“In the beginning there is darkness. It is the womb out of which we are born. . . .In this state of trusting refuge, the light of divine revelation, which pierces but does not castigate the darkness, may finally be seen. This is a mothering darkness that nurses its offspring.” -Barbara Holmes
“The natural world is constantly dying and being reborn in different forms. God appears to be resurrecting everything all the time and everywhere. It is not something to ‘believe in’ as much as it is something to observe and be taught by.” -Richard Rohr
Behold, I Make All Things New, song by Alana Levandoski
Welcome to Day 32 of the Wonders of Worship (WOW) series. Today we ponder Easter.
Like moth, we are changed
inside the Christ Mystery
Souls unveiled, we fly
Ways to Engage:
- Practice Visio Divina (receive, reflect, respond, rest) with the painting.
- Create an Easter haiku.
- Download the B&W image. Color it on your own or with a friend. Let it inspire further contemplation/conversation.
- You do you. Trust your intuition and engage in the way your heart desires.
Tree of Life painting update: Today’s first image has two new elements, the mourning dove and the oak leaf. (I missed taking a photo after painting the mourning dove.) For the next two weeks, I’ll be away from my easel. The painting updates will return after Easter.
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.
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:
- Music = Songbird
- Prayer = Seed and/or Fruit
- Word = Leaf
- Order of Service = Element of Nature
- Season = Insect with a Flower
One final creative invitation for this project remains for me: to paint a Tree of Life holding all forty elements. I plan to share its progress here.
For this series, I am grateful to have used handmade paper from White Dragon Paper and watercolor paints from Natural Earth Paint.
vonda drees art 