december evening, annunciation

my plan was a 

a ten minute

walk

out the back door

down the driveway

and up the gravel road

just for a fresh breath

of air

but within

a minute of setting out

the revelation began

(cries of

geese filling the air)

i scanned the horizon

in every direction

nothing

finally

turning my face

directly upward

i saw them

flying 

high and away

into the pink feathery clouds 

seemingly heaven bound

light from the great star

reflecting from their underbellies

then 

just before fading from sight

they turned

and  circled back

directly overhead

again

this time

so low 

i could hear 

the beating of their wings

north

they flew

the air was warm

the world 

still

“Every human being is “formed to be a spectator of the created world and given eyes that he might be led to its author.”  John Calvin

“So go to the window. go to the hills, the desert, the corner, the back door and be ravished and taken and awed.” Ann Voskamp

*This season of advent, i am reminded again of how at a particular point in history God came “low”. So low that one could actually hear the sound of his footsteps. 

kneeling

everything i saw
that morning

seemed to take a knee

in protest?
no

in awe, it seemed

(believing that nothing
was deserved or earned)

leaves gave way
to autumns breeze

mums bent low

and even the strongest
boughs

bowed down

to kiss
the darkened
fertile

ground


"The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship"
                                             ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Pride is about my glory; humility is about God's glory."  ~Mark Driscoll

that day

it was gray 

that day

rain fell

in fits and

starts

leaves fell too

silently swirling

to the damp

dark ground

just maybe 

i had found my way

to the old neighborhood 

because people in my life

were falling too

bravely

quietly

gently

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”~Ansel Adams

What a beautiful day, that day was. I wish you could have seen the color, and the light. Hoping this image will give you a glimpse of what it was like.

signs

there’s a soybean field

near my house

i walk to it 

some mornings

the soybeans are brown now

but the field is surrounded

by cottonwood trees

their leaves glisten 

like golden 

hummingbird wings

i see deer tracks too

at the edge 

of the field

“I hold not with the pessimist that all things are ill, nor with the optimist that all things are well.  All things are not well, but all things shall be well, because this is God’s world. “   ~Robert Browning

words to a wildflower

i see you there

reminding me

beautiful 

in all your stages

of dying

“All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, and the flower fades .”……so “teach me to number my days that i might have a heart of wisdom. “

1Peter 1:24, Psalm 90:12

It is sometimes the mystery of death that brings one to a consciousness of the still greater mystery of life.  ~Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

free range and fresh

she sat down by me
at the meeting that day
(the farmer's young wife)
placing a carton of eggs
on the table

"an extra dozen"
she said

excitedly
i claimed them

perfectly shaped

green, speckled
brown and white

eggs
beautiful eggs


"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting-a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's a grand life when something as simple as a dozen eggs can evoke a sense of wonder.  tw

"The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946.  That is not very long ago.  Until then, where was all the food?  Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests.  It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides.  It was in the pantry, the cellar, the
backyard."  ~Joel Salatin, Folks This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World.

I love farmers!

beyond

there's light
up there

there up
beyond

the shadows


Watch the news, look at the headlines and all we see is darkness.....but.....

"God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all."  1 John 1:5

"We live in the shadowlands. The sun is always shining somewhere else. Round the bend of a road. Over the bough of a hill."  C.S. Lewis, Shadowlands