Category Archives: Notes

1060. When the heat of the summer made drowsy the land, a dragonfly came and sat on my hand. ~Eleanor Farjeon

by

25

Clouds of insects danced and buzzed in the golden autumn light,
and the air was full of the piping of the song-birds.
Long,
glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or
hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies.
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 5.37.26 PM.png

You are made of almost nothing
But of enough
To be great eyes
And diaphanous double wings;
To be ceaseless movement,
Unending hunger
Grappling love.
Link between water and air,
Earth repels you.
Light touches you only to shift into iridescence
Upon your body and wings.
Twice-born, predator,
You split into the heat.
Swift beyond calculation or capture
You dart into the shadow
Which consumes you.
You rocket into the day.
But at last, when the wind flattens the grasses,
For you, the design and purpose stop.
And you fall
With the other husks of summer.
~Louise Bogan

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 4.36.30 PM.png

Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 5.09.38 PM.png

Curious dragonfly with
Wings of stained glass,
Oh, ancient bearer Of secret dreams,
Your delicate beauty
Keeps wonder in my heart.
~Grace Edwards

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 5.23.05 PM.png

Deep in the sun-drenched growths the dragonfly
hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.
~Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 4.53.43 PM.png

Predating the dinosaur dragonflies have inhabited and flown the earth for 300 million years or more and the related damselflies for at least 250 million years. The difference between these two amazing insects is that damselflies are smaller, have slimmer bodies, and most of them, when resting, hold their wings along or above the body whereas dragonflies hold their wings flat and away from the body. Both species are found on all continents except Antartica., however because of the loss of wetland habitats their populations are currently being threatened all around the world.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. ~Excerpt from Genesis 1:31  ✝

**Images via Pinterest; collages created by Natalie

1059. Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life. ~Rumi

by

28

The Gift

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
Earth and heaven both are still watching
though time is draining from the clock
and your walk, that was confident and quick,
has become slow.

Screen Shot 2016-02-06 at 6.27.57 PM.png

So, be slow if you must, but let
the heart still play its true part.
Love still as once you loved, deeply
and without patience. Let God and the world
know you are grateful.
That the gift has been given.
~Mary Oliver

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. ~Psalm 147:7  ✝

finding a faith stone through the dark times

by

8

Julie (aka Cookie)'s avatarcookiecrumbstoliveby

“…in our willful desire to live independently of God, we have severed the lifeline that flows from the source of all life”
Billy Graham

DSCN0438
(Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough National Park, County Wicklow, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)

There are no exemptions in this life when it comes to difficulties, struggles, trials and conflicts.
Some are self imposed, some are random and some, for the believer, can be most vexing…
for it can often feel as if God has…
walked away,
deserted us,
or…
is proving to be more stubborn than ourselves.

Some periods will be more severe than others and there is certainly no clear window as to how long or how short such episodes will each last.

There will be times of great dryness…a rough patch of road that leaves one feeling empty…
or better yet, feeling nothing at all, as in void of feeling or emotion…
A sense…

View original post 834 more words

1058. The poetry of the earth is never dead… ~John Keats

by

11

Let us love winter, for
it is the spring of genius.
~Pietro Aretino

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 6.26.59 PM.png

Scripture tells us that God  rested on the 7th day, and so we see that He deems rest as an essential element of well being. Earth’s life cycles would simply not be sustainable without rest, and that’s what winter is designed for. This rhythm of restfulness and  then liveliness is visible in more than just springtime’s revival though; for example, we see it in the yielding of daylight to darkness, wakefulness to sleep, and noisiness to silence. Relaxation leads to revitalization and health, and that’s why Creation’s repetitive patterns of repose and continuation have been described as the holy rituals of sacred restful sacraments. Although loving winter, especially when we are in its most extreme throes, is challenging, the good news is that Yahweh, the lovable Genius behind winter, built into it things that keep us hopeful. One such thing is this lenten rose that I found blooming near my back fence. In the already cleared ground and warmed by autumn’s leafy debris its pink flowers are rising above the foliage and standing there “pretty as a picture” as they say. Perhaps the hellebore bloomed a bit earlier than usual because what little winter we’ve had here has been mild, very mild so far. It’s just early February and yet there were days last week and more coming next week with highs in the mid-to-high 70‘s. Thus my wondrous, little lenten rose is truly a “verse” of poesy penned by the now sleeping earth, and it is manifest proof that “the poetry of the earth” is, as Keats said, never dead.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. ~Genesis 2:2-3  ✝

