I am preparing to finish a two year Iowa-based Spiritual Dirction program called Spirations. Our seventh (of eight) modlules was about “Light and Dark,” and your book, Night Visions was our principal text for the quarter. Unfortunately I was unable to read the text easily because of the smaller print (I have macular degeneration). I did order Sacred Journies and am using this as my daily devotional for now.

We returned from our seventh retreat the week you arrived in Minnesota. That’s when I went to your website and realized I’d just missed you. UTS is my alma mater; it’s where I grew into myself and earned my M.Dov. degree.

Each of our eight retreats (the last one is in April) begins with an integrative–a project of any kind that depicts what we learned during our previous quarter’s work. I, an artist by no means, made two banners. The bottom banner contained three large candles with stars and the sun atop them. Over the lower banner, I placed a dark piece of felt. I cut out small shapes in the upper banner and kept them open with small velcro circles. I told my colleagues: “Most of the time we only get to see a little light here and a little light there.” I demonstrated by opening the little shapes on the top banner. Then I took the top banner off the lower banner (also attached with a strip of velcro) and said, “This is what we see in an epiphany.” Now they saw the lower banner whch revealed the candles, stars and sun, all made with yellow and bright orange quilt fabrics. Last week I showed it to my little congregation in Farmington MN. (We live in Richfiield). They liked it too.

If your site is The Painted Prayerbook, then my site is the Crayola Prayerbook. Not as alliterative, but the truth.

Deep bows to you and yours.

Terry Roos