I ventured out on Tuesday to join a few friendly faces at the SUMI INK CLUB for some drawing collaboration. Here's what we created. Fun!

It's heady to stop and look at where I am now. I have moved. I have moved 3000 miles from everything familiar to me and I'm diving head first into a world that is fast and flashy and full of opportunity. Los Angeles is unlike any place I've ever been and at the moment it's weight is apparent to me. This is a new game with new rules and new players and I had better bring it.

This is an amazing display of the wild and organic nature of the world. It could just as easily be a school of fish in the sea, but it's birds in the sky. The math is beautiful.

Massive bird flock

You might notice from my previous post that I've been somewhat fired up
and frustrated about the larger systems we live and abide in. Combine that
with the loss of life that has happened around our friends and neighbors during
the last few weeks and I found myself emotionally exhausted and confused.

I read another of John Baillie's prayers last night and it helped me
be more at peace. Here it is:

THIRTEENTH DAY : EVENING

O Heavenly Father, give me a heart like the heart of Jesus Christ,
a heart more ready to minister than to be ministered unto,
a heart moved by compassion towards the weak and the oppressed,
a heart set upon the coming of Thy kingdom in the world of men.

I would pray to-night, O God, for all those sorts and conditions of men
to whom Jesus Christ was wont to give especial thought and care;

For those lacking food or drink or raiment:
For the sick and all who are wasted by disease:
For the blind:
For the maimed and lame:
For lepers:
For prisoners:
For those oppressed by any injustice:
For the lost sheep of our human society:
For fallen women:
For all lonely strangers within our gates:
For the worried and anxious:
For those who are living faithful lives in obscurity:
For those who are fighting bravely in unpopular causes:
For all who are labouring diligently in Thy vinyard.

Grant, O Father, that Thy lovingkindness in causing my own lines to
fall in pleasant places may not make me less sensitive to the needs of
others less privileged, but rather more incline me to lay their burdens
upon my own heart. And if any adversity should befall myself, then let
me not brood upon my own sorrows, as if I alone in the world were
suffering, but rather let me busy myself in the compassionate service
of all who need my help. Thus let the power of my Lord Christ be strong
within me and His peace invade my spirit.

Amen.

When I arrived home for Christmas this year, my mother left a gift for me on my bed. It was a book called "A diary of private prayer" by John Baillie. The language he uses is quite King Jamesy, but nevertheless, the morning prayer for the seventh day (there are 31 in total) just struck me. I read it just moments ago and thought I would share it.
Enjoy.

SEVENTH DAY : MORNING

O Lord and Maker of all things, from whose creative power the first light came forth, who didst look upon the world's first morning and see that it was good, I praise Thee for this light that now streams through my windows to rouse me to the life of another day.

I praise Thee for the life that stirs within me:
I praise Thee for the bright and beautiful world into which I go:
I praise Thee for earth and sea and sky, for scudding cloud and singing bird:
I praise Thee for the work Thou hast given me to do:
I praise Thee for all that Thou hast given me to fill my leisure hours:
I praise Thee for my friends:
I praise Thee for music and books and good company and pure pleasures.

O Thou who Thyself are everlasting Mercy, give me a tender heart to-day towards all those to whom the morning light brings less joy than it brings to me:

Those in whom the pulse of life grows weak:
Those who must lie abed through all the sunny hours:
The blind, who are shut off from the light of day:
The overworked, who have no joy of leisure:
The unemployed, who have no joy of labour:
The bereaved, whose hearts and homes are desolate:
And grant Thy mercy on them all.

O Light that never fades, as the light of day now streams through these windows and floods this room, so let me open to Thee the windows of my heart, that all my life may be filled by the radiance of Thy presence. Let no corner of my being be unillumined by the light of Thy countenance. Let there be nothing within me to darken the brightness of the day. Let the Spirit of Him whose life was the light of men rule within my heart till eventide. Amen.