2020
“What is our secret entry into Your heart? / We find it on the path of letting go of what we / thought we knew, arriving at the place where we / know nothing of knowing beyond every notion of love, / and from light enter the dark only to find / ourselves there, ever one with You.”
—Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart by Jon M. Sweeney & Mark S. Burrows, p. 45
Recalibrating —
So many things seem not right.
Is our question key?
2019
“Sometimes it appears as if it is only when we are most radically shattered that the boundless grace of divine Love comes pouring in.” —Mirabai Starr, Wild Mercy
Mirabai in the chapter called “Breaking Open,” tells a tale about a young mother named Kisa Gotami, who, crazy with grief when her child died, made a pilgrimage to the Buddha.
All kinds of associations come when I consider the Spanish word for drop — gota.
“Hay muchas cosas que sólo pueden ser vistas a través de ojos que han llorado.” —San Óscar Romero
2018
One of the things I love about the Guild’s summer weeks is our daily rhythm of contemplative practices.
“…the most hidden aspect of community formation was the necessity of intentional contemplative practices as a spiritual precursor to the participation of a co-creating God. … It is through rituals of silence, word, song, and gesture that we indicate our readiness for the indwelling of God.” ~Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church
2017
Some morning journaling time with a page awaiting completion led to an invitation outside. See the burning bush at the lower left of the second photo? When I got closer, I realized there were white blossoms on it, just doing their thing, opening to Love. Perhaps I should have removed my slippers… they’re quite wet now.
2016
Image 1 – It was the sparkly wings that caught my attention.
Image 2 – It looks like they’re holding hands!
[2021 note: It was about this time in 2016 that I started getting obsessed with “small wonders” around our Texas cabin.]
“Seven Years of Wonder” is a daily look back at my creative journaling posts since 2014. I began this journey on Feb. 11, 2021, and hope to continue through Feb. 10, 2022. What am I learning about my art and faith journey thus far? What has remained constant? Where have I been changed? How is this impacting present and future art-making?
A deep bow of gratitude to you for keeping me company on this journey.
vonda drees art 