Rise from some place you have known in the darkness
that carries all you need.
Subheads are taken from poem, below.
As plants unfurl and rise into the widening spring light, I’m shedding that curled-up cozy of winter and stepping out, blinking, into the sunshine. I’m holding up old wishes to the light, things that I packed away years ago. Maybe I believed I didn’t need, or deserve them. Now, I examine these anew.
This springtime unfolding is the results of a very long winter. But some new energy has been stirring since last summer. I’ve shifted away from worry and self-doubt and toward a presumption of happiness. I’ve set aside fear of humans and found new connections. I’ve doubled down on my commitment to art and health.
May you see what is hidden in you.
I was invited to create a piece for 2024 The Way of The Cross, a Lenten art and faith project brought to life by Johnstown artists Norman and Mary Ed. It was a challenge to create my first biblical painting, following in the footsteps of painters throughout history. I took a fragment of scripture and let it inspire a canvas. I cast aside the old fears and plunged ahead. The finished product is unlike anything I’ve done before. The experience of creating from a sacred text is hard to describe… I know I want to make more art like this.
What is hidden becomes your gift to give.
I have buried so much beneath monumental grief for ‘not measuring up’ to the world’s, and moreso my own, expectations. In recent years (why did I wait so long?) I’m beginning to understand; that I can stand up in the light, that I can reach for what my heart desires, that I don’t need so much compost! Joy and creative action are pushing through the soil and expanding in the light.
I WANT challenging projects. I WANT to be visible. I WANT to be in community. I WANT to love.
Blessing of the Morning Light
an Easter poem by David Whyte written for John O’Donohue
The blessing of the morning light to you,
may it find you even in your invisible
appearances, may you be seen to have risen
from some other place you know and have known
in the darkness and that that carries all you need.
May you see what is hidden in you
as a place of hospitality and shadowed shelter,
may what is hidden in you become your gift to give,
may you hold that shadow to the light
and the silence of that shelter to the word of the light,
may you join every previous disappearance
with this new appearance, this new morning,
this being seen again, new and newly alive.
Art-Spirit-Nature 
what a beautiful and inspiring reflection and blessing! Thank you for this, Patrise 💕
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Your writing is a huge gift. So uplifting Patrise. Thank you.
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Thanks for sharing this! It was a beautiful thing to read on Easter morning. I can relate! See you Thursday!
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