Leanne Shawler, Artist

Written 12/21/15: Apologies for the sudden stop in posting. I got caught up in finishing an icon (it's still in progress) and finishing up LifeBook lessons for the year. I'm taking the class again in 2016 as there's a cool new crop of teachers.) Written 2/27/16: I finished the icon and will post about it later. I got obsessed with Hamilton (the musical). I forgot all about blogging. But found this post, last edited in December with "READY TO GO" written next to it in my Notes app so here's as good a place to re-start as any. "I will not be driven by perfectionism or performance - because I was formed by Love, for Love. I will simply Enjoy the Ministry of Presence today: God's presence, people's presence, the present moment, the gift of now. The greatest gift I can give back to our great God is to let His love make me glad." - Ann Voskamp. This is on the card for December 2 of Ann Voskamp's Advent reflections, which is also ...

I am taking a break from publishing my list of 1000 gifts for a while. There are a number of reasons, the most meaningful of which is that I have discovered that once I've noted and/or snapped a photo, I usually move on, letting the moment pass. A most recent exception was watching the pelicans fly by. And so, I find I do not want to write down my three gifts a day, but I want to stay with those gifts, even after the moment has passed. Which means, among other things, I've started to write poetry again and I'll share two that I wrote a couple of weeks ago later this week. It's become less about quantity and more about quality. As Ann Voskamp says, to slow down and experience the life I'm in right now (am paraphrasing). Writing down one thousand gifts last year and I'm somewhere in the 400s this year has been and is transformative. I am taking a different path to explore these moments when I can see God in beauty or within another or within s...

We've moved from Wednesdays to Mondays. I didn't keep this journal while I took a blogging break. I guess I need my few readers to keep me accountable. Here's last week's list: As always, would love to hear how you've noticed God or how you've been affected by God in the past week. Am linking this up to Ann Voskamp's "multitudes on Mondays" (or will as soon as it goes up!)

For the longest time, I couldn't see the point in confession. Before I truly believed that I am beloved by God, saying the confession during the church service either seemed hypocritical (did I mean the words I mouthed?) or induced  fresh waves of guilt and shame despite the absolution given by the priest. Confession said on Sundays when I was a teen. Perhaps it just takes me a bit longer, but last year as I put together a Rule of Life (part of becoming an associate of the Order of the Holy Cross), I was again confronted with this prevailing belief that confession was some antiquated words that held no real meaning now. I consulted Mary, a friend of mine, about this dilemma. It seems that, generally speaking, Episcopalians didn't much care for confession -- baggage most like from being Protestant and separated from the Catholic church 500 some years ago. Mary shared with me a prayer that both thanked God for the day's blessings and asked me to recognize when I h...