strength passed on

i see him through

the brambles

whiteness 

brightening 

a shadowed world

but he is blind

and darkness 

is his brother

oh, that he could know

his presence here 

this morning

brings a royal

kind of courage

to fall afresh

on me

"Any glimpse into the life of an animal, quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way."  John Muir

red berries on a winter morning

small, were they

the blood red of them

saying

"there can be no blight

beyond the sight

of a resurrected God"

“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

muted mystery

the barn owl

silently appeared

gliding low

at the edge of

the dormant field

his brown form

vanishing into the

barren woods 

i was mute,

as were the trees

and all that was 

within them

january mist hung heavy

with a meaning

i have yet 

to understand

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.  It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."    -Albert Einstein, The World as I See it

january quickening

today’s walk 

through pasture grass

past the frozen pond

resolved 

a disquieting

darkness

how astounding it is 

to be unbound

and then be found

alive

again

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”  Anne Frank

And He cried in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go.”  John 11:43-44

A New Year's Morning Prayer

Dear God

thank you for 

making this beautiful planet 

thank you for worlds 

within worlds

and for allowing me

to be 

part of this

your forever 

unquenchable 

story

amen

"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia 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 forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before"  C.S. Lewis

*As you begin this new year, join me in remembering that there is always more than the eye can see. Cheers to "chapters always better than the one before"!

underfoot

silent and meek

beneath the feet

of the giant sequoia

lay golden fern

twas more than once

it took our breath

away

"I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful."     ~John Ruskin

“He humbled himself and took the form of a servant….”   Phil.2:7

evidence not seen

that morning
the forest
bore witness

to faith
in the face
of mystery


"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.  ~Henry Emerson Fosdick

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1

Photo taken in Sequoia National Park.