calling

Called

One minute you are leaning back, reveling in early morning-bird songs, relaxed, mind wandering. Then something quickens your spirit. You bolt upright, alert and faintly alarmed. You suddenly become aware that you are in the Presence of One Much Greater. And He is calling you. Maybe the calling is to meet Him for the first…Read more Called

Am I an Artist?

Last night I faced the question I mostly dread these days. Sitting around the table at a fancy event with well-meaning, newly-met acquaintances, they asked innocently: “So what do you do?” I felt that moment of uncertainty, tinged with panic. A simple question, expressed with genuine interest. In America, we commonly inquire about a person’s…Read more Am I an Artist?

Offering – Pondering the Lives of Mother Teresa Sisters

Kenya, 2001 (somewhere near Nairobi's second largest slum) Blinking in the transition from blazing equatorial sunlight to sacred shadows, we hesitate in the foyer. The sanctuary stretches before us, an ordination service for new Sisters already in progress. Rows of simple benches packed to capacity march along concrete floors. I spot an open space in…Read more Offering – Pondering the Lives of Mother Teresa Sisters

Sacred Center Holds

For weeks I watched its stems and leaves unfurl from soil and climb into a lanky silhouette, stretching for sunrise. It seemed to be a flower of some sort, and I was curious for its culminating shape and color to emerge. But when it did, I was surprised. Wispy white tendrils burst from the center. Not…Read more Sacred Center Holds

I long to go…

tranquil night-drifts earth-sleep stirs trembling, probing, churning, melding massive emergence black iron forging onward rhythmic unconquerable cadence surging, surging into the unknown – midnight giant with haunting calls summons all restless wandering souls and I long to go I long to go and I long to go

Summer Will Come

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m enamored with a single dying weed. So far, it has inspired five paintings in as many months! Click the following links to view the paintings in their original blog entries: (left to right) Songs in the Valley, Reach, Always, Loving You Still. There’s something about it – the pathos as it…Read more Summer Will Come

Reach

“You only get just one time around, you only get one shot at this, one chance to find out the one thing that you don’t want to miss.” One Life to Love by 33 Miles This song lyric often plays in my mind. Life on this earth tumbles by and falls off the final cliff…Read more Reach

Summoned

Lying flat out on my belly, face down in the sand: vulnerable, defenseless. Suddenly, out of nowhere, like Moses's burning bush, like Jacob’s ladder, the summons comes: terror and hope. Terrible hope. If I am wrong, I am just here in the dirt, more aware of it than ever. But anticipation is trembling like air…Read more Summoned