… watching for the brushstrokes of God
A major obstacle to creativity is wanting to be in the peak season of growth and generation at all times . . . but if we see the soul’s journey as cyclical, like the seasons . . . then we can accept the reality that periods of despair or fallowness are like winter – a resting time that offers us a period of creative hibernation, purification, and regeneration that prepare us for the births of spring. ~ Linda Leonard, The Call to Create
How do you rest in winter seasons?
Hope always draws the soul from the beauty which is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for the hidden through what is constantly perceived. Therefore, the ardent lover of beauty, although receiving what is always visible as an image of what he desires, yet longs to be filled with the very stamp of the archetype. Gregory of Nyssa (4th century)
What is your soul drawn to?
“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before … What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.” Jan L. Richardson, Night Vision
“Take the Christmas story. …we can tell it as a story about darkness giving birth to light, about seemingly endless waiting, and about that which lies at the end of all our waiting… darkness can become the tending place in which our longings for healing, justice, and peace grow and come to birth.” Jan Richardson, Night Visions
How many ways do you tell the story?
Less than half an ounce of fluff and a brain like a treasure map of summer seeds stored in a wide radius. To survive the cold dark nights of winter, the chickadee needs to eat well during the short daylight hours by relying on its memory of seeds stored.
What does your treasure map contain to nurture you during winter seasons?
Stillness opens our hearts to a sense of wonder, allowing us to discover the presence of God in the unexpected and ordinary.
What do you notice in stillness?
With the Eyes of the Heart 