It is time.  A year.  An idea that i have been growing into.

Well, L. L. Barkat did it. She made time to be in her yard every day, for a year, and to write, as a spiritual practice. Lyla Lindquist is in the process of a once-a-week journey to be in day prayers at a Benedictine monastery, and doing some writing about it.

Yes, a year has been inviting me, and i have been accepting the invitation.

A couple of months ago, i had decided to start doing art. Not just a little here and there. I was ready to do more. To step out into my yard… to go to my monastery… to be a child at heart. To do art like a child, with God. To let go and just do it. 

Some on-line friends gather once a year at a place in Texas. I have, in the back of my mind, wanted to go there and meet some of these people. The years pass, and i wondered if i would ever make that trip. Then i started to think about what i do that could help me to make money and perhaps make the trip next year. That is where it started, and it is now growing into something more than just making money. It is becoming about the growing and doing and sharing…right here…where i live.

I started a painting a few weeks ago. However, today, after reading Lyla’s post, i thought perhaps that i could do daily writing in addition to doing the art. It seems right, since writing is another way for me to comprehend some of the things that God is saying to me. Writing can be a conversation with God, just as painting can. I find that writing words really lends itself to conversation and thought processing.

So i grabbed a journal that i had already made some art notes in, wrote “a year of art” on the front of it…and started writing. Today is “officially” the first day toward what “God willing” will become a year of art, and my art journaling conversation with God.