For a while now, I've been fascinated by art journaling, and altered books. But when I've looked into how to do it "the right way," it just sounds too complicated. Gesso and paint and pastels and and and. Lots of work and planning and mess to clean up. That's just not where my life is right now. So this past weekend, I decided to try cheater art journaling. None of the fancy stuff. Just me and my Sharpies. And an old book on church history that I was pretty sure nobody was going to read again in this lifetime.
I was prepared to rip into it and doodle to my heart's content. Nothing profound, spiritual, or thought-provoking.
But then the book fell open to this page, with this wonderful old poem credited to Walford Davies:
God, be in my head and be in my understanding.
God, be in my eyes and in my looking.
God, be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God, be in my heart and in my thinking.
God, be at my end and at my departing.
Next I found these beloved words from St. Augustine:
God has made us for himself,
and our heart is restless
till it find rest in Him.
Finally, one of my favorite pieces of all time, from George Herbert:
but in the dust and dirt--
oh here--
the lilies of His love appear.
So I started out with some Sharpies, and ended up having a great conversation with a bunch of guys from the middle ages. Cheater journaling totally worked for me.
(Thanks to my son Michael for the photos.)