Garden/Labyrinth reflection - Leaf Rubbing prayer
Friday is my day dedicated to sharing creative spiritual practices. At present, because of Earth Day next week, I am focusing on ways to get out into nature and reflect on God’s presence within it.
Grab your journal or a sheet of blank paper, a coloured crayon or pencil and a pen and head out into nature..
Take a few deep breaths in and out. Prepare yourself to pay attention to all that is around you. Breathe in the fragrance of God. Recite a simple breathing prayer like this one:
God breathe life
on us, in us, through us.
God breathe love
on us, in us, through us.
God breathe hope
on us, in us, through us.
God, breath of life and love and hope,
Breathe on us, in us, through us.
Fill us afresh with your presence.
Look around at the trees, the plants, the rocks, the labyrinth, the view. What immediately catches your attention? Perhaps it is a rock of a certain shape, or a leaf of a special colour. It might even be a weed that you want to pull out! Take a few moments to pay attention to the object and reflect on it in your journal.
Pick up the rock or a leaf that you like the look of and find a quiet place to sit down. Hold your leaf or rock in your hand. How does it feel? What attracts you about it?
Hold the rock or leaf in your non-dominant hand (which stirs creativity) and spend a few moments reflecting on the sessions you have attended. Is there a question or the beginning of a prayer or image that comes to mind? If so write it down or start a sketch.
If you have a labyrinth available, Walk it, with the rock or leaf as your companion. Hold it in your non- dominant hand. Stand at the beginning of the labyrinth and allow a question or thought to form in your mind. Savour that thought and invite it to grow and develop as you walk into the center. Stand there for a few moments and recite a prayer. Move your leaf or rock to your dominant hand in response to your walk. Invite God to speak you more thoughts and insights as you begin your slow walk out of the labyrinth.
Time to Head inside.
If you picked up a leaf, place it behind the next clean sheet of paper in your journal and make a rubbing of the leaf with your pencil, preferably a coloured pencil. Be gentle but press hard enough that you begin to see the outline of your leaf’s shape and its stem and veins. Take time to study your leaf closely. Smell it, rub your fingers across its surface. Touch it to your skin. Is it strong, fragile, thin, furry, fragrant? What is unique about this leaf? Write down your observations and thoughts it inspires.
Next to your rubbing reflect on the following thoughts: What does this leaf tell you about the God who created it? What does it tell you about yourself as a created being? What does it reveal to you about God’s creation? Your thoughts may have come together into a prayer or poem. Write that down too.
Now grab a paint pen or permanent marker and decorate your leaf as a reminder of what God has spoken to you. Are there further thoughts that come to you?
If you picked up a rock examine it closely. Rub off the dirt. Is it a single colour or are their veins of different rock in it? Rub your fingers over its surface. Is it smooth, rough, deeply lined? What does this rock tell you about the God who created it? What does it tell you about yourself as a created being? What does it tell you about God’s created world?
Hold the rock in your non dominant hand. How does it feel? Is it heavy, awkward, comfortable? Does it remind you of the burdens that weigh down your life?
Take time to write down your thoughts and discoveries Reflect not only on your rock but on the morning sessions and the walk you have just taken. What else comes to mind as you sit and reflect? Perhaps this has come together as a prayer or poem. Write it down.
Now its time to decorate your rock – perhaps with a word or a design that reminds you of what God spoke to you about today. Grab some paint pens or permanent markers and get creative!
NOTE: This exercise was inspired by a similar exercise prepared by Nigel Uphill for the Year in The Son Spiritual Retreat, April 2004 in Australia.