A wise pastor reminded me that Valentine’s Day can be a difficult day for some people. You may feel alone, or may have lost someone you loved or thought you loved.
Below is a watercolor painting I made one day while I was just playing around with the colors and techniques. Today I added a Valentine’s message FOR YOU!
Thank you, God, for your unconditional love! When we feel sadness, remind us that you are always there for us.
Until next time, Amen!
Mailboxes wait. . . and wait. . . and wait.
Mailboxes serve as the “waiters” of messages, providing a space for something specific to happen. They don’t appear to do anything, and yet mailboxes are serving the purpose for which they were created.
So, too, the contemplative heart waits upon the Lord, dwelling in prayer, being observant, listening, pondering the ways of God–doing precisely what the Lord intended.
Wait for the Lord, take courage;
be stout-hearted, wait for the Lord. —Psalm 27:14.
Will you pray with me?
Lord, we know you are always with us, listening to our prayers and guiding our ways. Help us and all who “wait” to do so with patience and courage. May we truly listen to others this day–not only with our ears but also our hearts. May the words we speak be filled with your compassion. Come, Holy Spirit, guide us in all your ways!
Until next time, Amen!
P.S. Are you on Facebook? Check out “Spiritual Drawing Board by Julie McCarty” for little spiritual nuggets to get you through your day!
During 2013, I hope to learn some new layouts and methods for posting on my blog. (This one is called “image” for a shorter post with a single image.)
Remember the blog post about choosing a word for your spiritual theme for the new year? Here’s my word, sprawled out on a whiteboard design I created:
Yup, that’s my word for this year, “attentiveness”… I want to ponder the meaning of the word, how to live more attentively, and most of all, how to be more attentive to the presence and action of God in my life.
Thought question of the day: What or who in your life captures the most of your attention each day? Your job? Your family? Sports? Facebook? Shopping? Or ??
How does your daily focus coordinate with the quality desires of your deepest, truest self?
Please think about it. I plan to!
Until next time, Amen!
P.S. Looking for daily spiritual inspiration? Read short spiritual nuggets and updates at “Spiritual Drawing Board by Julie McCarty” on Facebook.
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance. . . .
God has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. . . . whatever God does endures forever. . . (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, 11, 14)
Another year draws to an end, and a new year dawns. One chapter closes, another begins. One project finishes, another starts to bubble within. One human dies, another is born.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the many readers of Spiritual Drawing Board blog and its partner Facebook page of the same name. I enjoy creating these sacred spaces and look forward to continuing to share my spiritual thoughts and budding artistic creations with you in the coming year. I appreciate the thoughts and comments you post or send me. Thanks!
Below is a prayer I wrote this morning. Will you pray with me?
Blessed are You, Lord God,
Creator of the gift of time.
Every moment truly belongs to You.
With the help of your Spirit,
may we use every day, every hour,
to love and serve you in the New Year,
and in all that is to come,
both in this life, and in the next. Amen.
How do you picture the birth of Christ? Do you think of a little Nativity scene like the one sold in stores, Mary kneeling in adoration beside the Baby Jesus, with the protective Joseph standing with staff in hand? Are there angels, shepherds, and wise men? Who or what do they represent? A historical moment or an ongoing spiritual mystery?
For people of Eastern Christian heritage, Christ’s Nativity is recalled using a highly symbolic picture, called a sacred icon. (“Icon” is the Greek word for “image.”) This image is created in such a way to act as a sacramental window into deeper spiritual truths. The icon below is a modern example of a Nativity icon.
Religious icons are not only beautiful works of art, but more importantly, created as a instrument for pondering the mystery of God’s presence in our lives. One meditates on the works of God by beholding the various truths represented in the icon and “pondering all these things” in one’s heart.
In the icon above, the various bible stories surrounding the birth of the Messiah are portrayed around the central figure of Mary and the Christ Child. Many events are portrayed, but each little picture relates to what is at the center, the birth of Christ. In this manner, we are reminded that, as Christians, Christ is to be the center focus of our lives.
