As year-end approaches, I will begin to post ideas for Advent, as well as a few Christmas gift ideas for the creative Christian. Today’s post is an example of a gift idea! So pass this along to your spouse, mom, grandma or friend with a “hint, hint” so they get the idea! 😉

Creative Flourishing in the Desert is a six-week self-study, online retreat offered by Christine Valters Paintner of the Abbey of the Arts. Based on the wisdom of creative Benedictine Abbess St. Hildegard of Bingen, weekly themes include: Viriditas (the “greening” power of God); Body, Soul, & Senses;  Incarnation; The Greening of the Virtues; Holy Wisdom; and Music and Integration.

According to the Abbey of the Arts site, the $90 retreat fee includes pre-retreat material, as well as six emails each week for a total of six weeks:

You will receive six emails each week. Day 1 arrives to launch the week’s theme and offer you some wisdom and reflection from Christine into Hildegard’s writings.  This will be a longer email.  Days 2-6 will offer a daily quote and suggested mandala practice to carry the theme through the week.  Day 7 of each week will be a break from emails, a chance to pause and integrate.  The emails will include photos from Christine’s recent pilgrimage to Hildegard’s landscape as well as some of Hildegard’s own illuminated visions with commentary. Each week also includes a printable pdf file for easy access to the week’s written materials.

As a part of your daily practice, you will use a suggested text for lectio divina, create a mandala as a response, and then journal with guidance.

This sounds like a wonderful way to start off your year and to use the quieter winter months for contemplation and renewal, especially if you have been in a desert season in your life. I encourage you to explore this offering and consider if this would make a wonderful gift for yourself or someone you love.

Blessings of ARTistry, CREATivity & BEaUty, Jody

P.S. Missed previous posts? Click here.

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What is Create-A-Day?  Just as One-A-Day® Vitamins help restore the nutrients we deplete in our bodies, so too do we need to refill, replenish and renew our creative souls. In 2015, watch for daily* posts to undergird your ministry; lead you to resources to nurture the creative spirit within; and draw you more deeply in worship of Jesus Christ. My goal is to provide you, the creative Christian, with over 250* resources to help you develop your ARTistry, CREATivity & capacity for BEaUty. Books, worship arts ministries, video series, websites, conferences—all geared towards artists, creatives, worshipers and people serving in worship and creative arts ministries. So, visit my blog every day* to see what creative resource I’ve hunted down for you. You can stay connected by following me on Twitter or Facebook. Or better yet, sign up to receive email updates by clicking the button to the left. We’ll watch the resources pile up as the year unfolds!

* I am a proponent of family time and Sabbath rest so don’t look for posts on weekends or Holidays.

Jody Thomae is the author of God’s Creative Gift—Unleashing the Artist in You, a devotional book with Bible studies to nurture the creative spirit within and to serve as a resource for creative Christians, artists, musicians and worshippers. She has been involved in worship arts ministry since 1997, coordinating artistic involvement in church services and regional worship events through dance, drama, poetry and fine arts. She performs, teaches, choreographs, preaches, coordinates and leads workshops in the area of creativity, spirituality and embodied prayer. She has also recently released a devotional CD, Song of the Beloved. Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made more real through the prophetic use of the arts in church and formational ministry. It is her desire to portray the message of Christ’s desperate and unfailing love for His people to help sustain the hearts of the broken and weary. Life scriptures include Psalm 27; Isaiah 50:4-7; and Zephaniah 3:14-17.