Friday, March 29, 2013

Focus on Life: Week 13 ~ Have Faith


Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting a year long challenge which is... sublime... as you'd expect with such a studio name. The challenge is named 'Focusing on Life' and every week Sally is sending a prompt on what should we focus the following week.

This week the prompt was... Have Faith

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. ~ Augustine

There are many of us who are religious and there are many of us who are not, but most of us religious or not have faith in someone or something. A faith that gets us through our day, a sickness or even a death. Faith is held by each of us, it is what keeps us believing that there will always be a positive outcome even if we can't see it at the time.

With Catholic Easter approaching (this year the Orthodox Easter is way far away: on May 5th!) - the prompt is one of pause and reflection. And that's what I found right in William's room (any room holds some icons, but his seems to have a huge collection, one he likes to add to every time he has the opportunity)

Mother & child icon (Orthodox) :: All Pretty Things

What better symbol of faith and focus on life than the Holy Mother & Child? This is his latest addition, right before Christmas.

Orthodox icons :: All Pretty Things

Top: (made by mom) St. Peter;
2nd top row: Mary & baby Jesus; St. Stelian, commonly known as the protector of infants
2nd bottom row: St. Philip (his middle name is Philip, so he can have an Orthodox name-sake; little I knew back them we celebrate not one, but 3! we decided on the November celebration, of the Philip, one of the 12 Apostles); and another Mary & baby Jesus
Bottom: yet another Mary and baby Jesus

Although they aren't used a lot in the Orthodox tradition, we gathered a couple of praying ropes, I think my mom sent them as well.

Hope you have a wonderful and Happy Easter (if you celebrate it this weekend).
If not: wishing you a Happy and joyful Sunday!

Thank you for stopping by and chatting - if I never send you a reply to your comments it means one thing: your are a non-reply blogger - I have an article on how you can fix it (right in time for the huge Bead Soup parties, starting tomorrow!)

Please remember to check everybody's take on faith, I am sure it'll be a wonderful gathering - you can find us at Miss Sally's, as usual.

18 comments:

  1. What a beautiful wall, Alicia! I did not know about St. Stelian... like most mothers, I'm sure I would have had a few prayers going his way when mine were babies. Have a wonderful long weekend!

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  2. Beautiful post, and wishing you a happy, joyful Easter Alicia!

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  3. Beautiful icons. Religious faith often produces wonderful art!

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  4. Wonderful. How beautiful that wall is. Happy Easter to you too!

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  5. That is an inspirational collection. Thanks for sharing it with us!

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  6. A beautiful collection! Happy Easter!

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  7. The picture of the Holy Mother and Child is gorgeous, Also like the inspirational wall.

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  8. What a collection! I always learn something in your posts... orthodox namesake? I should go back and read again. So will you be celebrating Easter twice?

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  9. I'm sure you will have a wonderful Easter when you celebrate in May. Interesting collection.

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  10. A wonderful collection of faith objects.

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  11. I love how these prompts connect us all, and yet have the ability to expand our horizons through the cultural and lifestyle differences. This was a very intereising post and I love this last icon added to the collection, gorgeous!

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  12. There's something about the orthodox icons that really are beautiful - the color, the gold... Beautiful collection.

    Happy Easter!

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  13. Icons are so fascinating. I love the rituals of the Orthodox ceremonies

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  14. Beautiful! I love how they tie you back to family.

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  15. A beautiful post, Alicia. It is wonderful to see how your family traditions are tied with FAITH.

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  16. I'm just now getting around to all the blogs for this latest challenge. I love all the beautiful icons you shared here. What a wonderful way to affirm your faith.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I appreciate and love to read your comments!