Visual Blessing: Your Life ~ Sacred Purpose

When my husband saw this blessing, he said it was for me. I sensed it was for someone else, but I wasn't sure who. It made me think that in some ways, when we make art, even if it is for someone else, it is also for us, because we have put some of ourselves into it, whether it be our experience, beliefs, color choices etc.  

I gave this one to a dear family friend, whose mother and I raised our little ones together, trading babysitting. (I used my time to take painting classes). Her daughter, now grown, is a textile designer. It is for those of us who search for meaning, companionship, and the balance between being and doing, working along, or with others. It also speaks of an integrated life, of faith, work, love, and purpose.

The icon image is the Pantokrater icon, "Ruler of All" from St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai. This one is especially meaningful to me because it shows the balance of mercy and justice in the face of Christ.

May you be blessed today with His tender mercy.

A Wedding Blessing

Valerie Sjodin copyright 2011

I made this blessing for a young couple getting married this month. The young man has been a good friend of our daughter since middle school. I have been so grateful for his character. He showed our girl what it looks like to be loved by a young man. Even though their's was not a love of the romantic sort, God used their relationship to reveal that great friendship-kind of love that is also necessary for a good marriage. So they are both better prepared for their marriage partners. I haven't yet met the young lady to be his wife, but am so happy for them and wish them all the blessings God wants to give a husband and wife.

The making of the blessing: I used a 5" x 7" piece of archival mat board as the base. I coated it with gesso. Their wedding invitation included a photo of them hugging in a field and I drew the silhouette from that and scanned it on the computer. I had drawn the compass in pencil for a tattoo for our son, scanned that and made a photoshop brush out of it. I used it on this and on other pieces of art. I looked up how to make the brush by googling "how to make a photoshop brush." The old map was a photoshop brush I downloaded from brusheezy. I combined the three layers in photoshop: silhouette, map, compass and printed it on a piece of copy paper with my laser printer, flipped horizontally so I could transfer it with Citrasolv cleaner/solvent. I put a coat of matte medium on the surface. Then I also used the solvent to transfer the music in the background. Next I glued the strip of music and text on with matte medium coating the entire front of the piece. Then I painted it with Golden fluid acrylics.

The following is a quote I added to the back of their blessing. When I read it, I am reminded the only way I can really love well is to experience God's love and begin from that point of  knowing His love, and believing He wants to give His children good things in life.

"Everything becomes possible to those who love.

The commands of the Lord are no longer grievous,

for the soul that loves is gifted by that love with fresh energies;

it discovers in itself unsuspected possibilities, 

and is supplied with ever-flowing currents of new vigor.

We shall be enabled to do so much if only we love.

We live by loving, and the more we love the more we live;

and therefore, when life feels dull and the spirits are low,

turn and love God, love your neighbor,

 and you will be healed of your wound.

Love Christ, the dear Master;

look at His face, listen to His words,

and love will waken, 

and you will do all things

through Christ who strengthens you."

~ Henry Scott Holland

New Eyes with a Grateful Heart

We were challenged in Church this morning to focus on what God has done, and is doing right now, not what he hasn't done. It seemed surprising that the blessing  (shown above) also had the same theme. It was given and prayed with after the service. I had read One Thousand Gifts  by Ann Voskamp recently and was reminded of the restorative power of gratitude. This blessing reflects that and the wonder in the everyday beauty constantly surrounding us.

A Blessing for the "Everyday Conqueror"

    When making visual blessings for people, sometimes I know who it is for, more often I don't know until I feel led to give one, and sometimes I find out part way through the process of making one. That was the case with this visual blessing. It just flowed, words popped out that seemed to "want" to be included. I asked God for a word the person needed and got "conqueror". Then the verse came with the same word. I love when it goes like that. 

    The background for this one was a demo from one of my workshops. I tend to use these quite a bit as a starting point. They are 5" x 5" watercolor-type paper. I first put a coat of gesso on the paper and then use various acrylic painting techniques, experimenting with color, texture, etc. Sometimes I use leftover paint to make backgrounds out of leftover watercolor paper or mat board and set them aside to use later. I like the collage aspect of visual blessings because it is a lot like life: bringing together various seemingly random things to make a meaningful message. Even the process can be important and I often tell the process I went through in making it because it can relate to what the person receiving the blessing is going through. I really try to let go of what I think and look and listen to God's leading. Then I begin. It's humbling, and sometimes bumbling and almost always messy and seems to take too much time. Sometimes I wrestle with feeling foolish about it. But then when someone is blessed and God uses a blessing to encourage someone, it's worth it. 