Most of us can readily pick out the three wise men, angels, and shepherds in this icon. But if you go a little deeper, you will see the wise men are of differing ages, proving that God’s wisdom can dwell in people of any age. Two angels have their hands in the ancient open position of prayer, their “job” being to glorify God (something we are also to do). The other angel is descending from the heavens, to bring the good news of Christ’s birth to shepherds on earth (bringing good news of Christ to others is something we are to do, too!).
In the lower righthand corner, midwives wash the newborn Babe, wrapping him in swaddling clothes, the strips of cloth used for ordinary newborns of the time. This story of the midwives, told ancient written sources, reminds us that Christ was not only divine, but also truly human. (The direct line from the star at the top reminds us of Christ’s divine nature, and that he came to dwell in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.)
Joseph’s posture, with his back to Mary & the child, startles me. Orthodox theologian Leonid Ouspensky explains that the figure next to Joseph is the devil disguised as a shepherd, who is tempting Joseph to doubt in the miracle of Virgin Birth. (Remember how Joseph doubted Mary’s word about the angel at first?) Despite this, his halo reminds us that he was a holy man, redeemed by Christ and loved by God.
Returning to the central focus of the icon, Mary gives birth to the Christ Child, placing him in a manger box that also symbolizes the church and tomb. Christ is born in a dark cave–he enters into the “darkness” of this world in order to overcome sin, evil, and death. (The golden light in icons is a symbol for God, the unapproachable Light, who nevertheless choses to enter into our earthly reality.)
With so much suffering in the world, the Nativity icon reminds us that no matter who we are–wise scholars or simple shepherds, young virgins or doubting Josephs–Christ comes to free us from sin, to re-create us into adopted sons and daughters of God. No matter what we have done or failed to do in the past, God reaches out to us now, in this and every moment, with unfailing divine love.
This is reason for Christmas joy.
Until next time, Amen!
Note: Many thanks to The Printery House for help with information and the image for this blog post. Read more or purchase this icon at www.printeryhouse.org (click here)
Some of you may remember that I selected the word “co-create” for my spiritual word for 2012. The spiritual word provides a theme or focus for one’s mind and heart over the course of time, an idea I learned from Christine Valters Paintner, the “online abbess” at the website Abbey of the Arts.
For me, “co-create” means to cooperate with God’s grace in making the world a better place. I found the word helped me to focus on trying new creative things, such as practicing nature photography and learning watercolor painting.
However, as so often happens when one takes up a spiritual practice, I was surprised at how many other, often deeper, meanings and ap-
plications to “co-create” arose in my mind over time. These new understandings came to me through reading, talking with others, and thinking about my life experiences in journaling.
For example, when grieving the loss of my dad, the creative activities often consoled me as something new being “born” in my life. When waking up in the morning, I would find myself asking God, “What will we co-create together today?” As I did housework (something I dislike), I began seeing chores in a fresh light, as something that re-creates a beautiful, wholesome environment. While weeding the garden, it occurred to me that growing vegetables is also creating something good with God–good for me and good for others.
The year 2012 will be over soon. In fact, for Christians at least, the new liturgical year has already begun with Advent. I find myself wondering… hmm… what will be my “spiritual word” for 2013? What does God have in mind for me?
I invite you to ponder the same question with me. Is there one word or short phrase you would like to be your spiritual focus for 2013? Let us pray, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal a wise word to each of us for the good of our spiritual growth and service to others.
May the Good Lord bless you this holy season.
Until next time, Amen!
For more pictures from Julie’s watercolor class and other spiritual nuggets, visit Facebook’s Spiritual Drawing Board by Julie McCarty.
Thinking of all my cyberspace friends this week, as we begin celebrating various holidays/holy days… Below is a prayer from priest and author James Martin I hope you will enjoy as much as I do.
A New Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I’m clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.
And while you’re at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.
It’s better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,
I can’t change anyway.
Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.
Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I’m
not you.
Amen.
(“A New Serenity Prayer” used with permission from the author.)
The room was filled with spiritual directors, planning for an upcoming event, and one person pointed out that there would be a need for healing after the elections are over. In response, I heard an audible gasp around the room, the kind of “aha” moment signifying agreement and the silent, collective wonderment of why didn’t I think of that?
