Sometimes the promise of beauty rising from ashes seems impossible. Sometimes it all feels like losing; and finding appears marred beyond recognition. This is my battle cry: even if I don't see it, the promise still stands. And I still believe it. Someday, there will be a beautiful exchange. Matthew 10:39 "Those who find their life…Read more Battle Cry (Inspired by “A Beautiful Exchange”)
Spiritual journey
What I Learned From My Dogs About Attachment
Recently someone asked me to think about and describe my favorite place to be, a space where I am irresistibly happy. Without hesitation, I replied, “Bear Creek Dog Park.” No doubt, it is a beautiful park. Huddled in the foothills with stunning mountain vistas and traced by a gurgling creek, with sunflower-studded hills by summer…Read more What I Learned From My Dogs About Attachment
“A Beautiful Exchange”
I'm honored and proud to introduce you to my friend, author Megan Nilsen. If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you know that I am passionate about adoption. Adopting two of my children from Kenya forever changed me and my art. To quote artist Makoto Fujimura, "We often think of great artists, musicians,…Read more “A Beautiful Exchange”
Knee Deep in Ashes
I'm standing knee deep in ashes. The shards of shattered dreams now crumble over scorched earth. Years ago, I dreamed, I yearned, I claimed. I clutched my heart's desire. But sometimes challenges twist into diagnoses, early tremors quicken into full-blown quakes. I stand here, not at all sure I remember the heart once beating strong…Read more Knee Deep in Ashes
Orphans Around the World
Orphans Around the World My heart breaks for the orphans of the world. Two former orphans live and love in my own home, and gazing into their eyes, I will never forget the children still out there, struggling and hoping for love. I also fall ever deeper in love with a God who could not…Read more Orphans Around the World
Beauty Rising
Today, I am thinking about the kind of beauty that rises like a phantom from ashes. I see remnants of burned-out dreams and hopes scattered on a hillside, companions to blackened tree skeletons. I see ashes, lying there, still and dormant, yet flickering with invisible yearning. I see ashes that secretly dare to believe: “When…Read more Beauty Rising
A Tree Planted by Water
Jeremiah 17:7-8 7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it…Read more A Tree Planted by Water
Elijah’s Ravens
Elijah's Ravens is one of those paintings that flows from a place of deep sorrow and unyielding hope, one of those creative processes expressing inaccessible-by-words movements of the spirit. The closest I can come to verbalization of what this painting means is to borrow words from a powerful little book I've been reading lately, Reversed Thunder, by one…Read more Elijah’s Ravens
Remembering Nepal
Only God could write a storyline in which a Colorado country girl rides an elephant in Nepal with a Kenyan pastor, a dear friend who serves in Nairobi’s second largest slum. We laughed and joked as we rocked along with the giant beast, waving to a field worker dressed in brilliant hues. (Photos in story can…Read more Remembering Nepal
Studio Update
I recently entered the Colorado Springs Art Guild Spring Show, Impressions, and I'm thrilled that one of my pieces won 2nd place. It's an older piece that increases exponentially in meaning for me as I near the "launching" of my oldest child, who graduates from high school next month. My heart pleads and trusts daily for his…Read more Studio Update
Colleen Briggs Images & Writing 