. . . and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure ,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:3-5 NIV
Today, we return to the journey of finding nourishment for our souls through words, art and the practice of journaling.
Join us today, as Lynn shares how God introduced her to collage as a catalyst for expression and transition. This is a two-part series, so come back tomorrow, to view some of her collage work and the discoveries behind her process.
Art
of My Heart
(Lynn D. Morrissey)
Collage
for me is art-of-my-heart, my soul made visible in living color on the
journaling page. I love its vibrancy and free-wheeling whimsy, its colorful
playfulness and startling juxtaposition, its generating of spiritual insights
and soul surprises.
But
I didn’t initially gravitate to collage. I thought it was silly at best and
occult at worst. I’d heard so many Christian warnings, whether from Puritanic
admonitions against idolizing images or from Bible teachers’ concerns about
name-it-and-claim-it visualizing techniques, sometimes called manifesting or
the Law of Attraction.
But
just days after my beloved father’s death, God used the art-form of collage as
a significant means of launching my healing journey from grief.
Shortly
after Daddy died, I attended a poetry-and-journal intensive in Denver. One of
our assignments was to collage a cover for a new journal. It was at the end of
a long day, and I was physically and emotionally depleted from the pain of
grief. The *last* thing I wanted to do was cut pictures out of old magazines
that I never would have read in the first place, in an attempt to make
(so-called) art. It seemed like just about the most ridiculous Mickey-Mouse
undertaking I could imagine. Though I know now that my grief overshadowed my
attitude, it still wasn’t the kind of activity that remotely appealed to me.
But
because I had invested so much of myself, time, and resources into the seminar
and because I knew that Daddy would want me to pursue my journaling-facilitator
dream, I chose to cooperate in this learning experience. I took a stack of
magazines back to my room around 5:00 p.m. and didn’t emerge until the next
morning!
After
eating an early dinner alone in my room and getting ready for bed, I began
leafing through the magazines, page by glossy page, randomly cutting or tearing
out pictures, words, and slogans that seemed to speak to me. As I underwent
this rhythmic process of slowly scanning and cutting, something happened that
even today I cannot fully explain. The process calmed and soothed me, and my
emotional pain momentarily subsided. Words and images of hope, beauty, and
comfort emerged that resonated on a deep heart-level. I had not set out to find
them, but God knew just what I would need to see. As I began arranging and
rearranging the extracted words and pictures that I would later glue to my
journal covers, it was as if God were using them to rearrange my broken heart
into a multi-layered mosaic of meaning and hope. The juxtaposition of a
kaleidoscope of words, colors, shapes, and images registered somewhere deep in
my soul that even journaling my angst at that time couldn’t do, because my
despair was beyond articulation.
Since
that time I have gone collage-crazy and consider myself a Christian-Collage
Poster Girl. I want to be clear to say that God speaks through the Bible, and
nothing—absolutely nothing—replaces His Word for providing direct, inerrant
revelation of His character and will. But God can also speak to our
imaginations (which He gave us!) through Creation, art, song lyrics, books,
poetry, friends, and the circumstances of our lives. One significant way He has
spoken to me is through collage. God has used collage-journaling (where I
collage onto journal pages and write to Him about what He shows me) to spark my
creativity, help me solve problems, teach me insights and truths about myself,
help me to set goals, and implement dreams.
I
am not worshiping images, but God who speaks through them, the God who speaks
at times through the art of my heart.
Question:
Have you ever tried to use collage as a means of artistic creation and
self-expression or to explore your “inner landscape”—translation: what God is
showing you about your life circumstances, thoughts, dreams, goals, memories,
conflicts, etc.? What were the results? How have you made collage-journaling a
part of your spiritual practice?
Please
come back tomorrow and read about and see my “transition” collages and my
thought process behind creating them.
(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)
Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.
You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.
Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.
