Welcome. I’m so pleased this week to share this painting with you — it’s called Lying Down Lady, a mountain range in Anchorage, Alaska. There are a lot of layers of story wrapped up in this piece. I’ve shared some of them in different contexts, so depending on who you are, you might already know part of the story.
In my twenties, right after being ordained, I had a powerful lucid dream: a vision of a figure of God lying on a mountain range. I’ll leave the details there for now — I’ve gone into them more fully in other settings, and I’m happy to do so again if you’re curious. Needless to say, it was a profound experience, one that has stayed with me throughout my life. At its core was this wonderful scene of embodiment: the Divine figure lying on the earth. Mountains, of course, are often images of mountaintop experiences — peak moments, places where heaven and earth connect. This figure of God lying on the mountain was a portrait of what it is to rest in God, and what it is to be connected to the earth.
Personally, my spiritual journey has always been motivated by a desire to be connected to the earth, because I’ve often felt disconnected from it. I don’t think that’s unique to me — I suspect a lot of us feel that way right now. I’m a minister in the Swedenborgian Church, a tradition that is deeply intellectual, full of high ideals about spiritual reality. And yet it’s also a tradition that, even as it lives in the mind, keeps calling us to live in the world — to make worship life, to come into embodiment. In many ways, this image of God on the mountain, the Divine touching the earth, is what I aspire to bring into my life day to day, moment to moment.
What’s so interesting is how this vision kept returning. I had it in my twenties. In my thirties, when I was on my way to candidate for my first solo pastorate at the Fryeburg New Church, I discovered a mountain range in Fryeburg with almost the same shape as the one from my dream. I took that as a real synchronicity — a moment confirming my path. Those mountains accompanied me throughout my time serving in Fryeburg.
Later, after I met my husband and moved to Anchorage, Alaska, this mountain was waiting for me — a very similar range, which I learned was called Lying Down Lady: a reclining figure of the divine. In the original dream, I hadn’t quite picked up on this at first, but the figure of God on the mountain had hips — it was a feminine image. So when I discovered Lying Down Lady in Anchorage, it felt like another confirmation that something was unfolding. I was coming into being, bringing the divine into the physical world through my ministry, through my marriage, through becoming a mother — all of these steps along the journey.
I love having this painting in my altar space. It’s important to me. Sadly, when I looked on the back to try to find the artist’s name, I couldn’t find it — and I’ve done some searching since without any luck. So if any of my Alaska family are watching this and you recognize this artist, please let me know. While I don’t know your name, I appreciate your talents. They’re part of me now, part of what holds this space and keeps me grounded in this work of making worship life.
I hope you enjoy the painting. And I wonder: what paintings are in your space that ground you? What dreams and visions have shown up along your path to encourage you on the way?
Share images and stories from your altar in the comments!
I’d love to see what spaces you are creating❤️
