Mod Podge and God

"Can you make slots in the top of these?" I asked my husband late this morning, handing him two Starbucks boxes that were only big enough to fit large mugs, excited for my arts and crafts project.

"Sure," he said, looking at them. "How big do you want them?" I have been talking about this particular idea for weeks, and had just come back from discovering Katonah's local art store, Janet's Planet, flourishing a bag laden with Mod Podge and tissue paper.

"Big enough to put a folded piece of paper in. You know - like a mailbox." Yesterday I had cut up some magazines in preparation for some collage work. I wanted to make a God Box.

In my early 20's I used to make collages as a form of meditation. I kept a folder full of cut outs from magazines and would glue pictures onto cardboard, seeing what I would come up with. Almost like Play Therapy. And then I was at NYU studying Drama Therapy, and my Masters thesis was a performance art piece, called Pandora's Hot Box, Lost in a Spiritual Supermarket. I dare you not to call that a collage.

But. I have never used Mod Podge. How can a girl have never used Mod Podge? I've fantasized about it of course. Imagined a house full of creatively découpaged objects. (Mod Podge is this amazing glue that looks white, but dries clear and glossy.) My excuse was always that my NYC apartment was too small. No space, no time. I need to write after all. Take care of some kids. Let them do all the arts and crafts.

Today was the day Mod Podge and I finally met and married - pictures and tissue paper with the impervious glue. The cut openings are for letters or notes to God (or the Universe, or Higher Self, Higher Power - whatever works for you.) A concrete prayer of letting go or of thanks. Another tool to help me get out of my own way.

I took my supplies up to my bedroom and laid everything out on my purple velvet comforter. Tissue paper, rip! Mod Podge, a picture of a palm tree and a hammock on the beach. God. This first one has to be for my BFF. She's a total beach bunny, while I am. Not. Images, shapes, patterns came to me with her in mind. Mod Podge. I just love those sounds together. God Mod Podge. Mod God Podge. Hmmmm.

Writing has always been the strongest form of prayer for me. Writing things down gives my words weight, makes them real. My journals are full of these types of prayers and my writing is between God and me anyway. This will be a constant, loving reminder.


Of course I made one for myself but it's not quite finished yet - I had to share my supplies with my children when they came home from school. Still, I hope to start out each day with a letter that I can tuck safely away in the God Box, beginning tomorrow. Maybe it will be the simple Serenity Prayer.