Divine Moments

Life is a journey with many passing stages. Each step of our way is filled with its own unique challenges, but also blessings. Can you think of a few? The time of sweetness when we hold a baby for the fist time and let them curl their little fingers around ours. The days of pure…

Remembering Joy

A day of preparation for the celebration to come… A day of remembrance and prayer so that we might understand better that which we are celebrating–a country built on freedom. I relish this pause in our busy schedules so that we might remember, as a country, all of our history. This scene, painted in 1897,…

Getting Away

We all need to get away To find a bit of breathing room New perspectives Time to reconnect with family A break from the day to day Only this year I am struggling with a tailbone injury/issue that isn’t allowing me to sit in the car for longer than a short trip across town. So…

Drifting and planting seeds

Resting in the shade… Escaping the heat of the day. Each in their private meditation. Lost in thoughts… Drifting… We’re living in topsy-turvy times, and I think that what causes the topsy-turvy feelings is inadequacy of old forms of thought to deal with new experiences…you have to stop and drift laterally for a while until…

By the Sea

Recently,  I have been drawn to the paintings of Paul Gauguin. This might seem unexpected in light of his life story that features desertion of his family and the ugly episode the night Van Gogh dislocated his ear lobe. Let’s just say it is easy to judge him harshly because of these stories. Then I…

Podcast: Henry Ossawa Tanner

On this episode of “Seeking God Thru the Arts” we will be looking at the work of Henry Ossawa Tanner who was an American painter born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1859. I will be joined by Adam Nettesheim who regularly posts to my Facebook page called God thru the Arts.  In our discussion we’ll be…

Treasuring Spring

Claude Monet brilliantly conveys sunlight, shining through the leaves of a tree by placing “unblended dabs of color” on the skirt and grass surrounding his subject of a woman reading. It is his wife, Camille, he observes quietly reading as she has positioned herself under the shelter of some low hanging branches. The spot seems…

Tough Talk

I must admit that there are certain teachings of Jesus that are difficult to hear. I prize and certainly adore his great sermons, but parts of his teachings I really don’t spend time relishing. I do this by reading over the passage quickly to scan for the parts I hold close to my heart. I love…

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

  Not sure why I am so drawn to this painting, but there is just something about it that really speaks to my soul. So let’s unpack it together. Painted in 1890, it is the last painting Van Gogh produced in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, shortly before he died. It is sort of a last testimony if…

Divine Encounters

We have all worried about the future. Maybe we have even said: “Well it won’t matter because I won’t be around to see it.” “That won’t happen in my lifetime..” But is this God’s view of things? Does God want us to just keep our heads down and not rock the boat? Or does he…