Artistic Afternoons: Paint a storm. Perhaps abstract, the darker colors and movement of your body expressing the tumultuous wind and water on the page; or perhaps recreating an actual image of a storm that feels particularly powerful to you. As you paint, as you move your hand, your arm, your body, let it carry whatever storms you hold inside right now. Perhaps they are storms of circumstance in your external life; or the conflict in a relationship that feels stormy; or perhaps a storm of doubt or fear or anger in your own depths that you feel stirring. Hold that storm with God as you paint. Let the painting be the prayer of presence in the midst of the storm, the coming-to-God-asleep-in-the-boat, the invitation for him to be present to you and your experience now. You may end up with quite a tempestuous set of marks if you let yourself embody some of this on the page. It may look unlike any storm you’ve ever seen. You may look at it and say it’s exactly what you’re feeling. Or you may hate the whole process and the end product, too. What does that speak to you of your relationship with the messy, uncontrollable spaces of the storm, too? What is your desire as you finish your storm piece? As a last step, give your storm a name, like they might with a hurricane or tropical storm. Name it in light of your feelings in and around it, your fears and desires as you hold this particularly stormy place in your life or soul (and feel free to share yours here!).

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-08-21 21:29:36 UTC