The walk of faith is to live according to the revelation we have received,
in the midst of the mysteries we can’t explain.
– Bill Johnson
Author Archives: nataliescarberry
1013. I saw old autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence. ~Thomas Hood
After the leaves have fallen, we return
To a plain sense of things. It is as if
We had come to an end of the imagination,
Inanimate in an inert savoir(way of knowing).
~Wallace Stevens
O splendid, lusty autumn, you who come with a subtle change in the light, with skies a deeper blue, with cooler days and lengthening chilly nights, it is, I’m sad to say, time for you to go. This year’s first frosts have come and gone, migratory birds have vanished over distant horizons, and crops have been harvested from garden and field alike. And all the while your while beauty and bounty “shined unconfined” as your days spread a “common feast for all that live.” Grateful are we to God and thee, o “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” that rains fell in good measure and gusty winds laid abundant, leafy blankets over the ground in protective readiness against winter’s icy blasts.
silence
seeks the center
of every tree and rock,
that thing we hold closest
-
the end of mere songs
~Michael McClintock
O Lord, I have truly enjoyed listening to nature’s solemn, autumnal hymns once again. And I’ve watched in wonder as leaf upon leaf floated down disrobing the earth. Now I find delight in the millions of shining stars I can see through the bare tree branches, and I know, according to Your promises, that when autumn’s allotted sands of time run out of this year’s hourglass that it’s not an ending. So I’ll go to bed tonight assured that with the arrival of the winter solstice near midnight this evening that the slamming shut of fall’s back door is in reality just a new beginning, a fresh start that will usher in another season, a season of restful silences. Thus at the morrow’s first light, I will rise and begin in earnest to prepare my heart to welcome Your son, Emmanuel, and to rest–to rest, to observe, to listen, and to continue worshiping You.
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. ~Genesis 8:22 ✝
**Image via Pinterest
Solstice Song
The Winter Solstice brings more wind, more rain.
A single bird sings with many voices in the Holly tree.
The song is vibrant, clear, urgent. I long to understand its message,
but all I can hear is joy, all I can see is the Holly Tree,
singing to the wind and rain.
.
Flow…
Awwww…
When there is no one who can say the words “I love you,” blessed little creatures will always find a way to remind us that we matter…
**I once had a cat that looked just like this one, and when I was upset and crying, she would always get up in my lap and hug me like this. So I just couldn’t resist sharing this image that I found on Pinterest tonight.
Returning
1012. I opened…
two amazing gifts this morning–my ears.
Your head is a living
forest full of song birds.
~e.e. cummings
The birds of the sky nest beside the waters; they sing among the branches. ~Psalm 104:12 ✝
**Images via Pinterest; collage created by Natalie
Confetti…
Rejoice With All Your Heart
Rejoice and exult with all your heart.
(Zephaniah 3:14)
Dear God,
Sometimes we scurry so hard after joy that we forget what it feels like.
Sometimes we work so hard for peace that we neglect the peace that
is sitting with us in our chair.
Sometimes we hope so much for hope that we miss the hopeful signs
that are right underfoot.
Give us this day a song. . .
one we sing in harmony with heaven and nature.
Let the song recollect joy. . . be peace itself.
Let the song express a little more hope than we feel.
You grant us joy and peace and hope;
these are not our own accomplishments.
Let this day find us rejoicing about You.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
~ Donna Schaper, in Stir Up Your Power
Photo on Pinterest
1011. It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. ~Charles Dickens
Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys,
showing that nothing else in life need be taken seriously,
and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one
of the few occasions in which men become entirely alive.
~Robert Lynd
Life grew very hard for me in my late 30‘s, and the difficulties spilled over well into my forties. As a result I was becoming more and more cynical about “life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those circumstances were made worse by the 20 year derailment in my faith journey and both were aiding and abetting a steady, downward spiral into the “black abyss” of hopelessness. So my doctor recommended that I go see a counselor, and I did, but reluctantly at first. Though it wasn’t long before I warmed to her, it took a while longer before I started really opening up about the burdensome issues that had brought me to her door. Then one afternoon as the session was about to end, she said, “I want you to imagine that you are a 4 year old child.” I replied, “Okay,” and then she asked, “If you were that 4 year old, what would want to do right this very minute?” Without too much consideration, I blurted out, “go get a chocolate ice-cream cone.” After hearing my response she immediately stood up, smiled, and said, “All right. I shall see you next week and TODAY on the way home I want you to stop and have a chocolate ice cream cone.” When I started to ask why, she quickly replied, “Just do it. I’ll explain next time.” So I stopped and got the chocolate ice cream cone, and I do have to say that it might possibly have been the very best ice cream cone I’ve ever had. The point was and is that the child in all of us doesn’t die. It’s simply that the accumulating years of growing and changing cover over him or her as happens with a path no longer traveled. And so it was that miraculously after clearing the way with one weekly ice cream cone after the other, the healing of my brokenness got under way, the getting back on track with my faith journey got under way, and the nourishing of my starving inner child, who was essential in restoring joy, hopefulness, and a sense of wonder, also got under way. Praise the Lord!
Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! ~Charles Dickens
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” ~Luke 2:10 ✝
**Image found on Pinterest
