I’m including more notes than usual with my images today. Maybe it’s because I’m starting to hold on more tightly to this journey, realizing that all this looking back wraps up in a month?
In the first photo from 2013, my foot is visible in the lower right corner. They were such long banners. My dream was that they would hang outside from the windows of Luz Divina’s second floor. (Stay tuned… Hopefully I shared the rest of that story in the future past!)
What an incredible journey this has been. As Bayo Akomolafe writes in These Wilds Beyond Our Fences, “You will be ‘traveled’ by things words cannot encircle. Find the others who can hold space with you.”
Thank you, again and again, for holding space with me.
2013 – Written in 2013: “At Luz Divina in Peru, this banner will be painted by the 3 to 9-year-olds. Vacation Bible School starts there this Monday and runs through Jan. 25th. Topic: the Lord’s Prayer. My son, Paul, and I leave this Thursday, spending the first part of our time in Cusco and Machu Picchu, and the second part with our friends at Luz Divina as together we finish the VBS session serving ~200 children. Can’t wait to see COLOR on this banner!!”
2015
2016
2017
2018 – Back in 2018, I shared this quote from Pastor Emmanuel Jackson, “I was born and raised on the continent of Africa. The values of compassion and community that have shaped my life and my worldview were formed there. To every African at home or abroad, our path hasn’t always been easy, but our voices matter and we too will shape this 21st century.”
2019 – Written in 2019, “A few years ago I realized that in order for me to speak in front of a group, I needed notes with which I felt comfortable. This is my page of speaking notes from the Guild’s annual fundraiser. It’s an image not likely to be appealing to the eye. That’s okay… I just want a digital record of it and this is one way to do that. Our Guild theme for 2019 is “Opening.” We will be about the work of opening the sense of our bodies to bigger seeing and deeper listening, opening the mind to revelation, to wow!, to dawn and new insights, opening the heart to great love and suffering, relationship, mutuality and connection, and opening the soul to deep time, synthesis, Home. Two big points for me in all of this: 1. Practices are keys in opening. 2. Openness melts defenses.
2020
2021
“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 
Your drawing from Peru and the one that is your Speaking Notes for the 2019 fundraiser at the Guild brought back: First fond memories of the time Louise and I were in Peru with you and o you. And second, sadness that we never went to the Guild while you and your family were there. There was also a drawing that focused on patience. You hit a trifecta. Too much busyness, not enough time for friends, and a much needed reminder that God is patient with me, even when I am impatient with God.
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