Artistic Afternoons: Photo walk Presuming it’s safe to walk outdoors where you are at some point this afternoon or evening, consider stepping out and taking a contemplative photography stroll as a way of clearing a path of hope in you. Even the slowness of it can open up space that had been too crowded to make room for new life, new growth to take root. The beauty, too—it nourishes us in deeply spiritual ways, gifts of life from the One who created the blooms and creatures and colors and textures that delight our souls. So, take a walk (indoors, if necessary!), slowing down and allowing yourself to really take in your surroundings. What do you see? What are your other senses experiences along the way? What is calling for you to pay attention, to lean in? Consider taking a photo of that—whether it is simply an instance of nourishing beauty or evocative of some other experience for you. Let this be a tuning-in to what particularly draws *you* as a person, a noticing of how those things touch hope in you—hope that you may not regularly have access to, but in these moments, rise to the surface (often accompanied by the pain of longing!). Let your photograph be your prayer today (and feel free to share yours with us, our collected visual prayers of hope!).

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-07-26 20:30:00 UTC