Practices

Monday Prayer Practice: Decluttering

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Joanna
My dresser--Before

My dresser–Before

My dresser--After(Don't look in the mirror or off to the side. We're focusing on the dresser!)

My dresser–After
(Don’t look in the mirror or off to the side. We’re focusing on the dresser!)

Can decluttering be a spiritual practice?

I’m sure it can. But I’ll be honest, my decluttering efforts these days are spurred on more by anxiety than spiritual maturity.

My husband and I are hoping to buy a house on some acreage just out of town. He wants to have (more) chickens and gardens and fruit trees. I want to have a space in which I can offer retreats–day retreats soon and overnight accommodations eventually.

Barring an unexpected inheritance or lottery win, we will need to sell our current house if we want to buy a new house. And according to our real estate agent, we have to declutter and clean our house if we want anyone to buy it.

I realize my situation is extreme–most of you aren’t planning to move in the next few months. Still, many of you may be doing (or thinking about doing) some spring cleaning of your own.

Moving forward, I’m going to see if I can do what I have to do with more peace, gratitude, and awareness of God’s presence than I have been able to muster so far. And may you, also, find the holy in the messiness of your life.

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Monday Prayer Practice: Coloring!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Joanna

The church I serve is pretty non-traditional, but we do have some traditions. One of them is that the children are invited to color the bulletins every Easter. We have a potluck breakfast before worship, and when the kids finish eating they can gather around a table with a stack of bulletins and assorted crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Our Easter cover image is something in outline–this year a cross with flowers wrapped around it–and the kids color away.

This year, an interesting thing happened. A mom started coloring with her daughter. Then another mom. Then another member walked by the table and said, “Oh, can I color too?” And another sat down with a smile on her face saying, “I haven’t colored in ages.” And soon there were more grown-ups than kids coloring in the crosses and flowers. (Our bulletins looked fantastic!)

I was reminded of the soothing joy of applying color to paper, and that grown-ups sometimes need an excuse to color. So this morning I got out my Colored Pencil Prayers book because I knew that whatever my prayer time would be, it needed to involve coloring. Flipping through, I found “Offering & Receiving Prompt 3: Offering Indecision.” Bingo!

My husband and I are currently looking at a home in the country. Wanting to move. Worried about moving. Wondering about money and the future and what might or might not happen with family situations and me having a little retreat center and him wanting to be a kind-of farmer. I’ve been going back and forth between excited and apprehensive, certain and doubtful. My usual intuitive discernment methods are all off kilter because I’m still in deep mourning for my dad.

“Great!” I thought, “I’ll color my way to an answer.” Which, of course, didn’t happen. Because I still have to wait and listen and talk and crunch numbers (ack!). But the prayer let me rest for awhile in my desire to be faithful and re-reminded me of God’s presence and faithfulness in every cranny of my life.

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So today I commend to you the spiritual practice of coloring–whatever form that might take for you.

And blessings to you on this first week of the Easter season!

Categories: Lent/Easter, Practices | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Praying Through Grief

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Joanna

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This is the doodle prayer I prayed for Dad while I was with him in the hospital. You can see that I never did finish it. Or, I guess it is finished, but not how I wanted it to be.

In the hospital, I learned that praying through deep fear and grief is hard. Not hard to cry out to God. Not hard to collapse into whatever cushion of comfort might be separating you from complete breakdown. But hard to pray with intention and presence.

It was hard because I was exhausted. Body and soul exhausted. And moving into and within God’s presence takes energy.

It was hard because I was distracted. I had nothing to do and too much to do all at once. Waiting and talking and watching and pacing. Flipping the white wash cloth draped over my dad’s forehead to the cool side. And again. And again. Disturbed by how hot the terrycloth felt against my palm.

This doodle was the prayer I could offer. Between hosting visitors and holding the straw up to Dad’s lips and calling the nurse and flipping the wash cloth.

I wrote words about my dad. I wrote words about what I wanted–for him and for us. I wrote words of blessing that I use when I anoint people. I wrote scripture. Simple words and phrases that my heart already knew.

I wrote and I colored. Pressing firmly and softly, the back and forth of the pencil was all the prayer I could offer. And as the colors filled the page, I knew that God heard every word and non-word.

Though I desperately wish my dad was still living in this world, I know that he has received the blessing I prayed for him:

May the Creator of life heal your deepest wounds;
May Jesus the Christ grant you healing;
May the Holy Spirit restore you to all wholeness.

So now, may this blessing be upon me, and upon all his family and friends. Amen. And Amen.

Categories: Practices | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

Monday Prayer Practice: Family Liturgy

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Joanna

practicing families 4I am involved with a new blog project called Practicing Families. One or two Mondays each month, you’ll find my weekly prayer practice in the form of a family liturgy over on that blog. And never fear, I will always link you over.

For my personal prayer practice this morning, I did a visual lectio divina on Luke 4:1-13. I found this to be a good passage for this type of meditation.

Blessings to you as we begin the Lenten season this week.

 

Categories: Lent/Easter, Parenting, Practices | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Monday Prayer Practice: Valentine Cards

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Joanna

O.K. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch for a “prayer practice.” But this morning, during my sabbath time, I made some Valentine cards. Just me in my quiet house with my art supplies. Yes. It was as wonderful as it sounds.

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I pray you will find time this week to do something that nourishes your soul.

