Category Archives: Things great and small

The Roses of Lent

“Delectable”, “luscious” are used to describe Lenten Roses in Seeing Flowers by Teri Dunn Chace with photography by Robert Llewellyn. Exquisitely complex comes to me.

Nourished in shade and deep composting tree litter, they are shy blooms rarely lifting their heads to gaze back at you. To see their beauty requires determination and the humility to bend low or even kneel in the woodsy damp round them. I’m sitting in the coffee shop surrounded by human bloomings and thinking about the passing of time and people and how difficult it can be to see the exquisite beauty of each person. How difficult it can be to lift my own head to look into the eyes of others. In the Book of Malachi, these lovely words are found, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;”

I think about how hard it can be to lift my face to the Sun of righteousness Who has healing in His wings so that I might then serve others with humility.

The journey is a grand adventure, The reward to see exquisitely complex beauty is before me.

Do you find it easy to find the amazing beauty in others? I know I have often walked by without even noticing.

March into battle

After the Williamsburg and Smithfield delights, we returned to winter white. While I waited for the melt I gave into the lure of catalogs. Not that I planned to garden this year, but the ground is calling me.Through the light snow loom piles of brush waiting for me and then our best tree guys to get things in order but I thought it might not hurt to look… and a couple of days later, the sun was warming and signs of spring beckoned to me.

And I found that the bambi-ites having wrecked havoc on azaleas, rhododendron and blueberries this winter, now march through the garden just outside the kitchen door and drink the birdbath dry. (My most creative efforts to keep them from the bird feeder failed.) They had eaten tiny shoots of new growth daylilies and tried out the iris leaves. There was quite a mess from stomping about. You may not be able to tell, but this is deer print.Out came the jug of “go away bambi-ites“; battle has been engaged with the sprayer.

That said, the last days of March were glorious making the yard clean-up rather joyous. My chore list for the house gathered more dust as I worked through the hours picking up sticks, stacking wood, raking debris and enjoying signs of new life. I hope spring has shown up in your neighborhood!.

March observations

In a futile attempt to keep the deer from lapping all the seed from the feeder, I had poked stakes in the ground to hold some fencing. I should have known they would just trample it and walk in at snack time. I pull it back up as much as possible and we repeat. The lingering snow has made it easy to see the birds. A murmuration came through and introduced a pair of Rufous-sided towhees to the feeder. Such beautiful birds!

There is a warming trend which is allowing a slow melt and the snowdrops are coming into view.

And a few hours later, the melt softens the icy white and I can begin gathering great piles of pine and maple brush from the lawn. As I commented to a passing motorist while shoveling the other week, 2014 is providing great opportunity for fresh air and exercise. It is also drawing me to search for beauty unfolding.

Winter Marches along

Last week we had an out and about day. While hubby kept an appointment, I strolled through the nearby import store. I felt so warm as I returned to the car that I threw my heavy jacket in the back seat. Driving along to the library I realized it was 28 degrees. What a winter to leave me with the feeling that 28 was warm! Shopping, services and office buildings were built near the edge of marshland. I took what I hoped would be a shortcut back and was totally distracted. Geese strolled along a stream and drew my attention to a pond full of birds.

They must have quite a fan club from the footprints left in the snow and I was disconcerted as they came flying and running toward me. Since I was not offering them treats, some stood nonchalantly while the white ducks moon-walked away without a backward glace. It was such a glorious afternoon and the duck chatter and antics as they slid across the ice had me laughing out loud. It was so fun to find such a treasure hidden so close to the familiar.

Learning to see

At the end of our Christmas visit to Longwood, I found an enchanting book ion display in the shop, Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo. I was taken in by the photograph on the cover and leafing through the pages, I knew this was a book for me. Robert LLewellyn has transformed photography to open my eyes to wonder. When I settled in with her prose I was not disappointed. Then, I had the opportunity to hear Mrs. Hugo speak a few weeks ago between ice and snow storms. It was so fun to be taken into her passion and joy for the wonder that is a tree. Taking advantage of the season, I had been looking at bark on some trees in the yard.

cedar tulip poplar black oak

After reading about the American Sycamore and learning that this tree likes to follow along watercourses, I went looking for them. The soughing off of the old bark reveals their startling white beauty in the winter barrenness and makes them easy to spot in the landscape. Beautiful!

