If this idea excites you, or feels like the last thing you want to do but you feel invited by God to do it anyway, click below to learn a bit more and view a sample page. The PDF guide is designed to be flexible in use and time, so feel free to take a half-day to yourself or a weekend away with your community group. 

If you have any questions about this retreat guide, or how to best use it, feel free to contact us anytime. We'd love to hear from you.

Wednesday marks the beginning of a new liturgical season: Lent. It is a season of waiting, of longing, of loss. It is a season of lament. Lent gives us space to grieve, to let go, to exist of the tension of already and not yet with Jesus. 

Below is an image, followed by instructions, to help you engage and process and connect prayerfully with Jesus as you open to the places of your heart and life where you feel tugs of grief and yearning.

Peace as you enter this sacred space.

To start...

1. Get in a quite place and ask Jesus to open your heart, mind, and eyes to see where he is leading you today. Settle in for 2-3 minutes before you begin.
   
2. Observe the photo for a few minutes. Notice what stands out to you. See the colors, textures, patterns, rhythms.
3. Now spend about 10-minutes with the image while you ask yourself and Jesus: where are you drawn toward, or away? Notice what comes up. It may be a relationship you're in, a situation you're apart of, or a feeling. Jesus may be leading you to any part of your life or heart, so don't quickly disregard something as "too small" or "irrelevant." This may be a helpful time to journal out what is coming up.
   
4. Respond to Jesus from what he has revealed for the next 5-or so minutes. Express how you feel about what came up (perhaps excited, or scared, or angry) until there are no more words or feelings left to express.
5. As you conclude, take the last 5-minutes to breathe and exhale deeply. As you exhale relax your shoulders, your neck, your arms and legs. You may also pray with each breath a short prayer, like: "Lord Jesus (inhale), have mercy on me (exhale)."

May you find the mercy and justice of Jesus in your time with him through this image today.

Welcome to today's visio divina. I titled today's image "hope," but I want you to know that may not be what you find. If another word or theme surfaces for you as you pray - go with it! God may be leading you somewhere he has specifically for you today.
To start...

1. Get in a quite place and ask Jesus to open your heart, mind, and eyes to see where he is leading you today. Settle in for 2-3 minutes before you begin.
   
2. Observe the photo below for a few minutes. Notice what stands out to you. See the colors, textures, patterns, rhythms.
3. Now spend about 10-minutes with the image while you ask yourself and Jesus: what meaning does this image hold for me? Notice what comes up. It may be a relationship you're in, a situation you're apart of, or a feeling. Jesus may be leading you to any part of your life or heart, so don't quickly disregard something as "too small" or "irrelevant." This may be a helpful time to journal out what is coming up.
   
4. Respond to Jesus from what he has revealed for the next 5-or so minutes. Express how you feel about what came up (perhaps excited, or scared, or angry).
5. As you conclude, take the last 5-minutes to breathe and exhale deeply. As you exhale relax your shoulders, your neck, your arms and legs. You may also pray with each breath a short prayer, like: "Lord Jesus (inhale), have mercy on me (exhale)."

May you find the mercy and justice of Jesus in your time with him through this image today.

Grief comes in many forms, over many different kinds of losses. Some of those losses may include loved ones, dreams, or freedoms - sometimes they're literal and physical or tangible, other times not. This morning's image may help you process grief, or something else may come up for you. Whatever it is, go with it.
Take a few minutes to just view the picture below. Notice the details, colors, and feelings it brings up in you.

After you've spent sometime interacting with the image, process through a few of these questions as they're helpful (I recommend using a journal to do this portion):

• Did you feel drawn into the photograph, or wanting to back out of it?
• How does this photograph represent what you're feeling today?
• How does your body respond as you look at this photograph? Does it get tense? Relax? Nervous?
  
• Where do you see grief in this photograph? What about in your own life?

Notice even what feelings you're experiencing as you journal through these questions.
Once you've journaled through some of these questions, take a few minutes to breathe deeply. As you do, close your time in a simple prayer like, "Jesus, have mercy."
If you like, share with us what this time was like for you in the comments section. We'd love to hear.

Visio Divina came to me while studying at Talbot School of Theology's Institute for Spiritual Formation. One day while I was meeting with my spiritual director she brought in a paper copy of an icon. She had me gaze and reflect on what it meant to me, without telling me what it was supposed to mean or what the right reflection was. As an artist I was intrigued by how God's Spirit would speak to me in such a unstructured manner -- there was no text to exegete or commentary to reference to see if I got the answer right. It was God speaking to me personally through beauty and my senses. I later learned that St. Ignatius highly recommended visualizing Scripture -- using your imagination to observe yourself playing a part (observer, one of the key characters) in the text. He believed new and deeper understanding would emerge. Genius.

All that to say I found an interesting article by Patheos.com on "Praying with Art: Visio Divina" that I wanted to share.

How have you experienced God speaking to you through art, or beauty? How did that impact your relationship with God? I'd love to hear - please share in the comments.