Inspiring Paintings: Much Very Ordinary in the Spiritual Way

There is much

That is very ordinary

In the spiritual way

.

Faithfulness

Perseverance

Kindess

.

Self-control

Patience

And love

.

May guard

Your soul

Each day.

.

“Christ in the House of His Parents” by John Millais is an ordinary scene but one packed with symbolism of a wound, of a bowl of water, of sheep in the background

Inspiring Paintings: Woman on the Beach of Rugen

Watching the sail boats

gliding past

 .

Questioning if life

is mere spectatorship

 .

Or whether the energies

of spirit

 .

The rush

of power

 .

Is driving us

over the waves.

.

Inspiring Paintings: The Last Judgement – Bosch

 

Above the fires

Of violence

 

God

Of the rainbow

 

In heavenly

Blue

 

In spite of malice

Good is godly

 

Perfect

True. 

 

Inspiring Poem from a Featured Blog – "Annunciation" by John Donne — Malcolm Guite's blog

The poem I have chosen for December 3rd in my Advent Anthology from Canterbury Press Waiting on the Word, is The Annunciation by John Donne, and once again it is accompanied by a beautiful illustration from the book of responses to these poems by Linda Richardson. She writes: The imagery of The Annunciation is richly grounded in our […]

Annunciation by John Donne — Malcolm Guite

Inspiring Paintings – Waiting Like Light

Standing

And waiting like light

.

For the heart’s darkness

To be dispelled

.

By the dawn

For eyes

.

That have known

Only blindness

.

To recover

New sight

.

For life to be opened

To goodness and right.

.

“The Light of the World”, Holman Hunt

Inspiring Art – Van Eyck’s Adam

A man

Naked

.

Of all

But soul

.

And image

Of God

.

Which was enough

To be

.

For that father

All.

.

from The Ghent Altarpiece

Inspiring Art: Reaching out…

Reaching out

From another sphere

.

The hand

Is extended

.

Will you turn

All spiritual forces within

.

Reach

And return?

.

Inspired by http://viewthroughmywindow.com/spiritual-evolution/

.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

Beyond Babel

Beyond Babel

Is a wordless space

.

Where achievements

Cease to count

.

And all that matters

Is a loving look

.

A fatherly expression

Of overwhelming grace.

.

‘The Tower of Babel’, Bruegel

Transplantation

Rupture

With the heart’s

Natural home

.

Transplantation

Of the soul’s

Sustenance

.

To one beyond

All earthly fatherhood

.

Whose love

Also reaches

.

Far

Beyond.

.

Inspired by this moment in the life of St. Francis of Assisi (below), captured so powerfully by the painter Giotto, where Francis renounces “all worldly goods”, including his own father, and devotes himself entirely to his “heavenly father” (see the symbol of the hand at the top of the painting, representing God)…

“St. Francis Renounces All Worldly Goods”, Giotto

A Father’s Fury

A father’s fury

Is not enough

To abandon

A faith

Lived

Deep enough

To cast away

All clothing

Of body

And soul

For the blessing

Of divine paternity.

“St. Francis Renounces All Worldly Goods”, Giotto