Midday Meditation: Find a flower (or some other plant or bit of nature where you live), and spend some time in Visio Divina with it (and if you can't get outside today, and don't have any plants indoors, feel free to use this image for your Visio!). First, just look at whatever it is you have chosen—its lines, its colors, its textures. Notice where light and shadow fall, how it fits into the rest of what you can see from your viewpoint. “Read” whatever bit of nature you have in front of you. Let it soak in. Then, begin to wonder about it. This is the “meditation” piece of the process. Consider what you know of this plant and how those things connect with your own life. What emotions or memories does it bring up for you? What are the associations coming to mind? Take a moment to notice. Next, turn toward God with the things that are coming up. Talk to God about the plant, about the associations. Ask God questions; listen for a response. See if you have any sense of invitation emerging from this time spent with this piece of the natural world. Spend some time here. Now, soften your gaze and simply be present to God who is present to you, in *this* moment, with *this* flower. No need for words or explorations; simply be together in loving contemplation of each other. What was that like for you? Have you done Visio Divina before? How was it like/unlike Lectio Divina, for you, if that is a practice you have engaged in before? What was it like to “read” nature in this way? How was God revealed in it? How was your own soul revealed in it?

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-04-24 17:30:22 UTC