Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Login Here
Back to all

Visual Meditation: The Sun

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

(photos taken at Golden Gardens in Seattle)

You might also enjoy

Monk in the World Guest Post: Mary Camille Thomas

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Camille Thomas’s reflection and poem “All Things Sing You.” In my blog The Kingdom of Enough I ponder this question: In a crazy,

Read More »
March 4, 2026

Monk in the World Guest Post: Katie Bruckbauer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Katie Bruckbauer’s reflection and poems on dance and poetry as a spiritual practice. Dance has always been a contemplative practice for me. Even as

Read More »
February 25, 2026

6 Responses

  3. steadily and with all the honesty our language can barely hope to express ms. oliver invites the joining of our self-centered orbit to a greater one … leading ever so simply yet deftly to ten breathtaking, mirror reflecting words …

    “or have you too
    gone crazy
    for power,
    for things?”

    this is why i love mary oliver! again and again, hers is a voice innocent and profoundly wise.

    thank you for sharing how you see, christine. what you see and how you see it is beautiful. so very beautiful!

  4. Thank you for posting this poem by Mary Oliver and your beautiful photos. Such wonderful inspirations.

    Mary explains it so well….” and have you ever felt for anything such wild love “.

  5. Oh, Chrstine. What a wonderful beginning to my day. Fantastic poems…stunning pictures.
    You and Mary both ROCK!