by Christine Sine
We are about to leave behind our focus on What Does Your Soul Long to Do and move into a season of Gratitude. Last week I invited all of you to join me in a weekly gratitude scavenger hunt but I also wanted to provide a tool to help us both contemplate and prepare. As I have mentioned before finger labyrinths are great tools for problem solving, meditation and de-stressing. It is particularly fun when we make our own and then use them for meditation. I am increasingly using this exercise in workshops and events that I facilitate and thought that you might like to use it too.
If you don’t know what a finger labyrinth is read this post which gives a brief explanation and a simple meditation to practice with.
Finger Labyrinth Supplies
This supply list is for a group as I think this is a great group activity so get a few friends together and give it a go.
Backing board or clipboard sheets 8×11- 1 sheet for each person (card stock will work too but is not as sturdy)
If you want to make a really nice finger labyrinth then wooden board is a great alternative
Colored sand – preferably a choice of several colours. This one is nice because it is easy to sprinkle on the board. This is a lot of sand but it is great to use for other projects too. Yes I am brainstorming!!!
Lead pencils to draw the pattern with.
Rulers (I link to wooden ones to avoid the use of plastic as much as possible) and erasers to help trace or when you make mistakes with the pattern – one for each person is good.
Colored pencils or gel pens (I like the retractable ones because otherwise I loose the tops) to decorate with after the pattern is completed.
Creating your labyrinth
These instructions are adapted from https://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Labyrinth
Draw a 2” cross about an inch below the center of an 8×11” piece of card stock or backing board with a pencil. Add dots on all four corners of an imaginary 2” square. Press lightly so that it is easy to erase mistakes.
Connect the upper tip of the vertical line with the upper right dot using a curved line.
Using another curved line, connect the right tip of the horizontal line with the upper left dot. 
Connect the left tip of the horizontal line to the lower right dot using a bigger curved line.
Extend the vertical line on the bottom a further 1” and connect its tip on the lower left dot.
Carefully spread glue along the labyrinth path. You might like to do two lines if your “walking space” is wide.
Sprinkle colored sand over your labyrinth.
Allow to dry. Decorate around the labyrinth with colored pens or pencils if desired.
Walking a Finger Labyrinth – A Meditative Exercise
Walking a finger labyrinth not only de-stresses and relaxes you but when you walk it with your non-dominant hand it can also can help you solve problems. Is there a question you are struggling with? Is there a doubt about life or faith your brain refuses to ignore? Let’s experiment and see if the finger labyrinth can help you dig into the hidden wholeness in your soul and bring resolution:
Sit quietly with your finger labyrinth in your lap. Take a few breaths in and out until you feel at peace in your soul. Remind yourself of the story of Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 14:22-33. Imagine it raging around you and your desire to step outside the boat of convention and ask uncomfortable questions. Visualize Jesus coming towards you holding out his hands and saying “Don’t be afraid of your doubts and your questions. I am with you always.” Imagine you are Peter stepping out of the boat into unknown waters.
Recite this prayer or a similar prayer of welcome and receptivity: Walk with me Lord through all the twists and turns of life, walk with me when clouds obscure the way, when what seemed close is now so far away. Walk with me Lord until I trust in you, lead me to the center of your love.
Frame your question. Place a finger from your non-dominant hand at the entrance to the labyrinth. Prayerfully ask a question you are struggling with about life, faith or vocation. Invite the Holy Spirit of God to guide and instruct you on your journey.
Trace the circuit with your finger. Stay open to whatever presents itself: feelings, sensations, memories, ideas. Pause at any time to breathe, be with a thought or memory or just to relax into the labyrinth and the question stirring in your mind. At the center of the labyrinth, sense your connection to your own center and to God’s centering presence. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit, the heavenly counselor directing your thoughts and exploration. Relax, prayer, sing. Repeat your question.
Trace your way out, staying open to whatever comes to you. When your walk is done, place both hands on the labyrinth and sit quietly in the presence of God once more. Thank God for your questioning heart and for the enrichment it brings to your faith.
