred from the artist into the work.

bio: Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Shin-hee Chin received her BFA and MFA from Hong-Ik University. Shortly after, she immigrated to the United States with her husband and raised two kids while earning her MA in Fiber Arts from California State University at Long Beach. As an educator for 14 years, Chin has taught drawing, painting, color theory, and mixed media at Tabor College in Kansas. She was elected as Distinguished Faculty at Tabor College in 2008.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Textile Museum at Washington DC, Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, the Palais des Nations (United Nations’ headquarters building), Geneva, Switzerland, and Uijeongbu Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea.

Vision Divina:
1. Close your eyes, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to enter into this time of prayer with you and to speak to you through the image. 
2. Open your eyes and look at the image. Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image that you are first drawn to. Gaze upon just that part of the image for a minute or two. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you? Are there questions that come to mind? Then close your eyes, still seeing that part of the image in your mind. 
3. Open your eyes and now look upon the whole image. Is there an emotion or word that speaks to you?  Are there questions that come to mind? 
4. Close your eyes again and rest in God as long as you need to.
5. Open your eyes. While looking upon the image, respond to God. Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that are now on your heart. Continue to look upon the image as you pray. 
6. Close your eyes and rest your eyes briefly.
7. Open your eyes and gaze again upon the image as you finish your prayer time. Reflect upon this prayer experience. Consider how you’ll take this into your life. You may choose to journal about your experience.