I gazed across the swamp, its beauty overwhelming. I prayed for guidance, then slipped deep into the realm of silence, still not sure as to where I was going or what I was searching for. It did not take too long to reach deep into the quietude of the sacred silence, and in a flash of clarity all body and mind were gone. I emerged into the dazzling brilliance of the swamp in full light. In my imagination the swamp took on a new feel, a feel that reached into the consciousness of my very soul, purifying and healing. All around me was the flow of life ... green carpets of moss, tranquil pools full of frogs and fish, choruses and movements of all manner of birds, other animals dancing to the rhythm of the Earth, and a sense of beauty the like of which I had never experienced before.
The recovery of faith in our creativity
and in the artist within each of us and
the artists among all of us is no small
thing. It has to do with the rekindling of
the spark of hope and vision, of
adventure and blessing, that a tired
civilization needs...
If it is true, as Paul says, that "we are
God's work of art," then everything we
have said about art as meditation applies
to the delight, wonder, admiration,
surprise that God takes at our birth and
continual unfolding.