life (on planet earth)

like the topmost
tender
tree branch

life is whispy
and tis
light


"Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered...how fleeting my life is."  Psalm 39:4

We are definitely being reminded right now that our days on earth are short and numbered.  But as Easter approaches, we are at the same time, being reminded that death was defeated by the resurrection of Christ. I like the way C.S. Lewis expounds on this in his book The Last Battle:

"All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page:  now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."  C.S. Lewis

one reward (of bible study)

sometimes
it all seems
random

things wending
and bending 
their way through space

but that's not truth

for there is 
a storyline obvious

a plot rife with mercy
made

clear


"The Bible is our love letter from home."  Augustine of Hippo

in the year 2020

drinking in
draughts of drama

day by day

our minds find
little time to rest

let alone
digest the news cycle

try this instead

study subtle stone
and lay of land

listen
to the clack clack

of branches


"Come forth into the light things, let nature be your teacher."
                                                           ~William Wordsworth

"In clinical studies, we have seen that 2 hours of nature sounds a day, significantly reduce stress hormones up to 800% and activates 500-600 DNA segments known to be responsible for healing
and repairing the body."   ~Dr. Joe Dispenza

simon, the pharisee

poor simon
the pharisee

sitting in judgment

"if he were a prophet
he would know what kind of woman
this is

how can he let her
touch him

let alone, wet his feet
with her tears

such an embarrassment!"

"Simon," He said
" I have something to say to you"

poor
self righteous simon

caught
in the tangle
of his own

sticky web

 ~Written after studying Luke 7:38-50

I certainly can't be too hard on Simon, however, as I too, can find myself sitting in his seat. Sad, isn't it? How we can manage to even become "Pharisee judging" Pharisees.

Pharisee:
noun

a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity.
a self righteous person, a hypocrite

flight

she died
yesterday

the young
sweet mother
of two

flew
up and beyond

the shadowlands


"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly."  Richard Bach

Thus George MacDonald writes to his daughter, whom he will soon lose to tuberculosis:

“I do live expecting great things in the life that is ripening for me and all mine-when we shall have all the universe for our own, and be good merry helpful children in the great house of our father. Then, darling, you and I and all will have the grand liberty wherewith Christ makes free-opening his hand to send us out like white doves to range the universe.” (The Heart of George MacDonald )

sighting

one day
when i was on a hill

snow geese
suddenly filled the air

with cries
and wings

and all the things

i
needed



"They have passed over us like an eraser over a blackboard, wiping away whatever was there before they came. "  ~Wallace Stegner (speaking of geese)

"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."  John Muir

praying place

it's a county road
but i call it
mine

for i have been there
many times

to find
my way
again


"Wisdom sits in places."  -Apache Proverb

"After He had left the crowds, He went out to the mountains to pray." Mt. 14:23
(After I leave the crowds, i head to the backroads.)

made full

the cottonwood

is losing her leaves

it began

last week

and yesterday’s rain

hastened the change

but 

emptiness is beautiful

when arms are held

high

"When we give freely, we feel full and complete; when we withhold, we feel small, petty, impotent, and lacking.  We are meant to learn this great truth, that giving fulfills us, while withholding and trying to get causes us to feel empty and even more needy.  This truth runs counter to our programming, which drives us to try to get something from others to fulfill our neediness, only to end up even more needy, grasping, lacking, and unfulfilled."   Gina Lake

communion

it was evening
when i saw him

there
at the edge of the marsh

we partook
together
of the softening light

he, in his element

and me
in mine


"The deepest level of communication, is not communication, but communion. It is wordless.....beyond speech, beyond concept."  Thomas Merton

"Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter....you are just there in front of the fire. You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you. "   -Desmond Tutu


These images of a Great Blue Heron were taken in Door County Wisconsin.

connected

oh the power

of roots intertwined

the help we can find

in weaving and

heaving 

together

"Everything you do has an impact.  Who you are--that you are--actually matters.  In an interconnected world (the only kind we have), our actions and the actions of others are inextricably linked--we are always and forever in a dance of mutual influence with those with whom we directly and indirectly participate.  It is the unavoidable reality of being social creatures, only magnified by an ever-increasingly complex and interwoven societal structures.  We matter to each other."

                                   ~Paul Greiner

*Photo taken in Door County WI. 

what's that smell

i read today

about a lady

who can 

smell parkinson’s disease

it’s true

and i’ve read in the past

about cats 

who can smell

cancer

i can’t 

of course

but ask me about

spring lilacs, summer rain

or the air on a 

musky autumn morning

and i’ll tell you

the smell of 

foreverness

"But a smell shivered him awake. It was a scent as old as the world. It was a hundred aromas of a thousand places.  It was the tang of pine needles....It was the muscular rot of mushrooms...It was the spice of oak....It was the husks and burrows and moss.  It was solid and alive--so alive! And it was close. "       -Stephen M. Irwin

uncommon grace

in every quiet headland
in every evening still

there

doth mercy
spill


As i reflect on this image i am struck by the vastness of our Creator's mercy.  How, i ask myself, can such a peaceful scene be found, especially when the news of the day is of hoarded baby fetuses, mass shootings, and opioid overdoses.  The beauty before me could never be possible without a God of long-suffering patience.

"You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God."
                                   Graham Greene, Brighton Rock

Photo taken in Door County Wisconsin.

asking at the end of day

what did you see
today

and what did it
say?

And so i ask myself what these windows say to me? I decide they speak of aging and also of perception.They are old, boarded up, and what some may call “useless.” But on second look; uniquely beautiful.They remind me of something i have witnessed recently in my parents relationship. After 69 years of marriage Dad is still at home on the farm but mom is now living in a nursing home. One thing i have noticed about my parents relationship in the past year is it’s newfound sweetness. My father has become much more adept at voicing his love for mom and giving her compliments on her beauty. He has referred often to how beautiful she was to him in their youth.  And how beautiful she remains in his eyes. After all these years he is learning to communicate that fact to her in words as well as actions. It is wonderful to witness. The following quote seems to fit so well.

"Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl.

An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become.

A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be.

But a great artist, a master, can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is....and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be....

and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive,not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body.  He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there was never a girl born who ever grew older than eighteen in her heart....no matter what the merciless hours have done to her.  ~Robert Heinlein

Dad has become a master artist.

I'm practicing and hope to be one someday too.

at evening time

when they came

the words were less

than a whisper

lighter than

mist

“oh child

of mine,

it is time

to

rest”

“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.”  Mother Theresa

among the lily pads

they are there

among the lily pads

in the variation

the variegation

of lines

the subtlety 

of color

pristine proofs

of everything

every

little

thing

finely

and faithfully

fitting

together

"He is before all things. And in Him all things hold together." Col. 1:17

“This passage can be applied to the structure of the atom. The nucleus of every atom is held together by what physicists call "weak" and "strong" forces…..

There is thus an active force imposed on the universe, which actively holds the very atoms of the material world together moment by moment, day by day, century by century.” 

                                     Physics and the Bible, Lamber Dolphin

home place

there’s a stream

that flows

by the side of the road

where the grass

is the greenest green

choke cherries bloom

white 

and the morning dove

the dove of

mourning

coos softly

I've been spending a lot of time at the home place lately. Though it’s a beautiful spring there, it’s the season of winter in my parents lives. Change is in the offing. And with that,  in a few days we will be celebrating the marriage of our youngest son. Joy and sorrow mingled. What could convey that paradox more than the presence of Good Friday and Easter Sunday back to back in the pages of history? 

Happy Easter friends. In the end, JOY wins out. 

“Behold, I am making ALL Things new!”  Revelation 21:5

late march

truth be known

i enjoy

winter

but this one

has been extremely 

long

and i too

am ready 

for birdsong 

and blossoms

a tiresome virus

has kept me in

even on nicer days

but at last 

i am feeling good again

and ready to embark

on a leisurely walk

so it’s off to the park

getting out of the car

i glance up 

to the tops

of yet bare trees

in their nakedness

they charm me

offering a beauty

never seen

when  summer’s leaves 

are lush

and green

Look up my friends. See the silhouettes of branches bare…..while there is still time. :)

"Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore.There is always something to make you wonder…..in the shape of a tree or the trembling of a leaf."  Albert Schweitzer

february light

it’s hazy today

and i lazily stroll

down the path

somewhat subdued

by the tilt of the earth

at this season

the mood of the trees

and their reason

of nakedness

does not winter

diminish us all

does she not 

lay us bare 

too?

Prayer….

Thank you Lord that when we are diminished, we are most in need of your grace.

And that even in february there is light.

Writing this post reminded me of a great old hymn: He Giveth More Grace….I especially like the 2nd stanza:

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done;

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father's full giving is only begun.

James 4:6

He gives more grace. Therefore the Scripture says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

bearing gifts (the snow)

in the stillness of snow
we can let go
of so many things

in the whiteness of snow
we are given to know
grace

"How many lessons of faith and beauty should we lose, if there were no winter in our year."
                                      Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1861

December 26, after Christmas walk

it was warm 

for a december afternoon

and rain fell steady

inserting my ear phones

i started the walk

to the songs of les mis

another christmas 

had passed

i couldn’t help but wonder

if it would be the last 

with mom and dad

or might tragedy 

of another kind

befall 

before the halls

were decked again

then came the voice 

of young cosset

i slowed my steps

to listen well

and while 

her fragile words

settled in my heart

the weight of dread

took flight…

“there is a castle 

in the clouds

where no one’s lost

and no one cries”

(where there are

no sad goodbyes)

the song

like a snowflake,

faded quietly away

but other words

ancient and few

surfaced 

from memory

“FEAR NOT”

“For behold!”

how 

had i forgotten 

so soon?

“Behold!” 

“Behold”

and be held

all you who know yourselves

to be poor

“a baby 

is born!”

And He 

is the lamb

of God

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. “

                                                              ~John the Baptist

“He shattered the space between heaven and earth 

and came naked and breakable for you in a creche.  

Then he lay naked and broken by you on a cross. 

You don’t have to try to save yourself.  Behold Him everywhere and be held.” 

                                                        Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift

My “word” for 2019 is remember. :)

What’s yours?