Blogs | Jill Geoffrion | Pray with Jill

Pray with Jill Geoffrion: Be inspired to pray
using images from the Chartres Cathedral in France.

Through Jill’s Eyes: Be inspired to pray
using images of labyrinths from around the globe.

Nature Related Blogs

Photo	Link to Blog	Excerpt
	Healing: Wonder in Dark Places	A life-long dream came true as I was lowered into the dormant belly of the Brihnukagigur Volcano outside of Reykjavik, Iceland.
	Praying in Montana: Water	Water makes life possible. Perhaps that’s why when I think of God, I think of water.
	Praying in Montana: Grizzly Bears	While spending time watching Grizzly bears in a rescue center, God’s incredible creativity impressed me once again!
	Reflections	When I look into the eyes of another being, life seems to make sense on a deeper level.
	Praying in the Mountains	The words we memorize are always with us. As I was walking in the early morning, many verses from Scripture came back to me, guiding me gently and more deeply into God’s beautiful, creative presence.
	Blood Moon Eclipse	What kind of God imagines a world where things glow when light is obscured? One that I want to know!
	Turbulence	Think of a place in your life that is more turbulent than you would like. Let this image speak to your anxiety. What prayers are emerging in your heart, mind, body, and imagination? Pray them now.
	Reaching	To reach out in many directions at the same time is a beautiful way to grow.
	Paradox	The sound of turbulent water creates a sense of peace. Paradox always brings me closer to truth.
	Thistles	When burrowing into the flower of a thistle, it’s impossible for me to feel the sting of its prickles.
	Together	Who am I walking with? The answer can surprise.
	Potential	The hundreds of seeds developing in the center of this bud remind me that none of us knows our true potential.
	Timing	Being in the right place at the right moment makes a world of difference. By paying attention to the moods of where I am, experience and appreciation is greatly enhanced.
	Delight	What nourishes me can also create life for another. There is so much beauty in the way our world was created!
	Companionship	Who I am with may seem so obvious that I can forget to pay attention.
	Blossoming	The beauty of what is, the possibility of what is to come, and the scent that opens to the present as well as to other places and times invite me to joy.
	Unfurling	Growth involves unfurling. When I can step back from the experiences that stretch me, many levels of beauty become obvious.
	Seeds	Wanting everything to turn out well, just as hoping every seed planted will grow, is normal. Accepting complexity, unpredictability, and disappointment as a normal parts of life helps me to cope with difficulties.
	Encounter	Looking another in the eyes means risking relationship. It’s what I want, but the commitment to being present to whatever I discover there also feels frightening.
	Shining	Clouds may block the sun, yet they can’t erase its presence. As the wind forces change, beauty pours from behind, reaching me with hope.
	Release (Iguazu Falls)	Letting go into the unknown is often frightening. As unlikely as it seems, I find comfort knowing that living and dying involve releasing ourselves into what we can not control.
	Flowering	There is always unexpected beauty on the inside, but I don’t know it until there is an opening.
	Home	Coming home to my community feels exciting–and joyous.
	Maturing	Maturity involves more than the passing of time. Placing myself in nurturing environments allows steady, healthy growth as I ripen and become ready to feed others.
	Grounded	Like this rhea, whose bird existence is complete even though it can not fly, I too can live fully even though there are things I will never be able to do or be.
	Churning	Caught in an agitating situation, I can forget that swirling is one of nature’s tools for cleansing.
	Resting	Finding time to draw myself in and rest, as counter-cultural as it may seem, is both natural and needed.
	Alert	When something changes in my environment, my ears perk up, My senses, and my intuition which they awaken, help me understand what to do. Sometimes they lead me to engage and sometimes to relax.
	Decay	Beautiful vestiges of the past call me to accept decay and death as a vital part of life.
	Reality	To think of deserts, as I do, as limitless piles of golden sand, is to miss the complex subtlety of what deserts really are.
	Found	When things open unexpectedly, joy spontaneously bubbles up, expressing itself in praise of the One who can unlock anything.
	Flexing	Sometimes the wind blows–hard. “Bend, but don’t break,” the words on our family crest remind me that responding to external forces with strength, flexibility, and balance is helpful.
	Reaching	Growing is more difficult than it sounds. I reach for the future and discover myself on a circuitous pathway.

Nature & Travel

Photo	Link to Blog	Excerpt
Photo	Link to Blog	Excerpt
	Praise: Iguazu Falls	Standing in awe before the majesty of creation is one way to praise the Creator.
	Really?	So much is learned just by looking. As Henri Cartier Bresson, the French photographer, said, “I look, I look, I look. It is with my eyes that I understand.”
	Darkness and Light	There is beauty in darkness. There is beauty in light. There is astounding beauty in the commingling of darkness and light.
	Leaning In	To ride the currents, what an experience! Resistance contributes to seeming effortlessness. Abandon and trust do too.
	Balance	Where am I? Why is the challenge of holding internal and external realities in balance so hard?!
	Molting	Shedding of any kind requires patience, courage, and acceptance.
	Approach	This small Burrowing Owl watched me closely, just as I looked carefully at it. Calmly, step by step, I moved as close as possible.
	Changing	Change happens continually. The less I resist it, the more I appreciate its gifts.
	Subtle	One of the games I love to play is, “How many shades of green can I see in this scene?” Subtlety is one of the joys of life.
	Contemplation	Sometimes there is nothing to say, nothing to do. Only to appreciate.
	Power	The power of glaciers and wind to reform the earth is astounding.
	Presence	What does one thousand years of history taste like? Cool and fresh!
	Eyes to See	Why did the Nasca people (200 BCE-500 CE) draw immense shapes and figures on the plain and mountains in Peru? No one knows. These “drawings” are only visible from the air. As planes swoop down close to the land the figures come into view, but if one doesn’t know what to look for, one might never see them.
	Embraced (Easter Island)	Held securely within our mothers’ wombs, we begin our lives. Reminders of that first embrace, whether big or small, move us.
	Facing Fear	Sensing danger can be instinctual. It can be imagined. It can be overcome. To swim with rays, to run my hand over their smooth and rough skin, to experience their making eye contact invited me to reconsider, “What am I afraid of?