Simple Objects for Contemplation

My church started having a monthly Taizé service. They're very simple, contemplative worship services with prayer and song. The setting is arranged in the round. A table with some candles sits in the center, giving you a place to rest your eyes. I have added very simple decorations, things that might offer subtle inspiration.

Terra cotta pot by Michiko Shimada from Etsy

Today, I am using some water propagated plants in jars, plus two plants propagated as wet sticks that I potted with the old stem visible. I wanted to show new growth coming from an old, leafless stem. 

Many weeks worth of waiting, and new leaves are coming.

The water propagated plants are showing long roots. I think that these plants symbolize new growth and renewal. A new thing growing from an old thing. Patience. Perserverence. That we can trust nature to do what nature does. That we can trust the Creator, who created the web of life that sustains us. That as we wait in winter, growth continues unseen. Life, and having it abundantly.

(All plants are Scindapsus pictus, except for one small Cebu blue pothos.)

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For the first table I decorated in October, I repainted some papier mache discs from a previous project and made stands for them from toilet paper rolls. I'm telling you: simple! Low effort! This is the way. These are all for a one-time, thirty-minute service. It would not make sense to spend money or a lot of time. This time, the decorations were meant to evoke shadow and reflection.

It isn't beautiful. But it's a thing.

In November, I was thinking about impermanence. Of shedding what no longer serves us, and giving in to generative decomposition. 

Craft knife for cutting shapes, bone folder for scoring lines into paper

I collected leaves from my yard and made their twins from paper. I decorated the real leaves with a Posca paint pen.

I just wanted to share because I have been enjoying doing these. I enjoy the restrictions of keeping it very simple. The richness of very simple ideas. Doing a lot with a little.