Can beauty really heal trauma?

Is there neurological merit to the way beauty impacts soul?

And how might an encounter beauty liberate you?

We dive into these questions as I share how a retreat called Beauty & the Formation of the Soul with Dr. Curt Thompson liberated me and sent me on a three year journey of creativity.

What happens within us when we experience beauty? How can walking a labyrinth aid us in the process?

What happens within us when we cross thresholds in life? And how can we begin to walk on water?

“Rest isn’t something Jesus gives us, separate from himself. Rest is what comes as we learn to live our true size in Jesus’ love: small and fragile and (rightly) dependent, and cherished and made great in his love.

“Come to me, all you weary and burdened ones, and I will rest you. . .”

It’s a permanent offer, and one without condemnation. No fear of our humanness. No shame or embarrassment or impatience with our need to rest. Just invitation. “Come. I will rest you.” Those days apart I tasted the real world, the world of welcome and invitation and the love that invites us into rest….”

Maybe like me, you see 2022 as a fresh start. After a relentless couple years of change and grief, are you a little more hopeful for this new year? Maybe?

But how do we start? As the famous saying goes, “Over and over, we begin again.”

But how do you begin again? With intention and a learner’s posture. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I’ve come up with 5 questions I hope that will help us “begin again” with intentionality in 2022.

What grows in us before we receive the reward of the harvest? Who are we becoming in times of adversity? When we go through difficult times, we often don’t know what this whole thing is about. It’s not until breakthrough that we can look back and see who we have become along the way.

How well do we really see in the midst of a crisis? When we acknowledge the limits of our own perception in lament, it frees us to see God’s perspective and leads us to surrender and worship.

What I learned from a friend, painting, and a Vine about lament and resurrection.