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
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • 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
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • 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
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Becky Rische

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Becky Rische's reflection on paying attention to nature and the divine.

Quieted by nature, I can sometimes better hear that God-given voice showing me what is mine to do.  Noticing who I am, how I am, and where I am when this happens, gives me guidance on how to hear and see and follow God at other times.

For instance, right now I’m writing this from a dear friend’s cabin in the mountains. I planned to leave today, but a fresh six inches of snow covered the roads.  Driving in ice and snow is foreign to me, and practicing alone on narrow mountain roads clearly didn’t offer a good learning environment.  So I dug in for another day.  In truth, staying longer is my overwhelming preference.

I have a spectacular display of three-story pine trees to keep me company. The pines provided welcome privacy during this week’s stay, and now seem just as happy balancing large mounds of snow on their limbs. Through floor-to-ceiling windows, I can see the great village of creatures housed in those trees. I’ve learned their names because a bird field guide and a 14-year-old “critter journal” sit on a nearby table inviting visitors to record their sightings. Bear stories appear in those pages, as well as dates and lists upon lists of bird sightings.

This encouraged me to pay attention to the vast assortment of fluttering wings at the feeder outside the window. Along that same sight line, a herd of nine deer have moved into the picture to play in the new snow. I bundled up and walked down to see them, so they rewarded my attention by scampering across the snow field like jack rabbits, and I got it on video.

This enchanted place belongs to my spiritual director who has years of experience practicing the art of paying attention.  Her vocation calls her to help others to do the same. Shortly before that luscious snowfall, she had sent me a message to “watch for all the ways God says ‘I love you’ today.” Soon the softest, quietest, white flakes began floating down and continued for a full day.  In nature, God speaks for Himself mostly, but soul friends help us to listen.

My soul friend’s signature and God’s signature appeared everywhere around that mountain cabin, and I held them both in special gratitude all week.  Beauty and restfulness, serious birds and relaxed deer, the nighttime threat of bear, and the daytime, up-close mix of small town people all spoke of God’s great imagination.  It was hard to leave, but I felt so blessed to carry that holiness with me.

I find writing too can provide a slowed-down experience of fast-paced lives.  My time at the cabin was part of a transition period into a new calling, one that I wanted to continue to include writing.  Reading that critter journal made plain how friends I hadn’t known to write, found it irresistible to play with words, given the time and encouragement.  Sorting and feeling through just the right phrases to describe our experiences helps us to learn from them.

The focus required by writing can also settle the whirring chatter of my mind and help me to relax.

Paying close attention to things and analyzing my part in making them work can seem inconvenient, but I want to remember the moderating rituals of writing or nature walks can also be life-giving.  Whether absorbed by the daily demands of a simple existence or a vigorous calling, I hope always to find my way back to meaningful spiritual practices that move me to a new sense of wonder, where God’s voice becomes unmistakable.


Becky Rische is retired from a long professional career in writing ranging from city lifestyle magazines to business journals to public relations at major universities.  She now offers faith story writing retreats to help capture transformational moments in peoples’ lives, and support the culture of listening.

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Leave a Comment April 29, 2020

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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