Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
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  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
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      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Marie Vencill

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Marie Vencill's reflection on the spirituality of beekeeping.

For more than 30 years I had an idea. It bubbled to the surface at odd times, often with the change of seasons. Thoughts tumbling; gossamer threads pulled out in moments of daydream. The reasons to keep it suppressed were numerous: early on there were frequent moves and limited resources; then a flush of children, five in six years; the busy-ness of caring for said children; the potential for failure. The list goes on. It broke wide-open while lingering over a cup of tea when my husband asked, “What would you like for Christmas?”

“A beehive!” I blurted out, not pausing all to think about my response.

A large box appeared next to the Christmas tree, resplendent in brown cardboard glory, beckoning me to enter with those who have gone before keeping bees: Gobnait, Hildegard, Bernard, Dominic, and Ambrose by association. I wonder, did this provide grounding for them too; the simple work of tending bees?

I have come to understand the keeping of bees is more than a popular “protect the pollinators” project; more than an intellectual entomological exercise. It is spiritual experience, exposing my greatest fears and wildest joys. Sometimes it brings an exhilarating sense of awe and understanding. Other times I am perplexed, unsure, even stung. Beekeeping, the ways of the hive, the hopeful anticipation of a fruitful harvest are metaphorical mirrors in my quest to be a monk in the world.

Bees, like me, move through different stages of life. They change both in physical form and function within the colony over time. The hive is mostly female. Newly hatched adults begin their work tending the young bees. They feed them, clean their cells, and cap them when they are ready to pupate. These workers stay close to the hive and are attentive to the needs of the individuals within the colony. It is only as bees age they leave the hive to forage for nectar, pollen, and eventually die.

For more than two decades, I too, stayed close to home. I was the full-time caretaker of my children. Some I homeschooled for a period. Now I find myself drifting uncomfortably through the flotsam and jetsam of mid-life. I struggle to understand how I fit into a family mostly grown and moving away (three of my children are in their early 20s, the other two in their late teens). The role that has defined me over the last 20+ years, is no longer. Suddenly I am not Elizabeth or Theresa or Benjamin or Alexander or Henry’s mother. I am just me … Anne Marie.

I play the “what if” game. What if I joined a religious order instead of marrying? What if I chose to pursue my academic career instead of raising a family? What if we moved? What if? What if? What if? It is like bees swarming. It unsettles me. Breeds discontent. Makes me prickly and on edge. I know I can’t go backwards yet I continue to play.

My physical form too has changed too. I have more gray hair, wrinkles, less muscle tone. I wear trifocal glasses. Sometimes I peer into the mirror and see my mother staring back. I am not the regal matriarch of my dreams. Bees too age. They become more ragged and worn, lose the pubescence that identifies newly hatched adults. This is when they leave the hive to forage for pollen and nectar. It is in mid-life they take flight.

Just as there is freedom in flight, there are conditions which may cause harm: mites, wax moths, hive beetles, extreme heat or cold, etc. In my own life, it is not varroa mites that infest, but a painful, crippling, exhausting, and debilitating disease: rheumatoid arthritis. Diagnosed nearly 20 years ago, I must face the reality that I can no longer just “push through” ignoring my body. The disease and medications have taken a toll: Constant pain that wakes me up at night and lasts all day, crippling fatigue, frequent and persistent illnesses brought on an immune system suppressed. I scream over and over and over in my mind, not fair! What have I done to deserve to suffer like this?

In those moments when I am trapped in pain or feeling sorry for myself or need to get out of my head, I wander back to the hives. They are a place of calm and peace. As I watch bees flying in and out, my heart rate slows. My mind focuses on something other than me. I marvel at the beauty and complexity of the bees, and the mystery of the One who created them. I can observe bees for hours without distraction or boredom. I talk to the bees. I move more deliberately and slowly, with care. I’ve been stung too, a wake-up call to be more mindful.

Maybe the bees call me to do this with my own life: To stand back, observe, marvel, and be mindful. To set aside my preconceived agenda and ebb and flow with the natural cycles of family and aging. To give myself permission to take flight and explore where I am at this moment. To move deliberately and slowly, taking time to enjoy what is.


Anne Marie Vencill is an entomologist from Athens, Georgia and works as an academic advisor at the University of Georgia. She is an avid quilter, knitter, and bee keeper.

 

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2 Comments January 24, 2018

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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