"God often lays the sum of His amazing providences in very dismal afflictions; as the limner first puts on the dusky colors, on which he intends to draw the portraiture of some illustrious beauty." - Stephen Charnock

Collage became a powerful spiritual practice for me; the drafting table is one of the places where I pray best. It provides a space between and beneath and beyond words, a thin place where memory and hope meet. The practice of collage also provides an image for understanding my work and my life. In much the same way that I sit at my drafting table and take the scraps to piece together a new creation, God does this within me. God takes everything: experiences, stories, memories, relationships, dreams, prayers — all those pieces, light and dark, rough and smooth, jagged and torn — and creates anew from them. I have learned to think of God as the consummate recycler: in God's economy, nothing is wasted. Everything – everything — can be used. Transformed. Redeemed. ~ Jan Richardson

To each person God has given a gift. A gift meant to be used and shared with others. Sharing your talents with others can encourage and stimulate their own desire to wake up the creative dreams within...to express themselves through art, music, the written word etc. Because...to not use the talent that God has given us is to abuse it. ~ Susan Reynolds