Earth dreaming

The Snow Moon will shine tonight. Whether or not we will see it or just more falling snow is still unknown. There was much snow this week; much more than I cared to shovel. But shovel we do. Dig out the heat pump and shovel a path to the bird feeders. Then there is the driveway to consider. Normally we don’t consider it too much any more; Joe plows for us. Except when his rig breaks down, like it did yesterday morning leaving us with 14 inches or so to contemplate today. So we shoveled and chopped ice and made phone calls and repeated the process. Then the phone rang and our new neighbor offered to come with his tractor. Such blessed relief!

Today I learned the proverb, “St Valentine brings the keys of roots.” Within it is the thought that this is the day when plants start growing. Last week I noticed a slight swelling of the magnolia buds and I found this… a snowdrop! It is now blanketed with deep snow but its bravery was a sign of the earth dreaming Spring!

It’s going to be a long winter…

…”and what will the birdies do then, the poor things…” an old camp song goes through my mind… be sure to drag out loooong. Yesterday with everything covered in ice, they foraged at the feeders, sought shelter under the shrubbery or just sat on ice covered branches thinking bird thoughts.

We were grateful to have shelter, cold sandwiches and a warm fire.Cold, hard beauty could be found.

Late in the afternoon, the temperature rose above freezing, the sun came out, and it rained a thick layer of “ice cubes”.

Melt will come and the work will begin to clean up all the cold, hard sad.

The birds were happy this was not the branch that holds their feeder; we are happy it did not fall on the house itself although it certainly woke us up when it hit.That mound of icy greenery totally hides the shed. From every window and door we see piles of winter storm prunings to be gathered up.

The pine tree that welcomed us home all these years and weathered many a hurricane and winter storm has fallen. I shall miss this old friend.

January energizing

When Bonnie, the Faith Barista, announced the prompt for this week – photo journaling – she linked back to a post on Whitespace: a photo journal. I need this getting away, this time in nature, in quiet. But it has been so very cold. This past Tuesday, it was “warm” so I drove to the reservoir. A few minutes in the roaring wind and I retreated.

I sat a while and watched the gulls and geese and enjoyed the beauty. The wind seemed to keep the gulls huddled on the snow. In “the one that got away”- I didn’t have my camera ready – all the gulls rose but could not fly into the wind and were forced back and down onto the snow. This time they kept low to the water and made a turn back to the road. Someone had stopped and was feeding the geese and gulls from their car.

And then I went home, feeling like I had not accomplished what my soul needed.

Thursday: But it did warm a bit and I wanted to go away and I wanted to stay at home. So I pulled on my boots, coat and mittens and walked out the door to my own back yard. The focus of the day in the devotional I am following was peace and the verse I was thinking about was from Luke 19.

Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem when He said, “…if you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace…”

I stop on the step as a goldfinch lands on the feeder just a few feet away. He seems at peace with my presence as I pull the camera from my pocket and snap away while he busily feeds from his provision.

I walk slowly listening to the crunch of snow as I walk through the field. I stop to look at tree bark and seed stalks and the beauty of light and shadow and think of things that make for peace in life.

And the things that steal peace till I wander around in confusion.

I keep crunching along among deer tracks and rabbit trails and other critters trails too, caught up in the beauty of glittering snow and grateful for whitespace in my own back yard!

January

Hibernation sounds like a good thing. I’m grateful for down comforters and cozy quilts, crocks of soup and stews and the warmth of home. Simple things like watching birds and light and shadow, reading and coffee seem to fill the days while chores sit and the list of things I planned to do on snowy days is long forgotten in what seems like a never ending winter – and it is only January <sigh>.

