King David shared a spiritual discipline with his son, Solomon, he said: “As for you my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him…” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

I‘ve learned one of my most treasured spiritual disciplines from the most unlikely of sources…my father, my less than spiritual father. My dad did not care much for church, he never told me why, he just didn’t talk much about God on a personal level. Let me say this: it was nerve wracking to be around my dad, he was quite the moody person, you didn’t know if he was going to be angry at every little thing that disturbed his space, or if he was going to be polite enough to say something, well, nice. But my dad knew how to find things, not just lost items but things invisible, or mostly invisible, so maybe he was more spiritual after all.

My dad is fondly remembered as one of the best hunters in our family. Most oftentimes, he went alone, and I don’t remember a time when he came home empty handed, in fact when it came to hunting, he had complete mastery of it. How did he do that? How was he so successful at hunting when others failed? He took me hunting, once. That was it, just one time. But in that one special moment of our time as father and son, he taught me a secret, his hunting secret!

I remember walking behind him with a loaded 22 rifle in my hands, my finger on the trigger, just in case a vicious rabbit jumped out of the sagebrush to attack me! He pointed his finger at me and said, “follow in my footprints”, so I was…crouched over, had my head down and was doing my best to walk in the footsteps of this great hunter…and then he stopped but I didn’t. I head butted him and my body crumbled on the back of his legs, and in the next instant my finger squeezed the trigger and the rifle fired a bullet right beside his left foot! He didn’t move when I piled onto him but that shot made him turn his head around, and then he gave me that look…and I saw the fire in his eyes!

The next thing that happened was all a blur…just kidding, actually it was a miracle; he must have seen the dreaded fear in my eyes, the tears running down my face and the quivering and trembling lips of my wide open mouth. Maybe, in the interest of not raising his voice and scaring everything living thing away, my dad calmly turned around, took the rifle out of my hand, put the safety on, gave it back to me and sat me down on the ground. He gave me my only lesson in hunting, and what he said to me, I have never forgotten.

“When you are hunting for something, pay attention to where you are going, don’t just keep looking at the ground, you’ll run into trouble if you don’t pay attention to the signs.” (That’s what Indians do, they always look for signs, they follow where something has been even if that something is trying to hide.)

He said, “Sometimes you can lose the trail, but that prey is still out there, only you are so busy looking you can’t see where it is. Here is how you find what you are looking for: you become still. And not just for a minute but for as long as you need to, just find a place to stop and sit down, and start becoming still. Don’t make any noise, quit thinking about stuff, and don’t say anything. Let your breathing slow to a quiet breathing because animals can hear you breathe. Make yourself quiet inside, you’ll hear your heart beating loudly, tell it to quiet down. This may take a long time but don’t give up being still, (he pointed to a rock) see that rock? Become more still than that rock. Stay still until your bottom hurts, stay still even if you want to scratch your nose, stay still until the bugs crawl on your shoes or crawl up your legs, don’t move! Stop looking around, stare straight ahead but keep looking at everything…and when you have become the stillest, something is going to happen…the world is going to come alive and start moving around you. What you have been hunting for will start to move and give away their position. You will hear things you didn’t hear before, you’ll hear every bird, every bug, and even the wind whispering. And when you wait long enough, you will see what you thought you had lost, right in front of you, now these things have always been there only you couldn’t see them because you were too busy moving around. Learn how to be silent.”

Now that’s what I learned from my dad about hunting, what it also taught me is what I have used in tracking God too. While following in God’s footprints I somehow had lost His trail, I had gotten off the designed path for my life because I was so distracted with all that looking around. I had found myself lost in the busyness of being too busy to see God anymore or to hear His voice clearly and what I did find was trouble. My dad, as un-Christian as anyone could be, of all things he taught me, taught me how to find God, the Indian way, by becoming completely still. I can see that God used my dad to speak to me, a biblical truth as old as God Himself (if you seek God, you’ll find Him), and that truth has been etched on my heart for all time. The memory image of that moment painted with the colors of creation surrounding me so that I, an artist, could share the wondrous sacredness of finding God in your life.  Sometimes it may seem like its taking forever sitting in a hard place, but if you believe in God’s promises then believe in His love for you, who knows, that hard place might be the Rock of Ages. As believers we are being given a precious opportunity (every day) to practice waiting, to experience that holy stillness, right where you are, God points and says, “See that Rock? Be like that Rock”. Sometimes finding God takes our utmost concerted efforts of practicing how to be still, and standing ground on His rock solid promises. And just when you think you can’t be still any longer do you know what you will find? God was right there all the time. The Psalmist beautifully sang the Creator’s song “Be still, and know I am God” (Psalm 46:10). He is God.

Master Artist Fernando Padilla, Jr. demonstrating painting at a show

Fernando and I (Stefani) were looking through some old photos last night – it was great. We saw photos from the early shows when we were dating, photos from our wedding, photos of different stages of the kids lives and our life as a couple. We actually didn’t get any work done we were having so much fun reminiscing! One of the photos we came across was this photo of this handsome young artist demonstrating at an art show – and the handsome young artist is none other than my sweet husband (and favorite artist) Fernando Padilla, Jr. We can’t really remember what show we were demonstrating at, but believe it was around 1995. Anyone else recognize where we were at the time?

If you know Fernando, then you know that he is always trying new techniques, gaining new skills, and creating new and exciting works of art.  The latest venture is stained glass.  Stained glass pendants, like Ancient Beauty above, are each created by hand.  Fernando and his wife, Stefani collaborate on each final piece as Stefani creates the beaded necklace or chain for each one. 

To see the list of available pieces and prices, please visit KatishtyaTrails.com and click on the jewelry link.

Bears are depicted as sacred guardians of the direction west; they have been regarded as having the supernatural power of healing. The Bear is long respected as having the ability to transform human passions into true wisdom, when an individual is seeking that path in life. The strength of the bear sustains: when one is going through personal changes or stressful transitions; with the courage to resolve conflicts; when dealing with forgiveness to self and others; and especially when faced with obstacles and challenges (whether new or old) while on our spiritual journey. The Bear symbolizes the incredible power of solitude (its hibernation practices) when the time is necessary to renew, refresh, and regenerate our inner energies and character qualities. These fetishes are beautiful reminders of all that is good.