Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Lent Words Day 30: Reflection ~ Guest Christine Heister


Today our guest is Christine Hiester. I have followed Christine on her blog and through Instagram for a number of years. I finally got to meet Christine in person last year at a retreat where she led us in prayer art journaling. Christine  is a talented musician, an art journaler and a spiritual director in training. I think I am also drawn to Christine because we are both INFJ's! You can follower Christine's art on Instagram @barebranchblooming and her spiritual direction @shapingtheriver.

Thank you Christine for contributing to our Lenten Journey!


I prepare for Prayer Circle and write, “Prompts for Reflection”. I breathe deeply and search internally for what I think God wants me to ask the members of our Circle. What would He ask me this moment? What is it that I hear deep inside, in that Spirit-space that resonates with His voice? The space that resonates when I am still enough to listen, that is.


Reflection: noun, meaning “an image seen in a mirror or shiny surface.”

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I Am.
Be still and know.
Be still.

I know this: I can’t be that mirror when I am not still. And my internal world, like a mountain lake, or a forest stream, needs a hushed sense of reverence to be clear and still enough to offer the God of Love a true canvas on which to create. I know this, and yet I am still learning. I am ever a beginner. In the spiritual life we never arrive.


Oddly enough, the very thing that gives me this sense of hushed stillness, the practice that shows me more of God than any other, that allows me to be the mirror, is also a meaning of the word reflection.

Reflection: noun, meaning “serious thought or consideration; contemplation.”


Contemplation. A posture of quiet before God. I practice this posture of prayer in many ways, not least of which is the act of creating with color and clippings, glue and glitter. Art has always been an open and still place of the Spirit for me. A Spacious Place. Our life in Christ is a wide-open meadow of possibilities.

“He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because He delighted in me.” Psalm 18:19

So I plan the Prayer Circle this Lent, a weekly space of contemplative prayer, to remind myself. To let God lead me, and in that gently leading, guide others who have the same desire for stillness.

How do you practice stillness? I’d love to hear.










8 comments:

  1. Thank you Mary, for your friendship and invitation to share here. <3

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    1. Thank you, Christine! I thoroughly enjoyed what you wrote and your art was fabulous! Thank you for being a part of our Lenten journey and pointing us to reflecting on God. :)

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  2. When I am anxious and having trouble falling asleep, I recite the verse as you posted, but I add one more word of the verse at the end - "Be". Repeating this verse is very calming.

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    1. Wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing with us, Diane. :)

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    2. I love this Diane. Thank you.

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  3. Lovely writing, art! Thanks for sharing, Mary. Started following Diane on Instagram.

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  4. Correction: I meant to say I started following CHRISTINE on IG. Senior moment :-)

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