WOW – Thanksgiving for Baptism

“In water that departs forever and forever returns, we experience eternity.” ~Mary Oliver, Upstream

“What kind of water might be the continuous source of its own replenishment?” –Cynthia Bourgeault

“Every moment of your life
is the stream Jesus was baptized into,
immersed in you, soaked with you.

When you pass through the waters,
and feel no companion, trust:
the Beloved is the water itself, bearing you on.”

-from Steve Garnaas-Holmes’ poem, Through the Waters

Welcome to Day 8 of the Wonders of Worship (WOW) series. Today we ponder the Thanksgiving for Baptism.

Tender Mercy, rain down.

Ways to Engage:

Practice Visio Divina (receive, reflect, respond, rest) with the painting.
Download the B&W image. Color it on your own or with a friend. Color in silence or while listening to the poem linked above. Let it inspire further contemplation/conversation.
You do you. Trust your intuition and engage in the way your heart desires.

To download the black and white image for personal use: on a computer, click and drag the image to your desktop; on a phone, press on the picture until it gives you the option to save it to your photos. The image is formatted to fit on an 8.5″x11″ piece of paper, but feel free to print it whatever size you’d like.

Today I include an old journaling image:

Background: I created a series of forty 5″x7″ watercolor paintings inspired by the elements of worship. It was work commissioned by a project with Nourishing Vocation with Children at St. Olaf College, a program funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative.

As the paintings are shared, you may notice a pattern: