Prompt: Resurrection
Pen & Mend Journal Prompt (No. 80) What's Asking to Come Alive in You?
Welcome to this month’s Pen & Mend Prompt! Before we begin, please note these upcoming virtual events for paid subscribers. Word by Word: Creative Writing Workshop is open to guests for $5. Join any and all that feel supportive for you.
Pen & Mend Writing Room & AfterWords: Friday, April 17th, 9:30-11:30 am PT
Word by Word Creative Writing Workshop: Thursday, April 23rd at noon PT (Guests can drop in for $5)
Pen & Mend Writing Room: Tuesday, April 28th at noon PT
As winter gives way to spring and the liturgical seasons move from Lent to Resurrection Sunday, the themes of new life are all around us.
We move from life to death, this we know. But we can also move from death to life.
Not in a way that bypasses the permanence of physical death or losses that cannot be undone, but into forms of life that can still emerge—some real and tangible, others more metaphorical, even spiritual.
Resurrection is happening as I walk through nature—when I slow down enough to notice the return of green leafy buds to bare tree branches. I feel it when I sit down to create something out of nothing—as I’m intuitively drawn toward colors evocative of spring—grassy greens, peaches, and pinks.
Reminders of resurrection are everywhere this time of year.
We see new life stirring as we look outside of ourselves — but about when we look within?
Do you sense anything stirring within you? Anything asking to be unearthed or (re)birthed?
As I walked through this Lenten season and into spring break travels with my family, my back has been healing from a minor surgical procedure that became infected. Although it’s been a painful and slow healing process, my wound is healing. I’m literally watching my body grow new skin over a once-open wound. Though admittedly, it’s a bit gross, it’s remarkable what our bodies can do. I know not all physical wounds, diseases, or illnesses will heal, and many will leave us with limitations or losses in our lives, but as much as death abounds, so does healing and restoration. Both exist.
Grief, hopelessness, despair, on the other hand, can sometimes lead to what feels like a death—a death of self, of hope, of dreams, etc. Trauma or abuse can also feel like figurative or spiritual deaths or death sentences handed to us.
As we inwardly heal our hearts and spirits from losses, wounds, and the ways we’ve been hurt, we experience various sorts of restoration and resurrection. Healing is also a kind of recollection—a re-collecting or a gathering of the pieces and parts of ourselves. It’s recovering the parts of ourselves that we’ve neglected, abandoned, buried, or hidden over the years. It’s learning to hold all of who we are with compassion. Learning to love ourselves is part of healing. And often, healing means a recovery of self.1
Creativity feels, to me, like a kind of resurrection—a way of coming alive again, of bringing something new to life.
This journaling prompt is an invitation to consider the parts of ourselves that may have experienced a death of some sort — parts we may have lost along the way — parts that are asking to come alive again.
“Be in your own skin, as an act of self-love.”
—H. Raven Rose
Keep scrolling for the rest of this month’s reflection and the full series of reflection questions.
May you hope sense the spirit of resurrection breathing new life into you today.