    In my last post Cindy asked about how I make both sides of the blessing. When I began making the blessings, I didn't want them to be a piece of art that I would normally make and hang up, sell, frame or whatever. I also didn't want it to be like a greeting card that I opened up. I wanted it to be more like a postcard. Ever since I was a teenager I would say, "I just wish God would send me a postcard and tell me what He thinks about this, or what I should do, etc." And a postcard combines images and words. So I think making the blessing on the front and the back of the watercolor paper or mat grew out of that. In making them, I simply apply paint and collage pieces to the back of the same surface I use for the front. Another reason I do this is so people will interact with them differently and pick them up, turn them over, move them around, consider the message. Even though I make the blessing, I often don't know the personal significance of what is on the blessing. I have to be content to only know in part, and sometimes, not at all. It is a great encouragement to me when I find out that something I put on the blessing was especially meaningful to the person. Then I know it wasn't just me doing it, but a collaboration with God who loves and knows each one of us.

A Blessing for Creative Kindred Spirits

Recently I went through a dry time, doubt. I have been making visual blessings for nearly a year, and then couldn't seem to do it. I wondered if it was over, if it mattered anyway, and why I was feeling a sense of loss. Was the making of visual blessings a season or is this dry period a season? Fortunately, it was the latter. Last week after a difficult conversation with someone I headed to the studio and asked God to work in my heart and take the emotions and thoughts, turning them from darkness into light. 

I had a glimpse of creative hope earlier that week and actually made a blessing and started another one. Now, I thought (or was it the still small voice talking), "I need a visual blessing, hope." This blessing grew out of that and another one for someone else that evening. God answered my prayer, and I found the joy of collaboration with Him. 

Today I got an ad in the mail and cut out the last phrase I put on the top of the blessing. It is not shown here because I scanned the image before I saw the phrase. But I knew when I read the phrase, saw the colors and how it fit perfectly that the message was for me to take courage and pursue some art adventures I've been considering. It was also time to post this blessing. The phrase added from the ad is: "The time is now."

May you be blessed with a sense of God's loving Presence and Creative Power.

Dis-appointment

I didn't really want to post this picture from my visual prayer journal. It's too raw, too negative, too needy and probably too personal. It lacks beauty. But I can't seem to get past it and in my mind I am hearing the still small voice telling me it will encourage someone.  

Often, I am not afraid of what will happen, but that nothing will.  That I will reach the end and find it didn't make a difference after all…. That kind of thinking impacts blogging too, when posting feels like crying into the wind with just words blowing back in my face, and wondering…. Disappointing silence and nothingness. When I feel that way it often helps a bit  to read other blogs and respond with a comment.

I'm talking about feelings, not necessarily truth, which brings to mind a college professor who said, "You can believe what you want as long as you know it is your truth not someone else'." But isn't there truth beyond what I think or feel? Don't most people want Truth to be bigger than themselves and long to be a part of something more significant than their own ideas, appetites, or even life spans? For so many years I was taught and focused on what to believe, but now my focus is on experience, experiencing the Truth. It's not that belief is not important or that there is not absolute truth. I absolutely believe in those things. But the foundation of belief and truth has to be love. As the Apostle Paul says in I Timothy 1:5-6:

"… be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions."

So I ask myself, "What really matters?" "What have I experienced?" 

• I can pour my heart out utterly to God, and He still faithfully loves me, even when He is silent. In fact He never leaves me.
• Excruciating times have been used to develop my character, direct my life, and redefine my priorities 
• God's love for me or my worth does not depend on what I do, who has or hasn't loved me, or my success in the eyes of the world.
• Because God loves me, He gives me the capacity to love others. I cannot do it on my own

I also know that it is true for you too, for each one of us. We are connected in our humanity and our need for grace and love. God loves each one of us and only out of that experience of receiving His love can we pour love into others. I am longing and learning. Sometimes the hard part about learning more is that what I learn most is how much I don't know and how much I need to improve. 

And now I hear that still small voice again, "Yes, but I am with you and I love you!"

So I pray:

"More love, more power, more of You in my life!"