If your heart is broken, you’ll find GOD right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

// Psalm 34:18 MSG

I just participated in a Zoom meditation art class hosted by the National Cathedral entitled “Creating a Contemporary Illuminated Manuscript”.

“An Illuminated Manuscript is a hand written document in which text is supplemented with such decorations as initials, borders, and illustrations. In the strictest definition, the term refers only to manuscripts decorated with either gold or silver; but both in common usage and modern scholarship, the term refers to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from Western traditions.” 1

For the class, we gathered whatever art supplies we had at home (paper, pencils, paint, markers, crayons, etc.), started with a short lesson on illuminated manuscripts, practiced a 5-minute breathing exercise to focus our thoughts, then choose the words we wanted to illuminate.

I was drawn to the Message version of Psalm 34:18,

If your heart is broken, you’ll find GOD right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

I chose to depict the breath through the colors of blue, the wispy lines and varying mediums of water color, crayon and colored pencil.

Maybe this way of expression connects with you. Maybe you want to write a prayer, a poem, your word for this year. Express through creativity and meditation.

Why not give it a try! You never know how God may use your creativity.

‭1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript