Joy Dare: writing an icon (praying to God)

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This past week was primarily composed of the icon writing class I took, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm.

I found this moving not just in terms of patience -- there were plenty of moments when I had to pause, draw in breath, and paint a fine line while breathing the Jesus Prayer -- but also a moment or two of beautiful communion with God.

I wrote about this yesterday. But if you don't feel like wading through a lot of pictures of the same icon at different stages of its creation, you'll be able to see those special moments in the gifts I've listed below.

692. grey sea and grey sky
693. stroking Jesus' hair (while tracing it)



694. melted lemon sorbet
696. drawing on reserves of patience I didn't know I had
697. blue sea
698. breath of cool breeze
699. egg salad sandwich
700. Jesus' face turning out okay even though it didn't look good for a while there
701. not so hot walking home
702. the magic of gold leaf
703. warm scent of eucalyptus on a hot day
704. cool breeze, unexpected
705. waiting my turn to draw my halo: an expertise in patience and prayerfulness (and I Facebooked for a little while)
706. no problem drawing halo

707. prayer answered (about not getting bumped)
708. a classmate sharing seeing an angel in the clouds over our classroom
709. the icon coming to life with varnish

710. taking it easy through the heat of the day
711. sharing in watching the Olympics with friends half a world away
712. compliments on icon -- and being aware that it wasn't nearly all my doing.
713. grooving in the choir stalls
714. watching the dogs watch my hubby fill the kibble container -- dogs so hopeful!
Am linking this up to Ann Voskamp's "multitudes on Mondays" (or will as soon as it goes up!)

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