photo by Karl Graser and post by Jenneth Graser,
Writing out and drawing your own prayers, poetry and imaginings is a wonderful stress relief and perhaps a different way to explore prayer in your times with God through creative contemplation. You will often be surprised by a revelation or something new to discover about yourself and others. Wisdom shines through the colours, paints, and pages as you go.
I recently released the Unlocking the Secret Garden Prayer Journal which is now available as a companion to Unlocking the Secret Garden: 100 Days of Imaginative Prayer. It can be used together with or independently of the devotional, with quotes from the book and journaling prompts to spark reflection and creativity.
And I will be vlogging my way through the Prayer Journal with you, using the prayer activations from Unlocking the Secret Garden and also the prompts in the journal itself. I will be gathering my coloring pencils, watercolor paints, magazines for collage, pens, and fine-liners for a time of calming journaling and prayer.
Creative journaling is a therapeutic way to engage with God as you adventure through the Secret Garden using your imagination and art supplies. It is good to get in touch with the childlike parts in ourselves that are not afraid to try something new and get messy!
Pastels, paints, glue and textured paper, magazine cut-outs, ribbons, stamps, watercolors, pencil crayons… the possibilities are endless. Sometimes these creative practices take a bit of time to get used to because maybe it’s just not something we usually do or we want everything to look perfect from the beginning. This can lead to putting off what will be fun and enjoyable when we feel that perhaps it’s not going to turn out the way we had hoped.
One of the things I need to look at in myself is creative procrastination. Because it doesn’t have to look perfect, and I don’t need to wait until I have done a course in art, completed an art degree, or received a certificate in scrapbooking or creative journaling to start! And if that is something that also causes you to feel hesitant, then I encourage you to join with me in this creative journey. Come into the Secret Garden with your art supplies handy and your childlike spirit ready to try something perhaps for the first time.
I welcome you to my first video session of prayer journaling, using Day 1’s prayer activation as my inspiration – Light of the World –
Find out more about the Prayer Journal here:
Unlocking the Secret Garden Prayer Journal and devotional are available from your local Amazon.
Join us today at 9am PST for the Facebook Live session with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin. The recording will be available on YouTube later today if you cannot join live.
