1 John ~ The Journey

Way back in April our church started a journey on Sunday mornings through the book of 1 John. This Sunday we will complete the journey.  I was impacted a great deal by my time studying through the book for our Creative Team meetings each week. As we journeyed I made art journal pages as different things stood out to me. John really focuses on our love for each other being our distinguishing mark as Christ-folllowers.

The last three are my most recent pages:

One theme I noticed throughout the book was John reminding his readers of the gifts God has given His children: His love, the Spirit, eternal life through His Son, insight to know Jesus.

Throughout this journey I have felt a deep conviction to look at how I love others; to examine my heart when my thoughts and actions are unloving, and most importantly, to embrace God's love for me and let His love be the driving force behind my love for others. Our love for each other must be expressed in practical ways ~ in action. In John's perspective, loving God and loving others are inseparable, for when we love others God is seen in us. May this journey through 1 John continue to impact me, and our church, to love others with the love I have received from God through Christ. Today may you know in your heart the great love God has for you.

Ok, so another post about contemplation never happened last week. I had grand ideas about writing a few posts ahead of time in order to post on a more regular basis...but it just didn't happen. I dream of being a consistent daily or semi-daily blog poster. Maybe someday. :)

This week school began, my daughter is flying in tomorrow, we are heading to my sister's house in Michigan for my niece's couples bridal shower/family reunion...busy, busy, busy. I really did enjoy the slower, more relaxed pace of summer.

So today I'll just post some of the art that goes along with my pondering, reading and discoveries as I continue to explore spiritual disciplines connected with contemplation. I'll come back and write more about my thoughts at a later time...I promise.

A Love Affair With Books

I love books. I always have. My mother said that we pass it down in our family. While she was pregnant, she read. While she nursed, she read. She said she taught me to read at an early age to help slow me down. I did all of the above with my daughter as well.

I read everyday. In the mornings I read the Bible and generally some type of book that will help me grow in my faith or that will aide in Bible study for Creative Team or just my personal interest. I'm usually reading a few of these types of books at the same time. Every night before I go to sleep I read fiction for 30-60 minutes ... to slow me down. It still works after all these years!

I rarely take naps, but laying down and reading for an hour or so can have the same effect on me that a nap would!

Now, I have incorporated my love for books and reading and text and words into my art journaling. I love to alter books and make them into art journals. I love to use book pages as art backgrounds so that the words and the text peak through the gesso and the paint.

Some current pages in my altered book art journal:
A few based on our study in 1 John ~

Some misc pages ~

I found an old book with a character named Mary and have found some great lines to clip and use on art journal pages. This line is so true of me!

This and That and...Love

Thank you Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for selecting one of my art journal pages from the Art Journal Every Day Flickr pool and posting it on your blog on Friday.

 http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com.  

It was such a thrill to visit her blog, as I do each Friday, and find some of my art!

I've been in kind of an art slump since I went on my personal retreat a few weeks ago. I have the desire, I just don't seem to have any ideas or creativity lately. I don't know if the heat has something to do with it. I HATE heat and humidity. It zaps my energy and about all I want to do is read or watch movies. Well, hopefully the heat and my art slump will pass soon. I did make a page spread the other day in my altered book art journal.

I'm reading a book called "Repenting of Religion: Turning From Judgment to the Love of God" by Gregory Boyd. This book is blowing me away! We are going through the book of 1 John in our worship service on Sundays and as I study John's letter for our Creative Team meetings each week, I find that Gregory Boyd's writing is going right along with our study. Our prayer for our church as we move through 1 John is that we would connect experientially with God's great love for us and His call on us to love others, Boyd calls this love God has for us "unsurpassable".

John says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." 1 John 3:16.  This is the verse we will focus on this coming Sunday as we seek to define Biblical love. This verse begins the heart of John's message about love (3:16-5:2) and our plan is to slow down in the weeks ahead and take this message in.

From Gregory Boyd:

"Everything we are in Christ, and thus everything we are called to be in Christ, is summed up in the word love. The central defining truth of the believer is that in Christ God ascribed unsurpassable worth to us, though we did not deserve it. Hence, the central defining mark of disciples of Christ is that they in turn ascribe unconditional worth to themselves and all others, knowing that Christ died for them as well." (He then quotes 1 John 3:16).

Everything we are and everything we are called to  - in Christ - is summed up in the word LOVE.

I look forward to what God is going to do in me and in our church as we go through the rest of 1 John (and as I go through the rest of Boyd;s book).