the world is sheered in wonder still…
a little morning world for you today. so much is implied about life in a single instant. even bushes are replete with worlds to behold. in the small is contained the tall universe sheer with wonder. in the small, the wide world hides! so many seeds plant themselves in the unseen. blessed are the meek things. the stars are hiding in the bushes each morning…and one another’s opened eyes.

It’s breezy today
that is, the trees are talking
the language of the invisible again.
I’m just listening.

From a pilgram’s journal:
My people, we were instant travelers, sudden streams in the desert. We never thought twice about going yesterday to get to you by tomorrow. We were more than wanderers, we were becomers and we caused people to become as we went….we were instigators of being. And we ourselves were instances of being also. That’s all we ever were, for better or worse. We were water in the wilderness.

Re-reading this great collection of thoughts on art and spirituality by Madeleine L’Engle called “Walking on Water”.

One of my favorite of her many great, wise and well named truths she carried: “Artist are the ones who still see the angels around us! They see angels in the background, which allows them to interpret the foreground better.”

We certainly are in times where you need to see the angels behind things! En-couraging and enlightening reading her thoughts on art and spirituality today!
“If you can’t see the angels in the background, it’s hard to interpret the foreground.” In this sense, artist are interpreters.

Artist are people who still see angels!

In times likes ours, when the foreground is so noisy and boisterous, contentious and fermenting, we need the holy silence of the background in order to walk on. To walk on water that is. Elijah prayed that the eyes of his student would be opened to see the angelic host which were present on the scene!

May we continue to see angels friends! The setting is actually bigger than the stage! Nothing has changed about that. We still live in an enormous room. It is the job of artist to make us aware of its dimensions. Doesn’t the great sonic architecture of music do that directly for us; or a magnificent building which points beyond itself do!

She says about Peter: “As long as he didn’t remember that we human beings have forgotten how to walk on water, he was able to do it. Artist help us remember that we too can walk on water! They heal our loss of memory. Artist are those who are willing to incarnate, more of what actually is here! The chief job of a teacher is to help us remember al that we have forgotten.”

In this sense, artist are teachers and interpreters, who allow others to see that they too can walk on water, or as with Chagall, float above city rooftops!
So many great quotes in this collection of her thoughts on art and faith. Another which felt apropos for our times: “But when the world is, indeed, in chaos, then an affirmation of cosmos (ordered design) becomes essential.” Fun resonating with this wise woman artist today!

She writes about spirituality and art because, as she says: “My feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable!” Here was a woman with an integrated imagination who could read the skies or interpret the times. Isn’t that more of what we need these days!

This writer’s art and spirituality were integrated. There was no division in her between sacred and secular. The kingdom had come into both areas of her being, so she was free to think about and create her art as overflow of her spirituality!

Nice to be reminded of those who had baptized imaginations! And the result of course, was good art and living. Also, just nice hearing an artist talk about art in humble urgency. Art not just as luxury, but as essential to knowing, interpreting, understanding. Don’t we need such interpreters now, more than ever?! Those who model living between worlds, or seeing more of what is, and walking on water! What a great and needed wrinkle in time she was!

Re-reading this great collection of thoughts on art and spirituality by Madeleine L’Engle called “Walking on Water”.

One of my favorite of her many great, wise and well named truths she carried: “Artist are the ones who still see the angels around us! They see angels in the background, which allows them to interpret the foreground better.”
We certainly are in times where you need to see the angels behind things! En-couraging reading her thoughts on art and spirituality today!

“If you can’t see the angels in the background, it’s hard to interpret the foreground.” In this sense, artist are interpreters.
Artist are people who still see angels!

In times likes ours, when the foreground is so noisy and boisterous, contentious and fermenting, we need the holy silence of the background in order to walk on. To walk on water that is. Elijah prayed that the eyes of his student would be opened to see the angelic host which were present on the scene! May we continue to see angels friends! The setting is actually bigger than the stage! Nothing has changed about that. We still live in an enormous room. It is the job of artist to make us aware of its dimensions. Doesn’t the great sonic architecture of music do that directly for us; or a magnificent building which points beyond itself do!

