Skip to main content

breathe

"in our image"
paper collage on cardboard panel
gregory a. milinovich

hello friends. happy saturday morning. don't know what you are up to today but i hope it involves some measure of noticing the leaves strewn all about your feet like rose petals at a wedding. the trees, even in settling into a solemn sleep, still celebrate and make their joyous noises.

i hope your day includes breathing. and noticing it. and thanking your maker for it. and remembering just how freaking amazing it is that all of us in all our diversity are scurrying around on this planet like ants sharing this same air.

the collage above is one i made this week. i didn't really have any intentions when i started it, but as it began to take shape it became about creation for me. often when i make a collage it isn't a theological statement so much as a visual reflection. do i believe God has hundreds of people in God's hair? no. do i believe God looks like a human woman (taken from a life magazine circa 1947?). no. do i believe God vomited creation out like a rand mcnally map mess? no. but i am struck by the phrase 'in our image' from the creation story (gen 1:26). now, i've had enough theological training to know about the 'royal we' and all that, but it still doesn't take away the beautiful mystery of that language for me. and so i respond to it. i respond to it by creating this. that's just how i roll.

i hope your saturday involves you responding somehow to the majesty and mystery of this here God-breathed world. its a mess, sometimes, yes. but its full of celebration and air and color and breath, too. breathe it in.

greg.


Comments

Anonymous said…
this doesn't have a ton to do with your blog...except that it has to do with the personification of God so to speak...but i heard this quote from who knows who or when or what...and it made me chuckle. so and so said "if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans..." i find that true :) here is a way to relate it to your blog...if you want God to laugh, tell Him how you picture Him. see that application? yeah...right...

i like your collage and i think it would be cool to be apart of God's everflowing hair. shampoo all the bad people out though. Rinse and repeat if necessary
Eric said…
I wish I made more time to breathe... I feel like now I'm working full time, and teaching, and gigging, it's just hard to fit in breathing and sleeping too.

I'm not doing a very good job of balancing it all, so I'm glad you reminded me to take a minute, take a deep breath, and be filled by the magnificence of everything around us. Life is good, God is good... I just need to stop missing it!

Thank you for your thoughtful, insightful, and sincere thoughts, they are another one of life's little blessings for me.

peace.

Popular posts from this blog

i'm giving away the swamp

so this is a collage called swamp. i made it in february of last year. it is currently framed in a homemade, hand-painted frame. it is paper collage on a book binding panel. it is 7" x 10". and i am giving it away. i've been wanting to have a blog giveaway for some time, and the time has finally arrived. here's how it works. all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. by leaving a comment you are automatically entered into the contest (as long as your comment offers a way for me to get in touch with you, or you know that i know you). the contest will be open until next wednesday at noon, eastern standard time. at that time the contest will officially be closed and i will pick a random number. the person whose comment matches that number wins! for example, if i happen to pick the number 33, the thirty-third comment will win. oh, and one more rule: you can only post ONCE. if you win, i will send you the collage, signed by me, the artist, free of c...

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

affirmed

i cannot express today the feeling i have. this picture that i found sort of expresses it but not really. for the last ten years i have poured myself into this vocation, daring to believe that God, the very God of all creation, has called me, even me, to this work. along the way many have affirmed me in this journey, but i have continued to work for the ultimate affirmation, ordination as an elder in the united methodist church. and now i have it. after two grueling (and i mean grueling in every possible sense, really) days i recieved the call today that the board voted to recommend me to the annual conference for ordination as an elder. and as i have already said, i cannot even begin to express the emotion i feel with words like relief, joy and satisfaction. there will be plenty of time for me to reflect on this and i will have more to say about it as i do that reflecting, but today is really a day for celebrating for me, and for thanking those who have journeyed with me and s...