​Hidden Treasures

By Nita Gilger
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All night long there was a singular note being sung in a full-throated way outside our bedroom window.  I did not recognize it.  It seemed to move around a little but when I looked out the window, I did not see any movement or creatures stirring about.  As the sun began to rise, I ventured outside with Hunny only to hear the same unique call.  I looked up and there near our front porch was an owl.  It was not my usual sighting of my Great Horned Owl pair (Eleanor and Franklin).  No. This was a Barred Owl.  I have had many up-close and personal encounters with barn owls and Great Horned Owls, but this may have been my first close connection with a Barred Owl.  

I greeted this new friend and began to imitate it's sound.  It is a good thing we have 2 acres and no neighbors' houses right beside us.  I might be turned-in for being certifiable.  My bird language has become quite extensive.  Yes.  I walk with the animals and I talk with the animals.  Eat your heart out Dr. Doolittle!  If you have gone down the rabbit hole of agreeing that I am crazy, please come back for a moment to finish my reflection with me.  I thought to myself that this moment was one of hidden treasures. I simply needed to look up and out and see the gift awaiting me. This gorgeous bird had more than a little to say to me. Romans 14:17 concentrates on JOY.  For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

I certainly enjoy food and drink this time of year, but I am keenly aware of my need to seek the spiritual gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love. Those spiritual treasures lead not only to the manger in Bethlehem during the Christian practice of Advent, but to abundant living. This journey takes us to a place of not so hidden treasures.  We simply need to look for them. 

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​For Advent, I have been utilizing the talents of Mollie Donihe Wilkerson, artist, minister, and all-round amazing person.*  Mollie has created a deck of cards she calls The Sacred Seams Deck which are pictures of cards from quilted squares that she has sown.  She encourages us to use the practice of Visio Divina which is a contemplative form of meditation or prayer in which we invite the Divine to speak to us through images. It literally means “holy sight” or “sacred seeing.” The sacred seams art I chose for this reflection leads me further to the imagine hidden treasures. Mollie asks us to gaze upon the artwork and invite whatever sacred wisdom or help can be found for the moment at a very personal level.

To my eye, hidden treasures or what call my attention. On this quilted square, there is beauty all around with flowers and one of my favorite colors-purple.  Maybe the purple pieces are pointing me toward the box saying that there is more to see than first meets the eye.  As I open the box, it is full of stars.  I am surprised, amazed, and intrigued.  Will I simply wish upon the stars or take them out of the box one by one to find their not so hidden messages and treasures?  I decide to name the blessings one by one.  I hold stars of comfort, caring, compassion, hope, a love that sustains and heals, a peace that passes all understanding and the companionship of God as shown to me in the birth of the vulnerable Christ Child.  Into this needy and hurting world came the voice of love. 
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My box of stars does not have to remain hidden treasures.  The box has no lock and key.  It is ajar and ready and waiting for my perusal and delight.  Such joy is one of cherishing all that is and can be.

Prayer:  God of the owl song and the stars in the sky, hold me close and do not let the woes of this world steal my view of the hidden and not so hidden spiritual treasures all around me.  Amen.

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​Mollie Donihe Wilkerson
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About Mollie Donihe Wilkerson

Sacred Seams Deck

Molllie Donihe Wilkerson Journal

from the journal of Mollie Donihe Wilkerson, an excerpt on sacred seeing:
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art is wise, and so are you

These days, I rarely pray with words. To be honest, the only time I really do is when someone asks me to pray out loud before a meal or at a gathering. When it’s just me though, I don’t really “talk” to God—not even silently in my head.

When I was younger, I would have considered that a mortifying and shameful thing to say. I put so much pressure on myself to say a silent “hey, God…” every night before I went to bed. I rarely remembered to do it. I thought God was disappointed in me, so I made sure to throw in an extra “I’m sorry I’m bad at praying” next time I did remember.
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As I’ve grown and gone through formal and informal theological education, my understanding of prayer has changed a lot. Do I know why exactly we pray, or what exactly happens when we pray? No (nor does anyone, if they’re being fully honest.) But I do know that, at its best, prayer brings comfort, hope, inspiration, and courage to persevere through the hardships of life.

There are so, so many ways to pray. I now know that it’s not shameful that one way of praying (with words, for example) doesn’t really work for me. I have tons of options! And so do you.

Now, there’s no one correct answer to how you should pray if you, like me, don’t like praying with words. But, if you have an appreciation for art and you enjoy finding meaning in images and symbols, you may want to give Visio Divina a try.
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What is Visio Divina? Visio Divina, or “sacred seeing,” is a contemplative practice of inviting the Divine to speak to you through art. So often, language falls short as we try to describe our experiences, understand our emotions, or explore our own relationship with the holy....more

​Visual Lures for Feeling
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Nita Gilger and Mollie Donihe Wilkerson remind us of the importance of Visual Lures for Feeling.  Of course, we know about visual lures already, inasmuch as our entire society is covered with physical and virtual images that shape our imaginations in healthy and unhealthy ways.  But by Visual Lures with an upper-case "V" and "L," I have in mind those images that communicate and convey something good and holy, something divine, in our lives, helping us grow into love.  That's what Mollie Donihe Wilkerson means when she speaks of Visio Divina or Sacred Seeing.

As we might see things with an eye and heart turned toward the sacred, it can help to keep in mind the qualities of heart and mind that emerge in such seeing.  To my mind, the spiritual alphabet of Spirituality and Practice names many of the qualities that can emerge.  I like to think of them as the outcomes of Sacred Seeing.

​​attention  -  beauty  -  being present  -  compassion   -  connections  -  devotion  -  enthusiasm  -  faith
forgiveness - grace -  gratitude  - hope - hospitality - imagination  - joy -  justice - kindness - listening
love  -  meaning  -  nurturing  -  openness  -  peace - play  -  questing  -  reverence - shadow - silence
​teachers   -  transformation   -  unity  -  vision   -   wonder  -  x, the mystery  -  yearning  -  you  -  zeal
 
And yet, in order to enjoy these outcomes, we must be open to Visual Lures in the first place.  Here process theology can help, because it is open to many ways of knowing: verbal, mathematical, musical, kinesthetic, tactile, empathic, introspective, conscious, unconscious, and, yes, visual.  Unfortunately, in the West since the Enlightenment, emphasis has been placed on verbal and mathematical: texts and numbers.  The need in our time is to recover a more holistic understanding of knowing and to recognize that the living Spirit of God can come to us through them all. 

Perhaps process theology can help a bit.  In process theology, God comes to us through “lures for feeling.”  These lures are energizing possibilities for the well-being of life for individuals and communities.   These lures can come to us through the more than human world (owls, for example) and through humanly made objects and images (cards, for example).  Whether and how we receive them depends on what we bring to them.  Visual meanings depend not only on the objects seen but also the hearts of the seers.  The essay by Nita Gilger, and the work of Mollie Donihe Wilkerson, have the same aim: an opening of the heart.  They are prayers that we, too, might see with our hearts.  From a process perspective, this is God's prayer, too.  In Sacred Seeing, just for a moment, we become God's eyes.

- Jay McDaniel
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