Tag Archives: Reflections

1279. The reflections on a day well spent furnish us with joys more pleasing than ten thousand triumphs. ~Thomas à Kempis

by

12

Is anybody happier because I passed this way today?
Does anyone remember that I spoke to them along the way?

Screen Shot 2016-10-20 at 8.27.53 PM.png

The day is almost over, and its toiling time is through.
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of me?

Screen Shot 2016-10-20 at 8.19.25 PM.png

Can I say tonight in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,
That I helped a single person of the several that I passed?

Screen Shot 2016-10-20 at 6.37.42 PM.png

Is a single heart rejoicing over what I did or said?
Does one whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?

Screen Shot 2016-10-20 at 6.38.23 PM.png

Did I waste the day or use it? Was it well or sorely spent?
Did I leave a trail of kindness, or a scar of discontent?

Screen Shot 2016-10-20 at 6.38.03 PM.png

A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—
and how good is a timely word!
~Proverbs 15:23  ✝

**All photos were taken by Natalie as this day drew ever closer to its end.

356. Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance… Desiderius Erasmus

by

33

Your writing voice is the
deepest possible reflection of who you are.
The job of your voice is not
to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences.
In your voice, your readers
should be able to hear the contents
of your mind, your heart, and your soul
~Meg Rosoff

Image

A spring morn,
A summer’s eve,
A gladsome spirit…

Image

A soaking rain,
A lawn sprinkler’s whirl,
A well watered garden…

Image

A single rose,
A blazing sunset,
A solitary serenity…

Image

A flower garden,
A lowering hush,
A steeping sanctitude…

Image

A sacred Sabbath,
A timely sermon,
A pastor’s wisdom…

Image

A holy benediction,
A Franciscan prayer,
A forgiving Savior’s love…

Image

A cool, crisp day,
A frost tipped lawn,
An end to summer’s siege…

Image

A chilly, autumn night,
A yellow harvest moon,
A heart full of thanksgiving…

Image

A fallen leaf,
A heavy, wintry frost,
A magical majesty under a sapphire sky…

Image

Years ago in trying to cope with undesired limitations induced by chronic pain, I realized I could keep myself up and out of a downward spiraling gloom by writing down 3 to 5 things each day that charmed or delighted me both outwardly and inwardly. I also found that I could find uplifting joy in photos of objects and colors in the natural world. Finding the goodness in God and His Creation as well as being thankful for His gifts is a light that showed me the way out of moments of dark desperation.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ~1 Corinthians 13:8-12 ✝

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you save, you heal, you restore, and you reveal Your Father’s heart to us! You have captured me with grace and I’m caught in Your infinite embrace!

**Some photos via Pinterest

318. Water is the driver of nature. ~Leonardo da Vinci

by

10

Be praised, My Lord,
through Sister Water;
she is very useful,
and humble,
and precious,
and pure.
~St. Francis of Assisi

Screen shot 2014-03-06 at 5.17.05 PM

The sight of water, be it in a pond, a river, the sea, a fountain, or even a drop from a spigot touches something deep in “the temple of my inner being.” I love to sit quietly and watch water fall or splash or ripple or break like the waves on a seashore. And if I peer down long enough into the mysterious depths of a body of water, my mind conjures up images of earth’s origins, and subsequently the Garden of Eden comes alive in my soul’s eye. Even gauzy reflections which quiver and quake in a puddle or body of water seem to possess a captivating life, a compelling story, a gripping sanctity of their own.

Although I know not where it rests in the human psyche, I believe somewhere therein mortals recognize familiar things not necessarily of this world, things they appear to know without human tutelage or logic’s reason. In the same way a child instinctively recognizes its biological mother even after the umbilical cord is severed, I believe we, who are temporarily separated from the Holy Source of our being, retain a sense of the Father’s parenting presence because we belong to the Lord and are inextricably a part of Him. It could be that’s why earth and its waters not only call to me but also comfort me.

…by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ~2 Peter 3:5  ✝

Thank you, Jesus, that you save, you heal, you restore, and you reveal Your Father’s heart to us!

**Photo via Pinterest

7. Meditation and water are wedded forever. ~Herman Melville

by

0

Water, the Hub of Life.
Water is its mater and matrix, mother and medium.
Water is the most extraordinary substance!
Practically all its properties are anomalous,
which enabled life to use it as building material for its machinery.
Life is water dancing to the tune of solids.
~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Image

Seldom do I see a body of water that it doesn’t seduce me with its wiles into a meditative reverie.  In that quiet stillness I feel drawn to peer down into its mysterious depths until imagined or perhaps real images of earth’s origins come alive.  Water seems to possess in all its forms and properties extraordinary qualities so otherworldly that the phenomena of water reaches down and touches pools in “the temple of the inner being.”  While looking into its depths an unmistakable awareness of the Divine’s presence surfaces and holiness rises like a mist.  Gauzy reflections in water quiver and quake as if they possess a life of their own.

Although I know not where it rests in the human psyche, I believe somewhere therein mortals remember their watery beginning and recognize familiar things not of this world, things they know without tutelage or reason.  In the same way a child instinctively recognizes its biological mother after the umbilical cord is severed, I believe we, who are separated here from the Source of our being, retain a sense of His parenting presence because we are of the Lord and inextricably a part of Him.