29/10/2026
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Artistic Afternoons: Play with a sand tray today, or go out and find a patch of dirt, or pour some flour or salt on a cookie sheet to play with. Draw and doodle in it. Dance your fingers through the texture of it. Familiarize yourself with whatever substance it is, via your fingers, your touch.
As you do, consider the sense of touch as attentiveness in the stories of Jesus. The time he touches the l***r, or smears mud on someone’s eyes, or gathers up the children in his arms. The time a woman tugs on his robe and he turns toward her, stops everything to pay attention to this beloved one who needed healing.
What is it like to touch, to be touched by Love? Spend some time playing with whatever material you have. In some sand trays you can even introduce sculptures into the landscape, figurines that represent something of your story, something within you. Perhaps you have something like that around (even if it’s your kid’s toy or a found natural object of some kind). What does it represent, for you? How might you represent Jesus present to that part of you, your story, your soul?
Maybe you even take time with the story of the woman in John 8:1-11, letting yourself see aspects of the story there in front of you. Is there a part of you that feels shamed, beaten down, judged? What would it be to let *that* be present and embody Jesus’ move of simple presence and writing in the dust? Not saying or doing anything for a bit, not giving any advice or fixing anything. Simply being-with, quietly. What shows up in the dust as your finger continues to wander, draw, write, doodle?
Just let it go where it will, welcoming what comes. Perhaps at the end, write AMEN in the dirt or salt or sand or flour, as a way of naming this playful attentiveness, too, as prayer.
