Photography, Psalms & Wholeness
image view of the Sandia Mts in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Current Readings
Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Contemplative Practice by Christine Valters Paintner
I’m barely into this reading, and partly because its content is rich but also there are reflective suggestions that nudge you to go out and put to practice the content. I have yet to follow through. I tend to wait for intentionality but maybe its better if spontaneity reveals its timing—this is usually true for the ‘eyes of my heart’ to be surprised by God and His tenderness.
Here are a few intriguing quotes, Paintner writes,
“Receiving photos with the heart is an experience of grace and revelation, an encounter with the sacred”
“Contemplative seeing and beholding are conscious acts of becoming receptive and dropping, as much as possible, our own ego desires and projections—some thing about “openness and wonder”
A Hidden Wholeness: Welcoming the Soul and Weaving Community in a Wounded World by Parker J. Palmer
The title itself is a whole lot to take in. If you are interested in caring for the soul and the communal relationship invested and intertwined, I recommend Palmer’s writing. His Quaker background for me welcomes a freshness. The phrase “circle of trust” is a strong and inviting thread weaving (as the title speaks) throughout the pages (and I’m only half way through).
“Circle of trust”—a community that knows how to welcome the soul and helps hear its voice” “to make it safe for the soul to show up and offer us its guidance” (p.22)
However, before even moving into a circle of trust, Palmer gently lays out what we will face first with that desire for “wholeness.” I admit, I often say “yes, I want this Lord.” But I also know the refining process that has to come with this desire. Palmer writes,
“wholeness does not mean perfection it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life” (p.5)
“choosing wholeness, which sounds like a good thing, turns out to be a risky business, making us vulnerable in ways we would prefer to avoid” (p.9)
It’s worth it! For we have God’s holy, and whole promise, we are His—”You formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb…I am fearfully and wonderfully made…My soul knows that very well.” (Psalm 139:13-14)
Centering Prayer by M. Basil Pennington, OCSO
Psalms by Alabaster NLT Bible
“Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all that I need…”
Podcasts:
Discerning Leader with Steve Macchia and guests
Turning to the Mystics with James Finley (see Nov. 8 for Dialogue 1: What is Lectio, Meditation, and Prayer?)
