A friend gave me a volume of Wendell Berry’s poetry for Christmas. In it are a series of poems he wrote as he looked out his window. I’ve been joining him at his window during Lent. Looking out. Looking in.
Christine Valters Paintner writes about receiving rather than taking photographs as a spiritual practice. The sense of opening my heart to what I see and letting it rest there in the form of a photograph is inviting. Phones with built in cameras make this easy to do.
I’ve noticed that windows are often in the shape of crosses. For some time I’ve been receiving cross-shaped windows, both looking out and looking in.
This week away I’ve gathered some of these window crosses into an album as a Lenten practice. Looking out. Looking in.
Looking through a cross at the sunrise as I awoke this morning. A cross to welcome me to a new day.
Looking through crosses into the kitchen where my friends are preparing me a delicious meal.
Looking through a cross as a cloud allows me to see only that which is most near me.
Looking through a cross as spring overcomes winter.
Wendell Berry writes, I have always loved a window, especially an open one. I’m inviting God to teach me about God’s love as I receive these crosses, looking out and looking in windows. With the cross, windows can always be open.
House of Grace 