This Week

This past week I went on a personal retreat. I spent a few days in a cottage at Beulah Beach Camp on Lake Erie. I love being near the water but didn't actually spend any time on the beach. I mainly stayed inside and read and journaled, and of course did some art.

I made a small journal out of watercolor paper for the retreat as a way to practice what I am learning from Valerie Sjodin. Learning to shape the edges and embellish and paint them. The start of my journal:

The quote reads, "In the broadest sense of the word, contemplation means creating sacred space to be still, to rest in God, to reflect, to look inward, to attend to the inner life, and simply to be with God in solitude, silence, and stillness. Solitude, silence and stillness are in fact the qualities of contemplative prayer...a lifestyle of contemplation fosters personal and communal transformation." Phileena Heuertz.

My intention for this retreat was to take some time to process the information from the conference I attended last month. What I learned was that I already do a pretty good job of engaging in reflection on my down-day. I had an expectation going into the retreat that my time would be different because I was away from home...and that did happen in the early years when I first started taking retreats. But now I find that the practices I have established for down-time and being intentional with spiritual practices such as journaling and reflection are providing "retreat-like" time on a regular basis. Taking small amounts of time and a longer amount on my Friday down-day is helping me pay attention to my heart. It was a good discovery and will help me continue to stay focused on the spiritual practices that feed my soul, and will help me continue to be diligent about protecting my "white space" on Fridays.

Over the past few weeks I have enjoyed making some painted and collaged background pages for my journals. This continues to be such a therapeutic activity for me!

And added a few art journal pages to an altered book art journal

The last page is the prayer we used at the start of each of our small group sessions at the conference. It was a good way to slow down, listen and focus on God.

This one graduated from Kindergarten yesterday. I love being an adopted grandma to these kid!

That was my week. How was yours?

Restoration

Restoration. Transformation. Renewal. Renovation. It's all about change. Heart change. Soul change. Life change. It's a constant throughout life. The season right now is such a wonderful visual example of change. The gray, barren landscape changes each day as flowers bloom and leaves appear and the world becomes a green and colorful place once again. As difficult as it is at times, I actually like change. It's uncomfortable. It's a journey into the previously unknown. But passing years and a faithful God have shown time and time again that change generally brings about something better, something more authentic, something new and more colorful. Change often feels like winter ~ dark, cold, barren, but just around the corner is a fresh, new, colorful season. I'm art journaling as I go.

My Nest, My Heart, My Soul, My House

Back in March (see this post http://mewithmyheadintheclouds.blogspot.com/2013/03/heart-journey.html) I journaled and blogged about the many paths of my journey that are converging. This continues to happen to me and it feels like God is speaking to me and leading me to a place that has the potential to bring healing. Where God leads will always bring healing. I say "potential" because I must be willing to follow where He leads me and to let what He has for me transform me.

What continues to converge?I continue to read Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart". Our current staff book study is an excellent book by Ruth Haley Barton called "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership". In the online art journaling course I am working through, Soul Restoration, the metaphor for our soul is a house. This month's theme for "The Art Journaler" community is nest. What God is showing me through all of this is that I have allowed the state of my heart and soul to become cluttered and messy by not paying attention to some areas. To continue the metaphor, I've swept some things under the rug rather than fully dealing with the mess. The above things are all serving to open my eyes to see the state of my house/nest.

I love God's humor and that He knows us so well. Using metaphors such as house and nest resonate with me and draw me in to what He wants to show me. I have always loved houses, even as a very young girl I was drawn to architecture. Restoring old houses and decorating have been life long hobbies of mine. I have also been fascinated by birds for most of my life. so these themes of house and nest serve to nurture me rather than push me away, and enable me to hear God.

Right now it seems safer to continue to speak of this journey through the use of these metaphors, but I want to continue to blog about them and share my art journaling. It seems to be a part of the journey; a part of the healing.

As usual, to feed my love of making books, I have made a little book to collect parts of this journey...actually two books (cuz two is better than one, right?).

Restoration Altered Book Journal

Journey Art Journal Binder