Space to write, space to create and space to let the spirit speak.
Write Now!
This blog started as a 'Lenten Writing Project', where we wrote each day in Lent. Now that Summer is here, let's keep up the discipline of writing with a weekly writing challenge! A prompt will be posted each week and anyone is welcome to join in and post their writing here or participate just by reading it.
Every writer has their own special light to add to this blog and all of your writing offerings are appreciated, whether poetry, prose, essay, thoughts, lists or comments and encouragement.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Lenten Writing Post #29
What place do you go to find beauty and appreciate God's creation?
For the Beauty of the Earth and Sky by Marlene Obie
Where could I go to not experience the Glory of God in Creation?
When I sit on my bed, I look out at the ever changing display of the firmament. Today, blue, sunlit, dabbed with splotches of cottonpuff clouds, always through the treetop branches, still mostly brown, but with tiny shoots of new growth.
In my car, headed Westward, the Olympics in the distance. Eastward, the Cascades. I can't see it from here, but suspect Mt. Rainier is out, commanding attention to its splendor.
Even on electronics, I visit morning and night webcams that take me to awesome sightings of African animals in their daily routines at the watering hole. This morning, I got to see an eagle hatching in Davenport, Iowa. No, it's not as good as being there, but it's a marvelous next best thing to experience, even hearing the sounds.
At the ocean and nearby on the edges of the Sound, watching and listening to the sounds of waves and lapping water.
Watching wildlife at Juanita Bay Park: turtles, eagles, ducks, herons, otters, beaver, muscrat. A jewel of wonder to behold on Lake Washington. What a blessing!
And on clear nights, a star-studded sky with flabbergasting views of the moon.
And, of course, coming this month, playing into Summer, a beautiful of color in parks and neighborhoods. Some planted by us, some wild; all still miracles, new life arising from the death of Winter.
I lift my heart up to the hills Where I see the glory Of Sunset Of Moonrise Of Starshine Calming my mind Lifting my spirit Resting in beauty Giving me peace.
in the moments of forgiveness and understanding between peoples,
in the stillness and anticipation of a morning
and the calm and peacefulness of an evening,
in the moments after prayer,
and especially when we can experience the wonder
of a star-filled night sky,
miles of ocean shoreline
or deeply forested mountain trails.
These moments may inspire us to appreciate God's creation, but really, nothing is so beautiful in all creation as the God inspired love from the human heart.
I yearn for the sea The deep blue depths of aliveness Creatures of another world, floating, swimming without gravity. Beauty gliding past as if to say: Slow down, enjoy the splash of the waves, the breeze and the smells. The salty, fishy smell that knows you are close, breathe in, take a dive into a new world! Jackied
I’ve walked with God in the trails of the park. I’ve listened to God as the water lapped on the shore I’ve heard God in the wind through the trees. I’ve felt God in the peaceful meadows
But mostly I see God’s beauty in the weathered faces of faithful saints in the pure passion of new parents in the clear commitment of the newly married in the irresistible exuberance of young people laughing and in the powerful promise of a baby’s babbling
I love nature and all that she offers. I love it’s power as well as it’s peacefulness. But it’s in God’s people young and old, rich and poor where I see beauty, more and more.
God has blessed me these last few years by allowing me to live in the place of my dreams.
After years of following other's choices of domicile for me, or allowing the place of my dwelling to fall to chance, I finally got the opportunity to live where I always really wanted to live. It is in a small village of about 1000, in the Midwest, called Strum.
I can and do appreciate God's creation just about everywhere here. There are are four wonderful seasons here. I can walk to the lake if I need a lake view. I can hike the old train bed, that is now a trail, lined with flowers, berries, and trees; and all kinds of sounds and sights of birds and wildlife.
I can walk out to the farmlands and gaze over green pastures, cows, horses, or other farm animals. I breathe in the fields and crops in their various stages. Somedays, I walk through quiet cemetaries, filled with my ancestors, among those same fields.
There's an old State rest stop pamphlet I have, that states that in the 1830's an itinerant preacher (who read the Bible 17 times) claimed that our county (Trempeleau) was the original Garden of Eden. He could prove this by coordinating the Bible verses in Genesis, with the topography of the county and the juxtaposition of its rivers, along with its greenery and abundant wildlife. I tend to believe him.
