David Brazzeal

“It was as if God had become not only the object of my praise and thanksgiving but my creative partner as well.”

“I realized there really is a natural interplay between my spirituality and my creativity. When I enter into a spirit of prayer, I can cultivate a receptive space and actually ask God for creative ideas that will enhance my my praying. Then these creative practices allow me to enter into the spiritual space even more quickly and deeply. The result is a spiraling effect leading to ever-expanding dimensions, encompassing both deeper spirituality and heightened creativity.”

“When we create an environment where our spirit is in sync with the Divine Spirit, then we should be on the lookout for good, positive, helpful thoughts and ideas from a source beyond ourselves. p23.”

“The challenge is to draw on the past but not be bound by it" p. 20”

“Is there something in your spirit that keeps telling you it should be different: more interesting, more engaging, more creative, more profound? Does your prayer life feel like you're eating the same food over and over every day - mixing the same ingredients but hoping for a new, more enticing dish?”

“Creativity and spirituality function on the same side of the brain. If that is true, it is quite reasonable and natural for them to function together. The prophets and mystics we're obviously aware of this connection. p. 23.”

“Learn to listen to subtle cues from your spirit instead of the barrage coming from your brain.”

“As a kid, I was taught that if you opened the Bible in the middle you'd probably land on the book of Psalms. And near the middle is everyone's favorite, the 23rd, there is this line: "You prepare a table before in the presence of my enemies." I don't know how many times I've read or recited this Psalm without pondering what that line actually means, but here is my take on it. When things are a bit tense, when life is not going at its best, when the potential for disaster is just around the corner, when your enemies are all around you - and even staring you down! - that's when God lays out the red-checkered picnic cloth and says, "Oooo, this is a nice place. Let's hang out here together for a while...just you and me.”

“You can be assured, though, that prayer is unbounded, undetermined, and untethered. We may end a certain series of spoken words, but the spirit of the prayer stays with us, walks out the door, and down the street with us. At any moment of the day, we can pop back into that same spirit with just a pause on a bridge, the thought of a friend, or the whispered word, “thanks.”

“Meditation is a spiritual human activity like mourning, fasting, or praying, and is not limited to one religious group while remaining unavailable to others. (103)”