Trust your gut and the journey it takes you on. Believe in your creative impulses. Is there a solution to your question that surfaces? Write it down. How is God nudging you to respond? Write it down. You might like to write both your question and response around the labyrinth. Are there people you need to talk to? Get out your phone and make an appointment.
Finish with prayer. Offer a prayer of gratitude to God for the responses that have come to you and the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and change you.
This exercise is adapted from The Gift of Wonder. Intervarsity Press Downers Grove, Il 2019,) (90-91) Used with permission
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by Christine Sine
This has been a struggling week for me and part of that has been because of some of the responses to the climate crisis news we face. Greta Thunberg has called us to action and I hope that we will respond. Romans 8:18-25 has been my go to scripture as I grapple with this. I recommend reading it in The Passion Translation to give yourself a fresh perspective on these important verses. I find that when I am grappling with an issue as important as this that reading a new or different translation always helps me to discern what God is saying.
A couple of days ago I wrote this prayer to both spur me me on and to encourage me as consider the many possibilities of what God is asking me to do.
It’s time for action
I know it.
Our children know it.
And the earth cries out in pain.
Crisis, crisis, crisis.
Will you save me from the burning,
Protect me from the wind and storm,
From the silence
Of a million species
Dead before their time.
Creation groans
As though in childbirth.
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
It yearns for freedom from human sin.
The entire universe stands on tiptoe.
Will we fulfill its hope
And be Christ’s hands and feet of healing?
(c) Christine Sine September 2019.
However just as Romans leaves us with hope, I wanted to do the same – hope from those who are reaching out to make a difference and here are a couple of good news stories:
Mexico City Is Converting Highway Pillars to vertical gardens
Amazing Rooftop Panels of Microplants that Convert More CO2 Than a Single Tree.
by Lilly Lewin
The Gospel reading from last Sunday was Luke 16: 1-13. It’s a passage that most of us who use the lectionary would like to skip and sometimes do skip because it’s not cut and dry and doesn’t fit neatly into our “good and bad” view of life.
In The Message, Eugene Peterson translates verses 8-9
“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”
During our lectio divina on Sunday, the phrase that stuck out to me was
“So you will live, really live, and not just get by on good behavior”
I have practiced lectio for many years, and I always find that I have more questions from a text than answers. The questions were: What does it mean to REALLY LIVE? What doe REALLY LIVING mean to me? What does it look like?
I don’t want to just get by on good behavior. I lived a lot of my life that way, as a performance based oldest child and as a performer, people pleasing, Christian.
So what does REALLY LIVING Look like? For Me:
Enjoying each day as a gift!
Trusting that GOD can and does provide for me.
Being Generous. Living in Generosity.
Helping others rather than Helping myself.
REST! Not busyness.
Reflecting LIGHT not darkness in the world. (in my words, my actions, my social media etc)
Seeing God’s ABUNDANCE rather than living in NOT ENOUGH!
Enjoying BEAUTY in the world.
NOTICING small things.
Helping others EXPERIENCE more of Jesus.
REALLY LIVING rather than fearing to live.
NOT WASTING TIME or MY GIFTS.
Realizing and Remembering that each day is a Gift.
I want to Live the Gift…The Journey, the Adventure, and the Pilgrimage of Life with Jesus!
Most importantly, TO REALLY LIVE, REALLY LIVING, involves seeing myself as
LOVED BY GOD!
Living as LOVED and BELOVED of GOD, not as as SLAVE.
I want to receive this LOVE! And help others receive it too!
So what about you?
What does REAL LIVING, REALLY LIVING, look like for you?
Take some time to consider it.
Talk to Jesus about it.
Sit with the questions.
Journal or draw a picture. Maybe even create a collage of what REAL LIVING looks like with Jesus.
What does it mean to me to REALLY LIVE, Not to just get by on good behavior?
Know that you are GREATLY LOVED just as you are today!
Receive that GIFT!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
By Barbie Perks —
My first reaction was: what a strange idea for a theme! But it is something I have been mulling over in my mind ever since I first read about it. Some thoughts have moved in and out of my mind over the last couple of weeks, one or two have remained constant and I have been forced out of my comfort zone to consider them.