Where do I go to find and appreciate the beauty of God's creation? I just open my front door and go outside with a smile. s.h.
I can smell the hot hay-smell, see the miniature bugs buzzing all around in the distance and feel the heat press against my skin. Summer in Strum is lovely. Now go to bed Mom, it's late there ; ) Love you...
A granite cathedral or sentinel, a bridalveil waterfall that cascades down a break in the wall of rock, three rock brothers standing tall.
The Merced River snakes through the bottom of the valley, dividing the floor in a friendly, ambling way in the summer…a treacherous, frothing gash in the Spring.
John Muir once faced a great storm in your trees, sitting in the branches of one and rocking back and forth with it, yelling conversations with the wind and the rain
Puzzle bark pieces that smell like vanilla and fit together perfectly on the tree
Sloping valley floor meets granite wall and I can stand up on a boulder and be at eye-level with every tree in the valley.
Letting ladybugs go in the meadow – hundreds of them. They flew off in all directions and followed their dreams of aphids and sun.
Waterfalls showering me with mist, sweeping me off my feet or slowing to a drip at the end of summer, Then I can hike to the base of a waterfall, look up to the top and imagine if God turned all that water on out of season…
The story of Tis-a-Sak, the disobedient wife, forced to stare at her husband’s brutish granite form across a meadow – both of them frozen and changed into rock formations throughout all eternity. Her shocked face is forever splayed out on Half-dome and reflected back up at herself from Mirror Lake.
Sitting in a special spot that only you know somewhere in the valley – probably the apple orchard or along the river and being still and quiet. Then the whisper comes to guide you to paint, write, draw, create.
Yosemite, you are not where my body dwells, but my heart, my muse dwells in you every day. I delight in your every small detail and huge magnificence. You are my wild child.
Wow! Ruth, you need to carve out time to do this more often(I know it's impossible right now). Not only is it a prayer, but with poems like this, you're going to turn around one day and find me sitting next to you in the apple orchard!
For the Beauty of the Earth and Sky
ReplyDeleteby Marlene Obie
Where could I go to not experience the Glory of God in Creation?
When I sit on my bed, I look out at the ever changing display of the firmament. Today, blue, sunlit, dabbed with splotches of cottonpuff clouds, always through the treetop branches, still mostly brown, but with tiny shoots of new growth.
In my car, headed Westward, the Olympics in the distance. Eastward, the Cascades. I can't see it from here, but suspect Mt. Rainier is out, commanding attention to its splendor.
Even on electronics, I visit morning and night webcams that take me to awesome sightings of African animals in their daily routines at the watering hole. This morning, I got to see an eagle hatching in Davenport, Iowa. No, it's not as good as being there, but it's a marvelous next best thing to experience, even hearing the sounds.
At the ocean and nearby on the edges of the Sound, watching and listening to the sounds of waves and lapping water.
Watching wildlife at Juanita Bay Park: turtles, eagles, ducks, herons, otters, beaver, muscrat. A jewel of wonder to behold on Lake Washington. What a blessing!
And on clear nights, a star-studded sky with flabbergasting views of the moon.
And, of course, coming this month, playing into Summer, a beautiful of color in parks and neighborhoods. Some planted by us, some wild;
all still miracles, new life arising from the death of Winter.
I lift my heart up to the hills
ReplyDeleteWhere I see the glory
Of Sunset
Of Moonrise
Of Starshine
Calming my mind
Lifting my spirit
Resting in beauty
Giving me peace.
by Pat Mason
ReplyDeleteWhere to find God's beauty?
In the innocent eyes of children,
in the knowing smiles of the elderly,
in the moments of forgiveness and understanding between peoples,
in the stillness and anticipation of a morning
and the calm and peacefulness of an evening,
in the moments after prayer,
and especially when we can experience the wonder
of a star-filled night sky,
miles of ocean shoreline
or deeply forested mountain trails.
These moments may inspire us to appreciate God's creation, but really,
nothing is so beautiful in all creation as the God inspired love from the human heart.
amen.