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Categories: Creations, Practices | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Monday Practice: Resources for Lent

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Joanna

Rather than post a particular prayer practice this week, I want to highlight some resources that you might find helpful as you think about the upcoming Lenten season.

Here are some available through this very blog:

This is my prayer journal from the Holy Spaces retreat.

This is my prayer journal from the Holy Spaces retreat.

  • Wilderness Choices: The Way of Jesus in a World of Worry; this is an actual, in-person, retreat at the Hollis Renewal Center in Bonner Springs Kansas, March 8-9.
  • Holy Spaces: A Creative Arts Lenten Retreat; this material is based on the lectionary readings for 2012 (Year B), but the general Lenten themes carry over from year to year. The PDF book contains worship liturgies, creative prayer experiences, creative writing exercises, and scripture reflections.
  • Fruit of the Spirit: A Creative Arts Retreat in Daily Life; this material contains 9 weeks worth of creative reflections based on the nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians. The book is available with or without art supplies and also as a PDF.
  • Colored Pencil Prayers; this book describes five different types of creative prayer exercises and provides prompts and drawing space for each.
  • This blog; I will continue to post prayer practices, worship pieces, and scripture reflections throughout Lent. You can also select “Practices” on the Category list to the right–that will bring up previous posts that are specifically related to different spiritual practices.

 

And here are a few other Internet options to check out:

 

Please share some of your favorite Lenten resources in the comments section below.

 

Categories: Lent/Easter, Practices | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Monday Prayer Practice: Art Journal

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Joanna

This morning I finished reading and praying through Jan Richardson’s retreat material for Women’s Christmas. I had my colored pencils and art journal ready as I read, and found myself sketching out this picture to accompany a favorite quote:

May you sink the roots of your soul
Deeper and deeper still into the love of God
Who encompasses and encircles you
Without beginning, without end.

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The point, of course, is not to create beautiful artwork. (Though I do like how the tree leaves turned out.) The point, for me, is that the words somehow sink in more deeply as I illustrate them.

Creating art that incorporates or reflects meaningful quotes–from scripture or elsewhere, is the practice I commend to you today.

Categories: Practices | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Monday Prayer Practice: Praying in the New Year

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Joanna

I spent my first Monday morning Sabbath of the new year reading, praying, writing, and drawing my way through the first part of Jan Richardson’s retreat for Women’s Christmas. I commend the retreat to you–men and women alike.

One of the sections of Jan’s retreat led me to my prayer journal and back to one of my favorite forms of colored pencil prayer–the traced hand prayer.

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If you would like to pray your own traced hand prayer for the new year, here are some guidelines to follow as closely or loosely as you like:

  1. Get out a piece of paper, pen, colored pencils, and a Bible.
  2. Breathe deeply and open yourself up to the movement of the Spirit. Prayerfully become aware of your deepest hopes and anxieties for the year ahead.
  3. Trace your hand onto your paper.
  4. Inside the hand, write about the hopes that are most energizing for you and the anxieties that weigh most heavily on your heart as you face the months ahead. (You might write a coherent paragraph, several sentences, or just words and phrases.)
  5. Use the colored pencils to color in the hand as you offer these hopes and anxieties to God in prayer.
  6. Choose a scripture passage that speaks to you as you face the year ahead. I chose Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge God and God will direct your paths.” Some other verses that might resonate:
    1. John 14:27–”Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.”
    2. Romans 12:2–”Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
    3. Deuteronomy 30:19–”I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life.”
  7. Write the words of the scripture–all of them or some of them, exact words or paraphrases–around your hand. I repeated the scripture until I had filled up all of the space on my paper.
  8. Set your hand inside the traced hand and receive God’s promise to you for the months ahead. Simply sit for awhile and bask in God’s presence within and surrounding you.

Another practice I often enjoy at the beginning of a new year is to make a new prayer journal.

However you enter into this new year, I pray you will know the deep blessing of the Holy One who is your Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Amen.

 

 

 

Categories: Practices | 1 Comment

Star Words for Epiphany

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Joanna

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My blogging/pastor friend Marci Glass is giving star words for Epiphany. The general idea is that you receive a word to contemplate, a word to help guide your thinking about God and your relationship with God in the coming months.

 

She gave me the word “desiring.” So now I’ve written it on a star. (I knew that obnoxious sparkly paper I bought on sale would be good for something!) After I’ve lived with the word for awhile, I will post a reflection.

In the meantime, I encourage you to head over to Marci’s blog if you would like to know more about this practice and get your own star word!

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Colored Pencil Prayers–Order Deadline Tomorrow

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Joanna

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I’m getting ready to copy, bind, and ship the Colored Pencil Prayers books! All orders that I receive by midnight on Friday, December 7, are guaranteed to ship by Monday, December 10–which should get the books to you in plenty of time for Christmas.

[Please note that you can order books after December 7, they just won't ship by December 10.]

Several volunteers have helped with the book by testing out my instructions and providing beautiful examples of  prayer art. The volunteers used the prayer exercises individually as well as with friends and family–including children.

So if you are looking for a creative resource for your own personal or group prayer practices, order your copy of Colored Pencil Prayers today! (And I should probably mention that this would make a great Christmas present.)

Please know that I love providing these online and print resources through this blog and I greatly appreciate your support through comments, “likes,” Facebook interactions, and orders. Thanks to each of you and blessings during this season of peace and joy. ~Joanna

*And a reminder that I will donate $2 to Mennonite Central Committee for each book ordered before December 25.

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