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august 2020:
four weeks of creative kindling

Winter is ending.
(Well, for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, it is).
And as the seasons roll through this crazy year, we need fresh hope injections like never before. We need a spark to rekindle our hearts.

You’re invited to join me and the s2ch collective on a creative challenge through August. Four weeks, simple prompts, no limits, engage however you wish.

Each Monday we’ll roll out some ideas for you to play with. Feel free to respond in words, music, photos, paint & pen, any medium you fancy. I’ll be posting my musings daily here, hopefully along with those from others in the collective. You are welcome to like, follow and subscribe!

You will also find this challenge connected to the Worship Arts Salvos Australia page on Facebook and on Insta @worshiparts.salvosau, if you are more at home there.

May you feel the warmth of new hope stirring in your soul as we take the time to defrost ideas that feel like they have been on ice way too long.

(Photo credit: Greg Rakozy on Unsplash)

thaw #5: travelling on…

Final day of August – THAW is coming to an end. But the journey continues… What will your travels onward look like? Even if you are still in isolation – your imagination doesn’t have to stay in lockdown!

We hope you have found something helpful in these creative prompts – feel free to revisit them whenever you wish. The images will remain in our photos on Worship Arts Salvos Australia and here on Space 2 Call Home. Please let us know how they have inspired you!

Watch this space for the next new projects from Worship Arts…and a new creative challenge for Advent later this year.

stop. and. stare.

My eyes are tired today
Weary of words
Stressed by screens
Aching
From looking
At sadness
Badness
Madness

2020 vision in 2020?
Seems unlikely.
How to clear my gaze?
Stop.
And.
Stare.

Not at the mess
The disarray
And the despair

Stop.
And.
Stare.
Look and see
What’s really there
In front of me
Hiding in plain sight:

Glimpses of goodness
Glances of joy
Patches of courage
Pockets of kindness

It’s not all bad news
If you keep looking through
To find what is true:

True Light
Bring insight
To enlighten
My mind-eyes

True Fire
Bring passion
To fashion
Pure heart-eyes

True Love
Outpouring
Restoring
My soul-eyes

True One
Let me see you
Today.

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus…” (John 12:21)

thaw #4: first bloom

Can you believe this is the last week of August already? Hope you have enjoyed the various creative prompts and the occasional responses from us 🙂

Check out the pic for your fourth week of creative prompts – no limits, engage how you wish – in words, music, images, paint & pen, any medium you fancy.

You’re welcome to incorporate this into your personal reflection, meditation or prayer times, or share your responses wherever you blog or create. Feel free to shoot us a message to tell us about it! And you’re welcome to visit us on Facebook at Worship Arts Salvos Australia

thaw #3: spring cleaning

Week 3, let’s keep rolling into the second half of our creative challenge

Check out the pic for your week of prompts – no limits, engage how you wish – in words, music, images, paint & pen, any medium you fancy.

splinter triptych

FOR THAW AUGUST 2020 CREATIVE CHALLENGE
Originally published on wordswrithen.com
WEEK 2 DAY 2 – SPLINTERS

1. What all camels dread
A splintery day today, you know,
The kind when a whole load
Of spiky little annoyances collide
And lodge just under your skin
And you set your teeth and grin
Til the last straw jabs you
Rightunderthedamnfingernailandyouhollerandwailaaaaaaaaaaah!
What am I, a pincushion?
Swiftly becoming a most cantankerous little hedgehog!
For goodness’ sake
Don’t let them fester;
Go find yourself some kind of tweezers
Something that pleases
Soothes and cleans and heals
Lest those pesky quills
Break someone else’s back too.

2. Allow Me

Oh dear, you’ve got something in your eye!
Please, do allow me to try
And help you clarify
Your vision.
What’s that? how?
Well, let’s just yank it all out now
And see how we go…
Whoops, there goes your eyeball!
Didn’t see that coming…
Never mind, you still have one!
Let’s get that sucker on the run
And you’ll never miss the depth perception
Just keep following my direction
And everything will be –
Wait, where’d you go?
Hello?I’ve still got your eyeball!
Oh well, I’ll just nail it up here with the others
On my considerable eyebrowbeam
And wait for you to come back to get it mended…

3. Service
I’d like to get this one removed, please.
It’s getting in the way.
Trips me up, slows me down.
I need to be on top of my game to be of service
Surely?
What use is a fragile vessel?
Only the robustly armoured
Stand up to steady punishment
And come out smiling
Don’t they?

And gently, you refuse
Tenderly bind my wounds
Remind me that bendy reeds
Outlast brittle trees
In many a storm
Bruised and tired feet
Don’t run ahead of those they’d lead
Heads with thorny crowns
Rule with no power
But surrender:
Trading sufficiency, supremacy, authority
For empathy

four Easter meditations in a time of isolation 1. Maundy Thursday: mandatum It is spoken It is written It is given It is finished The law of love completed The Christ’s commandment: love The Master’s mantle: humility The Saviour’s statement: sacrifice He has spoken – breathed life into us imprinted imago dei on our souls […]
yesterday, today, tomorrow and after — wordswrithen

metamorphosis

It's coming,
the time of the cocoon.
The waiting, the darkness, the silence.

The chrysalis is around the corner,
so surely we must ready ourselves.
Eat up, store up, prepare, take stock, fill the tank, stack the shelves:
The plenty of autumn harvest assembled against the winter wilderness.
Are you ready?

Hibernation is about to take hold.
What have you arrayed for the shade?
Do we even know the change that is upon us?

Replete with all you think you need, 
bags stuffed with 'just in case' and 'maybe this will come in handy';
Or caught unaware, cupboard bare, none to spare?
Or will you be as I: somewhere between, fretting over what to pack;
unsure of submitting to the process;
knowing the time is near yet hovering in fear...
Are we ever truly ready for transformation?

The hairs rise on the back of my neck as I feel its waiting breath -
 a little death -
I don't want to go in! 
I am afraid of the cave,
the waiting, the darkness, the silence.
Yet my chrysalis awaits me.

And as I pause on the threshold
Trembling
Reluctant
The whisper speaks:
"Be at peace, 
matters not if you've come with nothing or everything,
hands empty or laden, it is enough.
Only one thing is needed:
already provided
it awaits you within;
Ruach - breathe in - 
Won't you come in
and begin
your metamorphosis?"

space 2 call home

thaw

august 2020:
four weeks of creative kindling

thaw #5: travelling on…

stop. and. stare.

thaw #4: first bloom

thaw #3: spring cleaning

splinter triptych

FOR THAW AUGUST 2020 CREATIVE CHALLENGE
Originally published on wordswrithen.com
WEEK 2 DAY 2 – SPLINTERS

thaw #2: deep digging

thaw #1: winter waning

yesterday, today, tomorrow and after — wordswrithen

metamorphosis

august 2020:four weeks of creative kindling

FOR THAW AUGUST 2020 CREATIVE CHALLENGEOriginally published on wordswrithen.comWEEK 2 DAY 2 – SPLINTERS

august 2020:
four weeks of creative kindling

FOR THAW AUGUST 2020 CREATIVE CHALLENGE
Originally published on wordswrithen.com
WEEK 2 DAY 2 – SPLINTERS