She was just a few paces past 40 when she stared down widow-hood like a looming spectral in the night. Her husband, also in his early forties, ran regularly at a local track. One day, with no prior health issues, he suddenly collapsed. Another runner raced to his side and performed CPR until emergency…Read more “Beautiful Things”
Art
Abide Persistently
Artist’s statement: I feel a bit like a schizophrenic root system. Each day unfolds, a chaotic sprawl, too many off-shoots to identify a specific direction. Knee deep in the soil of life, a tangle of knots and kinks, I have no idea what is emerging above-ground. Sometimes I just can’t see where I am going.…Read more Abide Persistently
Holding onto the Light
Roots tuck under ebony blanket. Tree-top, reluctant to sleep, teases black sky, clouds swirling heavy, mounting high. And in the space in-between, branches cradle last light in tender arms, as if tearfully crooning, “so long…” But when creeping night looks the other way, they stealthily syphon those silver rays into secret stashes, burning bright and…Read more Holding onto the Light
New limited edition giclee print – Hope Relentlessly
Artist's statement for Hope Relentlessly: There are times in life when hope must come from a place beyond what we can perceive with our physical senses, beyond our tumultuous circumstances. Then, like a sunflower turning through the day towards the light, we cling to the promise that there is more than what we can see…Read more New limited edition giclee print – Hope Relentlessly
A Prayer for Haiti 2
Haiti snuck in as a most unexpected visitor. My heart cracked to make space for it. Vulnerable and achingly beautiful, its vivid colors play in my mind, dancing in the brilliant sun on naked hills. Before and after I visited early this year, I read everything I could to try to understand how such crushing…Read more A Prayer for Haiti 2
Abide
I feel a bit like a schizophrenic root system. The contents of my week seem jumbled and chaotic, too many off-shoots to identify a specific direction. I am deep in the soil of life, a tangle of kinked and knotted roots. I have no idea what is emerging above-ground. I remember another time I pressed…Read more Abide
Freedom Sunday
During a raid two months ago in India, rescuers invaded a room crowded with 36 women enslaved in the sex industry. Within moments of entering, they heard strange noises just on the other side of a wall. They searched for an opening, but there were no windows or doors. Finally they tore down a section…Read more Freedom Sunday
Holy Ground
Bushes still burn today without being consumed. I feel the flames in dark corners of the world where people suffer - the Spirit of God brooding, fierce with unquenchable yearning to gather His little ones into His arms. I can only fall to my knees in humble adoration, let the fire overtake my being. And…Read more Holy Ground
A Beautiful River in Uganda
As most passengers triumphantly hoisted luggage off the belt, my mom and I watched and waited. Finally with a few lonely bags circling round and round in the increasingly vacated baggage claim, we acknowledged the obvious and filtered over to the airline desk to file our claim. Undaunted, we woke the next morning to the…Read more A Beautiful River in Uganda
Painting A Prayer for Haiti (& a poem)
How my heart cringes on this mountain carcass – mounded bones stripped bare. Flayed flanks decay into ceaseless city striving. Betrayed and battered, you sprawl exposed, miserable, dull with hunger. But I sense something here, yearning at the fringes. Something broods at the frayed edges of this wasteland. Something determined, stubborn, more powerful and pervasive…Read more Painting A Prayer for Haiti (& a poem)
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 