Every election has its share of mud-slinging and truth-twisting, but I don’t think I have ever witnessed such an intense, prolonged period of antagonism between groups. The sheer volume of messages–not only on TV and radio, but via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and so many other ways of communicating–certainly is new.
As I write this, it is the day before the U. S. election. I do not yet know if we will elect Mitt Romney or Barack Obama as president, if the propositions in our state will pass or fail, or which parties will control the many legislative bodies throughout the country.
The thing I do know is this: there will need to be healing between co-workers, friends, families, and many other people, if we are going to improve the country we live in. In this political climate, many people on both sides of issues have been hurt through angry words, harsh attacks, and twisted half-truths.
In the past, newspapers and televisions ran ads for politicians. This year, it was also our friends and coworkers sending us political messages electronically. (Were there lawn signs when I was a child?) This is a wondrous exercise of free speech–and as a writer and budding artist, I greatly treasure freedom of expression!
However, in our excitement with lightning speed communication at our fingertips, some of us may have hurt others we love. We may have expressed things in type we never would have said in person. We may have stereotyped people or demonized people of the opposing group.
Now is the time to reach out with kindness to people you may have hurt in this process. Now is the time to stop blaming others for all sorts of problems, to put forth our own efforts to make the country and world a better place. Now is the time to shake the hands of your opponent, and show respect for people of all shapes, sizes, political groups.
What really makes the United States a great place is the ability to work together despite our cultural, regional, or religious differences. Our beliefs and values may vary, but our oneness exists because of something deep within that unites us. That unity is not based on all being clones of each other, but rather of working together to form a good place to live and grow and work and dream together.
The healing of the divisions in this country begins with you and me, when we reach out our hands in kindness and hospitality to those around us. This is not always easy, but it is classic for true followers of Jesus, the one who said:
Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:44-45)
Until next time, Amen!
Looking for a short spiritual nugget to brighten your day? A reminder that God’s divine presence is with you, even on a “bad day”? Something motivational, thought-provoking, or creative?
Spiritual Drawing Board now has a Facebook page of its own. I’ll be continuing to write here, on this WordPress blog, but now you can also receive little spiritual nuggets on the Facebook page “Spiritual Drawing Board by Julie McCarty”.
Expect to find encouragement to pray or meditate, to love others, to seek wisdom, to go beyond politics and “group think,” and to learn from famous spiritual figures.
To find the link, log on to your Facebook account and search for this:
“Spiritual Drawing Board by Julie McCarty”
(click on “like” to start receiving in your news feed on FB)
And, while you are there, I hope you will share your own inspiring thoughts or questions you wrestle with. The spiritual journey includes community focus–and I would love to hear from you, on the FB page, in the comments on the blog, or via e-mail (see contact page for e-mail).
Please, do spread the word. Share what I post on SDB on FB all you like. The world has enough sin and hate. It is up to Spirit-filled people to spread the message of compassion in whatever ways they can.
Until next time, Amen.
P.S. For those new to Facebook: If you “like” Spiritual Drawing Board FB page, you will receive “news” from the page, but your personal posts will not come to me unless you choose to put something on my page or message me directly. I will not see the messages you send your FB friends unless I’m already one of your friends on FB.
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. –John 21:18
Have you ever thought about moving beyond your comfort zone as a type of spiritual practice? Is life drawing you to something new, but you are hesitant? Is God inviting you to another way of serving others or giving of yourself, but you are reluctant or procrastinating?
In her column on Patheos.com, Benedictine Oblate and “online Abbess” Christine Valters Paintner explores the way that moving beyond our comfort zone could be called a spiritual practice. Here’s the link:
The Spiritual Practice of Being Uncomfortable.
(If the link above doesn’t work, try googling “spiritual practice of being uncomfortable”.)
Thanks to the “online Abbess” of Abbey of the Arts for challenging us to listen and act when the Spirit invites us to new ways of thinking and behaving–and thanks to Patheos.com for allowing the sharing of columns.
Until next time, Amen.
Spiritual Drawing Board 