Connection – this has been a constant longing for some time now. Distance from loved ones, both physical and emotional, brings a feeling of dis-connection that is hard to live with. Sometimes the force behind the distancing of oneself in relationships is a drive to self-protect from an abusive situation; it becomes a necessary tool that enables healing of body and spirit. Whatever the reason, the loss is very real and results in a soul that is troubled, and remains ill at ease until the matter is resolved. David speaks of this condition often in various psalms. (Ps 31:9 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief; Ps 19:28 My soul is weary with sorrow..)
Security – in our current work and political situations, life changes rapidly for many of us and it is hard to hold on to the things that make up the framework of our existence. This is when my soul looks to the Lord for security – the one unalterable fact of life for me is that God does not change. He remains the same faithful God He has always been. So whenever life throws a curve-ball at me, I can rest in the knowledge that God is there for me. (Ps 23:3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Ps 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.)
Bitterness – a strange thought to entertain, I know, and not many would happily acknowledge that there are times in our lives when our soul grows bitter, but this is when I know I have to learn to look deeper at the roots and causes of the particular bitterness that flavours my life sometimes. God is always faithful to reveal to me what I need to do to overcome it. Job is an example of a person who found his life and soul very bitter during his trials and he acknowledged it and was not chastised for his feelings. (Job 7:11 “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job 10:1 I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.)
Hope – is very difficult to define and explain to someone who does not think the same as I do. But in everything I am convinced that the only way to live victoriously is to live in hope. My soul longs for the victory that is still to come, and I know deep down that no matter what life throws at me, my hope is sure. (Hebrews 6:19a We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Two songs have been meaningful to me during these couple of weeks, I give you the links in case you may find them helpful too.
Let your living water flow – the visuals of this video help in meditating and immersing oneself in the living waters – very cleansing to the soul!!
By Lynne Baab—
I fell in love with Australian aboriginal art the first time I saw it as a young adult. I love visual patterns, and aboriginal art is full of them. A highlight of our first trip to Australia in 2001 was the art museums and art galleries where I got to see a lot of examples. I bought a book about aboriginal art and learned that many pieces are actually maps, representing the land forms, human settlements, and animals of specific places.
In 2011, my husband Dave and I began a new habit which we have continued. Several mornings a week we pray silently together for 20 minutes. We do it in the late morning when I am ready for a break from working in my home office. In the first few years of that practice, I often picked up a book of art prints and prayed using the prints. Last week, I wrote about doing that with paintings of biblical scenes.
One morning during our silent prayer time, I picked up my book on aboriginal art. I thumbed through it, marveling at the shapes and colors, thanking God for the creativity of aboriginal artists. My eye landed on a 1987 painting called Emu Dreaming by Darby Jampijinpa Ross. You’ll see the painting at the top of this blog post. For many months, Emu Dreaming stimulated my prayers in unexpected ways.
I know that my interpretation of the painting bears no resemblance to the intent of the artist. I find myself hoping that my great love for the painting would please Darby Jampijinpa Ross anyway.
Emu Dreaming – Darby Jampijinpa Ross
You’ll notice a circular center with eight wavy lines coming out of it. Seven of the eight lines end in a spiral. In New Zealand Maori art, that spiral is a symbol of new life, modeled on fern fronds in the spring. In my symbolic interpretation of the painting, the circular center of the painting is God. The eight paths are various things we do in our lives. If we want the freshness of new life, we have to say connected to the center.
However, one line moves from the center to the upper right of the painting without ending in a spiral. This helps me accept that sometimes even when we are connected to the center, our actions don’t bear good fruit that’s visible to us.
The three black circles that are detached from the center circle represent to me the good things that God can spin off of our actions, blessings and good fruit that originate in our God-centered actions but take on a life of their own apart from us.
Between the wavy lines that are connected to the center, we can see eight sets of straight black lines with what looks like arrows on either side of the straight lines. The arrows are pointing away from the center. To me, those arrows represent the deep truth that when we get disconnected from the center, so many forces within us and outside of us want to move us further and further from the center.
