Then, Breath of heaven, come dance
with me as autumn comes to an end
And turn me round and round
on the earth, the beautiful hem of heaven
So you can sing in my ear
the hymns of the spheres
To fill me with heavenly peace
beneath the moon and stars
Oh dance with me Yahweh
o’er fields of mercy and grace
Waltz with me Emmanuel
as the angels and I sing, “Hallelujah”in praise of You
Let them praise His(God’s) name with dancing… ~Excerpt from Psalm 149:3 ✝
**Images via Pinterest
The sun does not shine for a few trees and
flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.
~Henry Ward Beecher
Have you ever seen anything
in your life more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening, relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea, and is gone–
and how it slides again
out of the blackness, every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower streaming upward
on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early light,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt
for anything such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere,
in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure that fills you,
as the sun reaches out,
as it warms you as you stand there,
empty-handed–or have you too
turned from this world–
or have you too gone crazy
for power, for things?
~Mary Oliver
And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. ~Deuteronomy 4:19 ✝
**Images via Pinterest; collage by Natalie
Shall I dance among the flowers asked the butterflies?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I dance as I fall asked autumn’s leaves?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I soar o’er the waves of the sea asked the gulls?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I sparkle in the night asked the stars?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I bring light and warmth to the earth asked the sun?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I dance in my cyclic waxing and waning asked the moon?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I dance in the clouds to wet the soil asked the rain?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Shall I sing songs that lift the spirits of men asked the birds?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
Will You shower my friends with love as they dance I asked?
Yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
O, Lover of my soul, will You dance with me again today I asked?
Yes, yes, yes, replied the Lord of the dance!
…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… ~Ecclesiastes 3:4 ✝
**Images found on Pinterest
In my garden fair is a trellis
where climbs a fetching Moonflower,
a curious, twining vine whose blossoms
hide in daylight and open only to the night.
~Edited excerpt from a poem
by Troost Avenue
Oh white blooming moon, you’ve been
Confined in a bud below the day’s bright sun
Shutting yourself in until day is done,
But now dazzling flower that mimics the moon
You’ve unfurled to light up night’s darkness where
Sacred secrets can be told ‘neath a veil of midnight blue
For the light of the moon is the only language
To which you, your majesty, hearken.
~Natalie Scarberry
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? ~Psalm 8:3-4 ✝
**I actually got up and out early enough this brisk morn to capture a moonflower before the light caused it to close completely and perish. As you can see, her edges have started to wrinkle however. Moonflowers are in the same family as morning glories, and you can see a few blue ones over and behind it starting to unfurl as the “moonie” closes.
It is enough for me by day
To walk the same bright earth with him;
Enough that over us by night
The same great roof of stars is dim.
I do not hope to bind the wind
Or set a fetter on the sea —
It is enough to feel his love
Blow by like music over me.
~Sara Teasdale
When the starry sky, a vista of open seas, or a stained-glass window shedding purple beams fascinate me, there is a cluster of meaning, of colors, of words, of caresses. There are light touches, scents, sighs, cadences that arise, shroud me, carry me away, and sweep me beyond the things I see, hear, or think. The “sublime” object dissolves in the raptures of a bottomless memory. It is such a memory, which, from stopping point to stopping point, remembrance to remembrance, love to love, transfers that object to enough and the refulgent point of the dazzlement in which I stray in order to be. ~Adapted excerpt from Julia Kristeva
Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? ~Job 15: 11 ✝
**Images via Pinterest; collages created by Natalie
Early mornings are cool now though autumn is still young.
Dew on the lotus scatters pure perfume;
Wind on the bamboos gives off a gentle tinkling.
~Edited and adapted excerpt
by Po Chu (772-864)
The harvest moon hung round and high
It dodged clouds high in the sky,
The stars winked down their love and mirth
The Autumn season was giving birth.
Oh, it must be October…
~Pearl N. Sorrels
I will dance
The dance of day’s dawning
And scattering fragrances
I will dance
The dance of day’s closing
And twinkling stars
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. ~Psalm 65:8 ✝
**Lotus image via Pinterest
The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea speaks to me.
The strength of the fire,
the taste of the salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me
And my heart soars.
~Chief Dan George
It is as though the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore. ~Psalm 133:3 ✝
**Images via Pinterest
Watch the rising of the sun.
Listen to the morning’s chorus outside.
Feel the day’s vibrancy, the clanging of life in the sun’s rising.
Such is the dance of life, my friends.
Smell the aromas of life.
Taste life’s goodness all around you.
Take time to touch others in a meaningful way.
Such is the dance of life, my friends.
Look at the stars.
Watch the jitterbug of the fireflies.
Hear the music of the night.
Such is the dance of life, my friends.
Life is the dance and you are the dancer!
“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time
like the dew on the tip of a leaf.”
~Rabindranath Tagore
Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to him with the timbrel and harp. ~Psalm 149:3 ✝
It’s an art to live with pain…
to mix the light into gray.
~Eddie Vedder
I have lived pain, and my life can tell,
but I only deepen the wounds
when I neglect to give thanks for
the heavy perfume of wild roses in August
and the song of crickets on humid summer nights
and the rivers that run and the stars that rise
and the rain that falls and all the
good things that a good God gives.
~Edited and adapted excerpt
from Ann Voskamp
The migraine rages on, and once more I’m sailing the silent seas of pain. Though it be a life long story, the Lord has and will again bring me back one day to dry land. ~Natalie
But as for me, afflicted and in pain–may your salvation, God, protect me. ~Psalm 69:29 ✝
**Images found on Pinterest
As ancients saw, so do I
A throbbing light, a painted globe
Upon a pinpricked sparkled sky.
Suspended in the nothingness of black
Always there, poetic universal rhyme
Dangling upon an invisible track of time.
~justme
The Moon was but a Chin of Gold
A Night or two ago—
And now she turns Her perfect Face
Upon the World below—
Her Forehead is of Amplest Blonde—
Her Cheek—a Beryl hewn—
Her Eye unto the Summer Dew
The likest I have known—
Her Bonnet is the Firmament—
The Universe—Her Shoe—
The Stars—the Trinkets at Her Belt—
Her Dimities—of Blue—
~Excerpted verses from a poem
by Emily Dickinson
The Eiffel Tower in the photo is blue, and there’s a “blue moon” in the sky tonight – but that doesn’t mean the lunar surface will turn indigo. Tonight’s (July 31) moon will be a gorgeous sight, but it won’t look different than any other full moon. The term Blue Moon has come to refer to the second full moon in a given month (since full moons come around about every 29 days, most months only contain one). So set your sights skyward tonight, but don’t expect a change in the moon’s regular hue.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? ~Psalm 8:3-4 ✝
**Image via Pinterest
Sacred Touches 