Hello! Welcome to Art&Bible! I’m so happy that you’re reading this.
Here’s what we’ll talk about in the next few minutes:
Bible Talk: a reflection about a Bible verse or story, seen in a new light, and how we can contemplate that as we go about the rest of our weeks.
Well Versed: the poem or paragraph of the week. Here I’ll highlight my favorite poets and writers because we all need a little more poetry amid craziness and chaos (this includes new and upcoming writers so PLEASE send me your material if you want to be featured!!!).
Picture Perfect: picture of the week, brought with a question or reflection about the context and/or the content, to challenge our perspectives. The whole telling a story without words kind of thing.
Let’s do this.
Love expressed and received, at the same time. God, as a trinity, is and has, altogether, all the love He will ever need. His cycle is self-sustaining, self-caring, self-loving, self-appreciating, and all of that is created and met inside Himself. How crazy is that…
Even crazier, to think that He chose to place the very power of His existence inside of us.
I’ve been caught by the thought of how we profess YAHWEH’s name at every inhale and exhale, even when we’re not praying or thinking about Him. Our bodies were made to function from the Source, our Creator. The systems He has put in place, for us to simply exist, honor Him without any of our intentional effort. How many millions of little things need to keep constantly happening inside your body for you to be able to function properly? Things we don’t even notice! None of them depend on you trying to make them work, they just do. If that’s not the biggest proof of God’s fingerprint in our lives, I don’t know what is. The wonders of health, growth, and even pregnancy (the most mindblowing of all, if you ask me) are things we’ve grown used to, but each is nothing short of phenomenal.
Stating that God is the breath of life, is affirming that with every breath, our bodies are speaking His name. The Jewish culture claims this idea:
When we inhale naturally, it sounds like "Yah," and when we exhale, it sounds like "Weh." Going back to Genesis 2:7, the breath of life that God breathed into humanity’s nostrils, is something we continue to carry today.
To think of God’s immeasurable goodness, that despite everything, He would still allow us to have breath in our lungs, blood pumping in our veins, a beating heart, and a body that was given the power to heal.
And when the time comes and we don’t have those anymore, we shall be ever more grateful that the challenge is over, and now all we have to do is wait to be awakened into the next phase of eternity.
To me, the last two stanzas of “Dandelions” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper speak so well about the frailty of humanity, and how we are so blissfully unaware of how God’s presence is constantly caring for us. Let us be more intentional about noticing how the gifts come in the smallest ways too.
Dewdrops and the morning sun,
Weave your garments fair and bright,
And we welcome you to-day
As the children of the light.
Children of the earth and sun.
We are slow to understand
All the richness of the gifts
Flowing from our Father's hand.
— Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, "Dandelions"
📍Venice, Italy
Everything about this picture tells me that we need to keep moving forward. What do you take from it?
Thank you for reading! Art&Bible will be back next week with more things to think about!
Chat soon 🌷,
Is.