I am painting a stream.
It is calming.
Lots of big marks.
Connecting threads of color.
The layers.
Then the little pops.
I move through the piece, looking where there is too much order.
Then try to bring in more asymmetry.
Isn't that amazing?
There is no tidiness in nature.
Unspeakable beauty and calm, yes.
Evenness and precise symmetry. No.
That is only in my imagination.
I resist the phrase,"God has a plan.
"Does nature have a plan?
Or is it more that whatever happens,
Nature will keep flowing, moving, growing, beginning again.
That feels more like the Divine love I know.
Not that it is all figured out.
But that we are all being carried.
By love.
Whenever fear clenches,loneliness, job loss, identity loss, overwhelm, fear, financial strain, illness, death.
Any of these fear-clenching experiences
Can be bathed in love
Brought to the stream.
What is required to get there?
Breath.
It might take longer than it used to.
That is okay.
We seem to have a lot of time on our hands.
Wait for it.
It will come.
Softening at the edge.
Keep breathing.
Into the shadows.
Into the clench.
Into the fear.
Wait for the softening.