Emu Dreaming has called me, over and over, to stay connected to the center. My center is God in Christ, experienced though the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. The painting has helped me pray about the connectednesss of components of my life. Are various aspects of my life connected to the center, or are they actually like those thick black lines that want to draw me away from God? The painting has helped me evaluate and pray about habits, Christian ministry, and the relationships that shape and sustain me.
The painting has called me to confession. It has helped me renew, over and over again, my commitment to stay connected to the center so that I might experience new life in the various components of my life. It has helped me accept that sometimes – not often but sometimes – I engage in actions that result from my connection with God, but good fruit is not visible.
Thank you, creative God, for Darby Jampijinpa Ross and other aboriginal artists in Australia who delight me with the patterns they have painted.
________________________
This post, Creative prayer: Art as symbol and metaphor, is reposted with permission from Lynne Baab’s personal blog, lynnebaab.com. It is part of a series on creative prayer. Here are the other posts in the series.
Creative prayer with colors
The psalms and music
Walking and memorizing psalms
Creative prayer nurtures stopping
Creative prayer as remembering truth
Trees
Apples and wings
Learning from mindfulness meditation
Returning prayer
Relinquishing and welcoming
Prayer cards
Pressing pause
Creative prayer with Jeremiah
Submitting and entreating
Creative prayer: Seasons
Creative prayer without codependency
Creative prayer in a foreign language
Creative prayer while walking
Creative prayer using the imagination
Joy spot sightings
Creative prayer in a hospitable spirit
Creative prayer using our hands
Prompts for prayer
More prayer prompts
Creative prayer for creation care
Creative prayer: Art as symbol and metaphor
Creative prayer
by Christine Sine
October and November are my gratitude season and I wanted to give you a heads up so that you have a chance to get ready and hopefully join me in celebrating two months of gratitude.
It all began with a week of gratitude straddling American Thanksgiving that grew into a month between Canadian and American Thanksgiving. Now it is a whole season of two months of looking back, taking stock and giving thanks – to God, to those around me and to God’s good earth.
This year I plan to be a little more intentional than usual and invite you to join me. Drawing from the exercise at the end of the chapter on gratitude in The Gift of Wonder I am planning a protracted gratitude scavenger hunt, focusing on a new area of my life, and hunting for new items that I am grateful for each week. I think it this a great preparation for the end of the year and our celebration of Christmas. Will you join me and celebrate this important season together?
Here is what I invite you to do.
What Will You Need?
Get yourself a gratitude journal. I like an 8 x 11 1/2 sketch book like this Wirebound, Pentalic Sketch Book, or if you want to do something a little more special, permanent, and decorative you might like to try this Vintage Hardcover Three-Ring Binder .
Get a stack of post – it notes or small cards to label what you are grateful for.
Gather some decorative pens, pencils or crayons. I love paint pens which I think will be perfect for the vintage hardcover binder but colored markers will also work and are cheaper. Be aware that they might bleed through sketch pad pages though. The paint pens seem expensive up front but I use them for painting rocks, leaves, and wood so they are lots of fun to have around and seem to last for years.
Gather some magazines and photos that will help you make a collage of your weekly gratitudes.
A glue stick. If you like to do craft projects or have a kid who does you probably already have this around the house. Otherwise get the cheapest one you can find as you will only need a little or if you belong to a buy nothing group see if someone has one they no longer need.
What Will You Do?
Read through the chapter on cultivating gratitude in The Gift of Wonder. I have just re-read this in preparation for my own season of gratitude and I hope you don’t mind me tooting my horn a little but I really do think it is an excellent start to our gratitude season.
Set aside time once a week for your gratitude reflection. This is the scavenger hunt part. Over the next few weeks we will work through the different parts of your life hunting for and in some cases uncovering the things you are grateful for. Quickly write each item on a post it note.
