souldare

discover your created self


COURAGE

“March on with courage, my soul!” (Judges 5:21b NLT)

I have a lot of ideas, but I don’t always capture them as often as I’d like, nor is it humanly possible to practice them all. Sometimes all my ideas scare me.

Like this idea to present GOD+ART in a way that communicates my heart to God AND to the readers of this blog.

What was I thinking?

This morning, I have been talking to my soul. Like the writer in Judges, I need to remember that courage comes from witnessing God’s deliverance. So, I march on with this idea to share how I “see” and “hear” God through this practice of His presence while I make ART.

Before Brother Lawrence became the famous monk, who practiced an awareness of God’s presence while doing menial chores,”he was a great awkward fellow who broke everything.”

I feel like that “awkward fellow” today. I’m trying to tell you about this practice of ART that draws me closer to GOD, but I can’t tell you about it, because it’s an experience. So all my telling comes to you broken and halted, laced with insecurity and fear. Will you like my idea? Will you like my ART? Will you like me?

Such are the musings of my soul, in much need of God’s love. And it is His love that infuses me with courage to spill out this process here, hoping that somehow my experience will whet your appetite or rekindle your love for God.

I long for a shared experience, so here I am offering my process for you to see. (And my process is a very intimate part of myself, just as yours is for you, if you care to admit it.)

With words. With ideas. With a collage that was hard at first, but offered me a space to wrestle with ideas. The images become my metaphor for harnessing ideas, letting them mature in their own time.

The finished collage came in stages today. I started with several random magazine images, then some purple watercolor washed over the page, and then added some scribbles of phrases and words. (To read more about the collage process, click here.)

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To define the images and words, I kept adding dark colors to highlight important themes. I didn’t really see how the red dress fit in, so I made a leaf stamp, stamped it with black ink, cut it out and wrote some more words to express my intention to make ART in God’s presence, even if I do feel scared.

(I like how  the idea of a leaf presented itself into the collage. It was the element where I wrote out my fears to God. Click here for a tutorial on how to make this stamp.)

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And here’s the end result…a call to “Practice Ideas with Courage”

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The white writing on the leaf was my confession of fear, which later I wrote the word “practice” over the top of them. Practicing God’s presence gives me courage to practice the ideas that He invites me to realize.

Do your your ideals about LOVE ever become obstacles to just loving someone? Do you have a check-list of “must do things” in order to have a fulfilling relationship with God? Do you ever just want to pitch that list and enjoy His presence?

 



12 responses to “COURAGE”

  1. expectantlylistening Avatar
    expectantlylistening

    Beautiful. Thank you for sharing, and being brave x

    1. Thanks for stopping by…I appreciate your encouraging presence via the comment box!

  2. I often think about the leaves surrendering as an act of great devotion. They return to the soil at the feet of their mother and give themselves back to the process. Into the soil they go to nurture and nourish in such a bold display of ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

    I popped in from Art Journal Wisdom and may just have to butt my way into the Art + God for 31 days. Did I see heart in there someplace or was that my layer of perception that did that?

    Anyway – grateful to read your process.

    1. Julie- I am glad you stopped by…would love to have you follow along with GOD+ART for 31 days…it’s kind of like Art Journal Wisdom…it’s free and you don’t have to join just come back to this site each day and by the end of the day I promise to have a post that chronicles my continuing process of connecting with GOD through ART…enjoy! Yes my heart is in the layers somewhere…thanks for noticing ❤

  3. I love combining God and art and sharing it.. 🙂 the world needs us to share HIM this way..
    I found this quote yesterday.. Writer William Plomer described creativity as “the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” So many don’t know HIM yet HE is everywhere and created every living thing.. God bless you..

    1. Love that quote and the idea it conveys very much expresses how I feel about art and God and my experiences with Him as I create and play with the process! Thanks for stopping by!

  4. Oh, I love the art you made! Thanks for describing the process and sharing your post with The High Calling.

    1. Dena- Thanks for coming by…I love sharing and knowing that God can use anything including art to give us a glimpse of His glory…

  5. You describe so clearly the evolving nature of thoughts and “holy sensing” as an art project unfolds. Carry on, confidant in His companionship.

    1. Lisa- I like how you connect the process with “holy sensing” and companionship, rich ways to contemplate the practice of presence and art making…this is truly what I sense when I am creating art…Thanks for stopping by!

  6. Kelly, I’m so glad you submitted this to the High Calling for their link up. I can so relate to your many questions/concerns–‘will you like my art?’ ‘will you like ME?’ The power is in the process as someone else said in one of the Art Matters pieces at THC. Indeed–we process so much when we give ourselves over to the process of making art.
    Good job!

    1. Jody- It was a joy to share and connect with the community! And to share my passion for art, the process and sharing God’s presence through art and art making!

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About Me

Hi! My name is Kel Rohlf. I am an intuitive mixed-media artist, creative writer and performer. Life is a performance. I often attend.

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