Retreat Day in the City Part One - Art

I decided that I needed to take some time to just be with God today ... in the City.  I haven't had a chance to explore Chicago much since I arrived this summer, and one of my favorite ways to be present to God is to be silent with my camera in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life.

I started out my day at the Art Institute of Chicago. I bought a student membership as my Christmas present to myself, so I can go back whenever the mood and free time coincide over the next year.  That gave me some freedom to just go where the spirit moved me today, rather than feeling like I had to see the entire museum in order to make my admission fee worthwhile.

So I visited the Chagall windows ....

I spent some time with Klee ....

And of course Seurat ...

I also found myself serenaded by one of the security guards who told me that her favorite painting (at least in that particular gallery) was The Feast in the House of Peter by El Greco.

She sang a song to me by her favorite gospel singer, "Alabaster Box" by Cece Winans. She then explained to me how in the painting, she thinks Peter is complaining that she wasted the expensive perfume on Jesus, but Peter doesn't know the transformation that the love of Jesus created in her.  It was an unexpected, unsolicited yet lovely moment in the museum.

On my way out of the museum, I stopped to take a photo of one of the festive lions standing guard.