DeleteI yearn for the sea
ReplyDeleteThe deep blue depths of aliveness
Creatures of another world, floating, swimming without gravity.
Beauty gliding past as if to say:
Slow down, enjoy the splash of the waves, the breeze and the smells.
The salty, fishy smell that knows you are close, breathe in, take a dive into a new world!
Jackied
Your love for water is clear! and makes it more appealing to me!
DeleteGod’s Beautiful Creation
ReplyDeleteI’ve walked with God in the trails of the park.
I’ve listened to God as the water lapped on the shore
I’ve heard God in the wind through the trees.
I’ve felt God in the peaceful meadows
But mostly I see God’s beauty
in the weathered faces of faithful saints
in the pure passion of new parents
in the clear commitment of the newly married
in the irresistible exuberance of young people laughing
and in the powerful promise of a baby’s babbling
I love nature and all that she offers.
I love it’s power as well as it’s peacefulness.
But it’s in God’s people
young and old, rich and poor
where I see beauty, more and more.
Lenten Prompt #29 Wednesday March 21 2012
ReplyDeleteGod has blessed me these last few years by allowing me to live in the place of my dreams.
After years of following other's choices of domicile for me, or allowing the place of my dwelling to fall to chance, I finally got the opportunity to live where I always really wanted to live. It is in a small village of about 1000, in the Midwest, called Strum.
I can and do appreciate God's creation just about everywhere here. There are are four wonderful seasons here. I can walk to the lake if I need a lake view. I can hike the old train bed, that is now a trail, lined with flowers, berries, and trees; and all kinds of sounds and sights of birds and wildlife.
I can walk out to the farmlands and gaze over green pastures, cows, horses, or other farm animals. I breathe in the fields and crops in their various stages. Somedays, I walk through quiet cemetaries, filled with my ancestors, among those same fields.
There's an old State rest stop pamphlet I have, that states that in the 1830's an itinerant preacher (who read the Bible 17 times)
claimed that our county (Trempeleau) was the original Garden of Eden. He could prove this by coordinating the Bible verses in Genesis, with the topography of the county and the juxtaposition of its rivers, along with its greenery and abundant wildlife.
I tend to believe him.
Where do I go to find and appreciate the beauty of God's creation? I just open my front door and go outside with a smile.
s.h.
I can smell the hot hay-smell, see the miniature bugs buzzing all around in the distance and feel the heat press against my skin. Summer in Strum is lovely. Now go to bed Mom, it's late there ; ) Love you...
DeleteBeauty
ReplyDeleteA granite cathedral or sentinel, a bridalveil waterfall that cascades down a break in the wall of rock, three rock brothers standing tall.
The Merced River snakes through the bottom of the valley, dividing the floor in a friendly, ambling way in the summer…a treacherous, frothing gash in the Spring.
John Muir once faced a great storm in your trees, sitting in the branches of one and rocking back and forth with it, yelling conversations with the wind and the rain
Puzzle bark pieces that smell like vanilla and fit together perfectly on the tree
Sloping valley floor meets granite wall and I can stand up on a boulder and be at eye-level with every tree in the valley.
Letting ladybugs go in the meadow – hundreds of them. They flew off in all directions and followed their dreams of aphids and sun.
Waterfalls showering me with mist, sweeping me off my feet or slowing to a drip at the end of summer, Then I can hike to the base of a waterfall, look up to the top and imagine if God turned all that water on out of season…
The story of Tis-a-Sak, the disobedient wife, forced to stare at her husband’s brutish granite form across a meadow – both of them frozen and changed into rock formations throughout all eternity. Her shocked face is forever splayed out on Half-dome and reflected back up at herself from Mirror Lake.
Sitting in a special spot that only you know somewhere in the valley – probably the apple orchard or along the river and being still and quiet. Then the whisper comes to guide you to paint, write, draw, create.
Yosemite, you are not where my body dwells, but my heart, my muse dwells in you every day. I delight in your every small detail and huge magnificence. You are my wild child.
Wow! Ruth, you need to carve out time to do this more often(I know it's impossible right now). Not only is it a prayer, but with poems like this, you're going to turn around one day and find me sitting next to you in the apple orchard!
ReplyDelete