1057. When all is said and done, we exist only in relation to the world… ~Diane Ackerman

by

18

The more we exile ourselves from nature,
the more we crave its miracle waters.
~Diane Ackerman

Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 8.51.37 PM.png

In the name of the daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.
~Diane Ackerman

In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. ~Hebrews 1:10  ✝

**Images via Pinterest; collage by Natalie

Practicing the presence of God

by

0

Julie (aka Cookie)'s avatarcookiecrumbstoliveby

“I must first have the sense of God’s possession of me
before I can have the sense of His presence with me.”
Watchman Nee

DSCN0335
(remains of St Kevin’s Monastery, Glendalough National Park, County Wicklow, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)

A.W. Tozer tells us that to the convinced Christian, “the practice of the presence of God” consists not of projecting an imaginary object from within his own mind and then seeking to realize its presence; it is rather to recognize the real presence of the One whom all sound theology declare to be already there, an objective entity, existing apart from any apprehension of Him on the part of His creatures.
The resultant experience is not visionary but real.

The world would have us all believe otherwise…

It is however our faith, our belief, our experience, our relationship that teaches us, tells us, assures us that His presence is indeed…

View original post 272 more words

1056. To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties – of all those parts of ourselves which gives us the feeling of existence. ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

by

18

Out of the waters of God’s life come
the creatures of earth, sea, and sky…

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 7.46.16 PM.png

With the birth of the creatures there is the emergence of
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching…

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 8.29.35 PM.png

The light of the sun and the whiteness of the moon can now be seen.
The wind blowing through the leaves of the trees and
the crashing of ocean waves can be heard.

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 8.10.22 PM.png

The early morning fragrance of the earth can be smelled.
Its fruits can be tasted and its textures touched.
~From THE BOOK OF CREATION by
J. Philip Newell, Celtic theologian, poet, scholar, and teacher

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 7.57.02 PM.png

I’ve read it over and over again, and yet with each journey into its words and imagery I find more to love about the Scriptural circumstances and implications of the Creation story in Genesis. The fact that sensory perceptions came into play on the 5th day with the birth of the creatures, however, had never jumped out of the text and into my awareness until I read this passage above in Newell’s book. And that’s very surprising for a person who puts a high premium on the delights opened up through the 5 senses or for one who thinks that the loss of one or more of the senses would be a devastating mishap. Jean Houston said, “Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to the unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity.” I agree, but they are not only that, I think some of the most divinely delicious parts of existence and many of our creaturely comforts come to us through our ability to see, hear, smell, feel, and touch. Our senses as well as everything else Yahweh incorporated into the fabric of our being and that of Creation’s life itself are sacred fibers that serve His purposes. As such all our organs, senses, and faculties must be revered and made use of throughout our lives.

Ears that hear and eyes that see–the Lord has made them both. ~Proverbs 20:12  ✝

**All images via Pinterest except the one by Wendy MacDonald; all collages created by Natalie

1055. Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

by

17

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
-John Keats

Screen Shot 2016-02-02 at 8.03.02 PM.png

There’s not the tiniest fragment of Creation that doesn’t possess some kind of beauty and in so doing express the nature and image of God. Eriugena, a 9th century Irish poet, theologian, and philosopher, said “God is the beauty which is in everything that has been created and His beauty draws all things to Himself.” So it is that whatever form beauty takes it is never anything less than the holy work of Yahweh’s hands. Interestingly, over the years a number of people have commented on my ability to find beauty even in the most ordinary things. After thinking on that for some time, I decided that it may be because beauty has intentionally made itself manifest in all things in order to hold me in His keeping. It’s like He opened my eyes to see through a window unto heaven and His glory, and its splendors continually stream through it. Christopher Morley said that “in every man’s heart there’s a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.” I believe those “vibrations” are the Lord’s way of speaking to us, and when we hear His call, acknowledge it, and draw near Him, He is able to instruct us in His ways. The learning of His “invisible qualities” teaches us, among other things, about His higher love, an encompassing, vast love which leads us to become more caring, kind, and compassionate. Perhaps then, if it’s true that I see beauty others miss, it’s because I look daily for God’s shadow over humanity and Creation so that I can get more and more glimpses into His mystery and His continuing activity here.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ~Romans 1:20  ✝

**All images via Pinterest