Prayer and Painting Retreat

I wouldn’t normally engage with Facebook, emails or any other communication with the outside world whilst on retreat. But this one is slightly different. For starters, it isn’t a silent retreat, and secondly my husband Terry is also here doing his own thing, not painting. I am also testing the waters in this retreat to see if it is right that I become one of the chaplains for the organisation and therefore would be attending future retreats as part of the leading team. I am on a CARM retreat in North Wales 5 minutes walk from the sea.

Soon after I arrived I prayed using the labyrinth. I took a stone to represent the burdens and issues I leave behind with me on the inward path to the centre. I left it there and then proceeded to walk prayerfully out committing the days ahead to God, for whatever he has in store for me. The path comprised many stones, most of them chipped and cut in half and one of them caught my eye. Its outer was a dull beige but the inside was a deep red which reminded me of the colour of blood.

I called to mind the words of God through the prophet Ezekiel: Chapter 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” A work that God has been doing in me over many years. I then thought that God was saying that he will bring forth from me that which is inside….. not sure quite what this means, but it is either nothing or will become clear as the week progresses.

I drew the stone using pencils – should have used colour but my art things were in the art room and I was not. I moved the stone to take photo so the bottom edge of my drawing looks wrong.

Perhaps next time you go for a walk you might be more observant to your surroundings and allow God to speak to you through them, be it a stone, a feather, a flower or something else.