He didn’t paint it for me; my son painted it for my mother-in-law, Carol. From Colin’s earliest days, Carol would sit with him at her breakfast table and watch the birds flying in and out of the back yard. It meant enough to Colin that he asked her for a backyard bird guide when he was seven. Because Carol noticed the beauty of birds, Colin did, too. For Christmas a few years before Carol died, Colin painted this tile for her.

When Carol died, the painting came back – a reminder of love and time spent together appreciating the beauty and grace just outside the window. Such a simple, powerful, life-changing act, this giving. How immeasurably richer life is because of such things.

The group wanted to explore Celtic spirituality for Advent in 2019. David Adam’s The Cry of the Deer: Meditations on the Hymn of Saint Patrick provided the words and Debbie Hill instruction in drawing Celtic knots. Debbie is an artist and calligrapher, and adventurous enough to take on teaching a dozen of us how to use pencils, dot paper, and ink to create intricate patterns. The first knot took more than an hour to make – a simple square. By the fourth or fifth try, I could manage a basic knot without needing to look at the directions.

The following weeks brought thoughtful conversation on Saint Patrick’s Breastplate and increasingly more intricate knots – candles frames, and diamonds embedded with crosses. Pulling out the dot paper, pencils, and pens turned into a prayerful act; seeing a pattern emerge from a collection of dots and circles, imperfectly formed but still pleasing, became a way of clearing my mind and opening my spirit to God.

I’m not known for my artistic ability, and I’ve never found drawing satisfying or relaxing. But Debbie’s encouragement and creativity opened up a new way to pray that’s lasted years beyond the original Advent study. I’m still surprised by it, and profoundly grateful.