THE DAILY BAPTISM: SO WE CAN BEGIN AGAIN

SO WE CAN BEGIN AGAIN

The DAILY BAPTISM: SO WE CAN BEGIN AGAIN

Creating Grace from the Mundane to the Mysterious

“The truth about morning is that it is the small light of the beginning breaking through, again and again. It is a wisdom so large and clear, one which carries us through our lives so quietly and completely that we seldom see it.” 

–Mark Nepo

In these turbulent political times in the United States, I seek renewal, regeneration, restoration, rejuvenation…. I reach and stretch my bodyspirit to replenish my faith in myself and humanity.

It is before morning's first light that I experience this baptism. I dance. I light incense and burn candles. I open books. I drink coffee. I meditate as I draw. Then as dawn breaks, I am ready. These repetitive acts have prepared me.

In the world beyond my front door, I am ready to create grace from the mundane to the mysterious. I restore myself, knowing that my rejuvenated grace extends to you. I find solace in the knowledge that you and I are connected. And I reach to you with open arms to receive your grace back to me.

These two images, which are result of my daily creative practice from one year ago, surprised me when they popped up as my Facebook “memories.”  I marvel how the words and symbols soothe me one year later. This predawn experience not only brings me a sense joyful laughter but also AWE.

THE RIVER OF THE BABY. On the morning of the 2017 inauguration, I woke renewed from a dream that had replenished me. As is my practice, I took action to capture the precious gift from my subconscious in the creative act of drawing. This incomplete image that resulted expresses some of that magical renewal. In contrast to the angst I was experiencing surrounding the change of presidential power in the United States, "The River of the Baby," holds a sense of fragile fertility for me.

In that dream of renewal, I am chasing my cat Sapelo who has escaped on the Georgia barrier island of Sapelo (the origin of her name). She is leaping in out tall grasses, and when she disappears, I follow her to a stream. There in the stream is a newborn baby. Before my eyes the baby grows into a woman who has another baby.

I experience the flesh of this human genesis as being such an intricate part of nature, the stream bed, the ferns, the Earth. I'm overwhelmed by the delicacy of the environment and the living breathing creatures, the water, and the richness of the soil and rising green plants unfolding. This immense beauty renews me.  (January 20, 2017, art by Hallelujah Truth).

FIDDLEHEADED NEWBORN. In my playful efforts to find peace in these troubled days of uncertainty with U.S. presidential power that we cannot trust to serve the good of all, I have found a place of "rebirth." This image is based on a dream the night before the 2017 inauguration. I was chasing my cat Sapelo into the woods and found a fragile newborn in the river bed. Before my eyes the "Fiddleheaded Newborn," transformed into a woman who then gave birth to another child. Amidst all of this fragile flesh being generated was such intense beauty. We are all so beautiful and the Earth that embraces us and supports our existence is so immensely fecund. Yet, at the time, I experience the fragility of our existence and the imperative that we must care for one another and our Earth.  (January 22, 2017, a work from the series Creating Grace from the Mundane to the Mysterious, Hallelujah Truth)

My CREATIVITY sustains me. And your creativity sustains me too! Thank you for accompanying me in my journey into the mystery of our hearts.

That’s Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me. Can you tell me about what your predrawn restorative acts? Or the creative actions you will take today to bring peace, joy and meaning to your life and hence mine?