She says about Peter: “As long as he didn’t remember that we human beings have forgotten how to walk on water, he was able to do it. Artist help us remember that we too can walk on water! They heal our loss of memory. Artist are those who are willing to incarnate, more of what actually is here! The chief job of a teacher is to help us remember al that we have forgotten.”

In this sense, artist are teachers and interpreters, who allow others to see that they too can walk on water, or as with Chagall, float above city rooftops!

So many great quotes in this collection of her thoughts on art and faith. Another which felt apropos for our times: “But when the world is, indeed, in chaos, then an affirmation of cosmos (ordered design) becomes essential.” Fun resonating with this wise woman artist today!

She writes about spirituality and art because, as she says: “My feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable!” Here was a woman with an integrated imagination who could read the skies or interpret the times. Isn’t that more of what we need these days!

This writer’s art and spirituality were integrated. There was no division in her between sacred and secular. The kingdom had some into both areas of her being, so she was free to create her art. Nice to be reminded of those who had baptized imaginations! And the result of course, was good art and living. Also, just nice hearing an artist talk about art in humble urgency. Don’t we need such interpreters now, more than ever?! Those who model living between worlds, or seeing more of what is, and walking on water!

Just being with, in silence…
The gift of just sharing silence with someone at the same table, cannot be underrated! Did it today with a friend, and that silence was a mutual honoring. What a gift. When you are comfortable in yourselves together, sometimes there is no need for talk. There is just a knowing respect of being.

When you are a person who is constantly aware of others and their needs, and having to adjust accordingly, it is a special gift when you can just be silent together in the same space with another; it’s a holiday or sabbath of/for being. It’s the little love exchanges which restore us daily! Thankful for silent exchanges today!

By the end (from a dream)
The dawn saluted me with night’s echo.
And the evening contained the whole day.
I am old now and freer.
More myself and can listen
with no threat of loss.
I care more for small things
and birds than before
i also fell in love with the image of cities
and tried to construct them back together with paint
and love. I listened to the young man’s dreams more deeply
and went myself finally into a dream…
it was our most common form of talking over the years
as He lit a fire towards the end of night
on the balcony of my being,
he held me like a brother
or best friend, and we walked on together
where we all do-into the dawn which we always saw.
i no longer fear you
i’m coming closer to loving you for who you really were
all along. that is love’s progress, isn’t it-
the flowers which finally come to be seen.
the flowers also finally came to me
and opened their secret lives.
life was closer to what it was meant to be
by the end. i couldn’t stop talking about it though
words never ceased. But more of his silent thoughts
eventually engulfed me like an angelic bath, or unseen fragrance
i was much more myself by the end
and we were living next to a huge fountain.
And, mainly by the end we were all friends. I greeted
everyone the same, by bowing and sending out
my inner dawn salutes!

On not throwing the Baby out with the bathwater…
“I can lean back and critique christian culture with artist or christians of any stripe, i still end up respecting Christ, and wanting to go farther into His actual Life and way (and I often, then find some who are living that out)…it’s just hard to beat the way of kindness, gentleness, self sacrificial laying down your lives for others, and the royal law of love. And the true empowerment offered in Him to live that out.
It’s still my favorite way down here, despite us all, and our poor attainment of it. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say. Although the bathwater is very dirty at times. We really are praying to clean the water also. So that His Face comes clear through our grime!” anonymous monk.

I can lean back and critique christian culture with artist or christians of any stripe, i still end up respecting Christ, and wanting to go farther into His actual Life and way…it’s just hard to beat the way of kindness, gentleness, self sacrificial laying down your lives for others, and the royal law of love. And the true empowerment offered in Him to live that out. It’s still my favorite way down here, despite us all.

I can lean back and critique christian culture with artist or christians, i still end up respecting Christ, and wanting to go farther into His actual Life and way…