Visual Creatives Can Slow Down Too!

Visual Creatives can slow down through Visio Divna.

Are you part of the Visual creatives? Your creativity would most likely fall into the group of artists that work with visual expressions such as:

• painting
• drawing
• working with clay
• creating with fiber
• creating through photos

If this is your niche, you may be drawn to slow down through a practice called Visio Divina. It is similar to the Lectio Divina that I mentioned in my last post. I went into great detail describing a slowing down using words or bible verses. To get a better understanding of how to prayerfully walk through these movements, I would suggest going to that post and re-reading it.

Difference between Visio Divina and Lectio Divina.

How does Visio Divina compare to or differ from the Lectio Divina? Both ask the participant to slow down and walk in a contemplative engagement with God. One focuses on using words as a center (Lectio Divina) where the other uses a visual as a center. (Visio Divina).

As you look at the following photo, go slow, look once, and then again. See if the Holy Spirit is pointing to something specific for you. When you see the words, is there a trigger to an underneath message that God wants to talk with you? Journal your words, Journal your feelings.

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Visual creatives need to slow down to engage.

God is always wanting to interact with us. Does He need us to sustain Himself? Of Course Not! That is ridiculous! Then why does He want us to slow down and engage with Him. Close your eyes to ponder upon that for yourself first.

Now, it could be – Because He is the CREATOR and there is a delight for HIM beyond what we can understand.

Christine Aroney-Sine gave a definition for Visio Divina. It is a spiritual practice of “praying with art” (p.32).

Do not confuse this with ‘adoring or worshiping’ the art. It is coming to God using an art piece in the same way we used the Bible Verse in the Lectio Divina

In a Visio Divina, You Must Slow Down.

As we stop, slow down, give ourselves permission to BREATHE IN the art piece, doors can open in ways that a flurried, hurried need-to-produce system cannot achieve.

HOW?

“Choose an image and take a slow look at it. Drink in the figures, colors, textures, and shapes. What draws your attention? Sit with your initial thoughts and feelings.”

Christine Aroney-Sine

Get comfortable and choose one of the above photos. Or if you would like to sit with a more theological piece of art, head to art_and_theology . Allow yourself to engage. Dwell on some of the questions I have asked throughout this post on the art you chose.

Results or Thoughts

When you finish your first attempt, you might respond with, “I don’t have time for this because I have too much to do and too little time. Moreover, my heart’s desire is to write or create certainly not contemplate. How can I work these Divinas and be real about it when it is just not my style? I need to be honest.”

Absolutely, I agree, but who is THE CREATOR of your art? As you take baby steps to pursue this practice and offering, you may in fact be surprised at the extended blessings. As you walk into these practices, you may discover a freedom of wonder and awe for your own creativity. There may be a heartfelt release in Freedom to Worship and Create as you were destined from the beginning because a deeper connection with the Creator has been made.

Discovery in Slowing Down

If you attempted the Visio Divina for the first time (or actually this is a practice you as a visual creative find to be a rich source for contemplation and art) share your thoughts. Because we are all on this journey together, when we share how something is benefiting us, it helps others to grow. It also makes space for us to receive from others.

We are on this journey together. As we join to share in community, to create and encourage to contemplate, I believe our creativity and the Poeima we are called to live will bloom and be what we were created to be.