Write in your journal. In large letters at the top of a fresh page write Ten things I am grateful for in my ….. . (prompts to follow) Make your list writing each item in a different color and follow it wit a sentence that describes what your life would be like without that item. You might like to break this up through the week and do 2 items for each day of the week.
Set aside another block of time for your creative exercise. You might like to create a collage, write a prayer, create a wreath or write a song.
Sunday is my gratitude day. I usually block off half an hour or more to think about what I am grateful for, but for the next couple of months I plan to spend more time on both the gratitude gathering exercise and the recording exercise. I am not sure how this will work with my busy travel schedule over this time period but I am sure that I can make something work.
Weekly Prompts.
Some of the prompts are fairly generic and can be used every week so choose from these and then apply the specific prompts below. Or if other ideas come to mind use those instead (and share them with us for future gratitude seasons.)
- Name someone that makes your life better.
- Name something you are particularly proud of.
- What makes you laugh?
- What are you grateful for that you would like to share with someone else?
- What is something unique that you are grateful for?
- Find something that makes you feel safe.
- Find something that makes a beautiful sound.
- What is something unusual you are grateful for.
- Name one beautiful thing you are grateful for.
- What recent lesson are you grateful for?
Week 1 – Gratitude for your life.
- Name an experience from your life you are particularly proud of.
- What or who has made you want to laugh this week?
- What is one talent you are grateful for?
- What is one thing about your body you are grateful for?
Week 2 – Gratitude for your family.
- Name your favourite childhood memory.
- Name a special attribute of a family member you are grateful for.
- One thing you recently learnt about a family member that you are grateful for.
- One way God has blessed your family that you are grateful for.
Week 3 – Gratitude for your friends
- Name one friend who makes you laugh.
- One thing you have learned from friends that makes you feel special.
- One way your friends have helped you grow
- Name the friends who have stuck with you through good times and bad.
Week 4 – Gratitude for your home.
- Describe something that smells amazing.
- Think of something you used today that you tend to take for granted that you are grateful for.
- One thing that represents your culture that you are grateful for.
- One thing with words on it that you are grateful for,
Week 5 – Gratitude for your workplace.
- Name one person who makes you smile.
- One aspect of your work you are particularly grateful for
- Name one lesson you learned this week that you are grateful for.
- Name one characteristic of your workplace you are grateful for.
Week 6 – Gratitude for your community.
- Name one of your neighbors you are grateful for.
- Describe one aspect of your community you are grateful for.
- What is your favourite community site that you are grateful for
- What is one thing about your community that makes you feel strong.
Week 7 – Gratitude for your place of worship.
- What is one thing about your place of worship that you are grateful for?
- What is one thing about your faith community that encourages you?
- Name one place in your place of worship that makes you feel close to God?
- Name one thing in your place of worship that shows a vibrant color you love.
Week 8 – Gratitude for nature
- What is one of your favourite beautiful places?
- What is one particularly good taste for you.
- What about the current season are you grateful for?
- What place in nature of gives you rest?
Once you have written your lists take time to reflect on what you have written. Allow the Holy Spirit to reach deep into your soul and bring a response – Decorate your list. Create a collage from appropriate magazine images and photos. Write a prayer or a song. Paint a picture. Whatever rises up within you DO IT.
P.S. You might also like to check out Ten Tips for Expressing Gratitude
NOTE: As an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
In Honor of International Day of Peace, a poem by Ana Lisa De Jong —
We were meant to grow up
climbing rungs to heaven.
We were meant to grow out
expansive as yeast rising.
We were meant to grow inwards,
increasing in love and wisdom.
We were meant to grow out beyond
our old ways of living.
Shedding skins as
clothes grown long too tight.
We are meant to learn grace
as something not heavy,
for it always being a gift renewed
and re-given.
We are meant to stop
condemnation, judgement, anything small.
Cease from all that makes us smaller
than what we are now.
For we are growing up,
and giving up,
the old receding
like the sun behind the hills.
And the love in us expanding
out beyond ourselves,
so that we might not recognise
who once we were.
And so it should be,
love in us ever expanding
until all we see
is love in all.
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
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