The amaryllis has been such a joy and I will miss its cheerful greeting as the blooms begin to fade.

A few years ago we left our winter snow and went south. Far south. Where it is cold in summer. I decided to share a few photos from that January when I didn’t mind wearing my winter coat.

And yes, the birds in the background are penguins!

These are Magellanic Penguins. They nest in burrows. January is summertime in Punta Arenas, Chile but the season is short; the chicks grow fast and the parents take them down to play in the water’s edge.

The most wonderful thing was that we walked on a simple path marked out with sticks and twine right along the edge of their mounds and they didn’t seem to pay the slightest bit of attention to us as they went about. They, however, had our full attention!

Such amazing creatures hidden away in a remote part of the world waiting for eons for people to even know of their existence, delighting their Creator.

A story of Christmas old and yet to come

A tale told by tree light and candle glow

Somewhere I came across the thought that life is a play and we come onto the stage not knowing what has gone before or who the other players are and we are left to improvise our way into the story. It does seem like that, doesn’t it?

Recently I began reading Becoming Myself. Stasi Eldredge writes, “As a woman, your mother is your most potent role model. How she felt, what she thought, and what she believed had a direct effect on you… including… how happy [you] can be…”

I’ve written before that Christmas in our house was full of happy – gifts, family, food, Mama baking, cleaning, shopping, card writing, decorating… all these wonderful things I learned. But there was also Mama crying which left me full of sad and empty too. And I learned Christmas came with tear stains. It was many years before I heard a little part of her story and gained understanding which did clear some of the mist of Christmas Past that swirled around the holiday, but I had long since learned tears and sadness. My emotions at Christmas became a hazard to me; carols and songs carried the threat of sobs hidden among the lyrics like sad, malevolent goblins just waiting to overwhelm me. Knowledge and prayer brought a slow healing from those learned emotions.

A few days before Christmas I was busy baking cookies and Bing Crosby crooned “I’ll be home for Christmas” into my kitchen space. Like many other families, we have a number in ours who come for Christmas to this place of their birth, ‘only in their dreams’. And I thought of them as I slipped the pan into the oven. Then, as I waited on the oven timer, I was transported back into a dream I had a while ago.

Sometimes my dreams seem like full-length movies. There is no time or space in the world of dream and this one was beyond place as well as I dreamed of William. William, whose absence became presence in my life every Christmas season. William, an older brother who became known to me only in this dream I share now.

Frail and weary, William was carried by his dear friend and comrade from the battles. William felt heart-sick, having failed to overcome in the war. His friend comforted him, offering love and strength but he could hardly receive. His friend had some understanding; he had carried battle worn small ones home before, home to the loving embrace of their Father. Each tiny spirit reacted differently to the journey and he was concerned for William, so small and listless. He pressed the tiny one closer as the journey ended and carried him into the Glory.

William felt the change but could not seem to turn to its embrace. And then he heard, “William, dear son, welcome home! I am so proud of you. Well done!” William blinked and looked timidly into Eternal Love. “But, I failed to be born. I failed my mission to live earth life. I failed… “

“Dear William, you did not fail Me. You were brave and fought valiantly in your battles. You lived nine months in your mother’s womb. She and your earth father and your brother and sister loved you as they could and you will never be forgotten. My dear little child… “, welcomed Eternal Love. And William smiled into the radiance of his heavenly Father. He snuggled, resting in Love, growing stronger; aware of Father giving instructions to his comrade. His dear angel friend gathered William into his arms and bore him off to the chambers prepared for him where he would grow.

William came from the Glory and returned there December 23, 1942

As the dream memory passed, I thought, Oh! “I’ll be Home for Christmas” is actually my song and William waits for me to come home for Christmas! And in that moment, my simple kitchen became a ‘thin place’ and it was as if I could see through the veil and a robust and glowing man leaned through the portal, grinning – “You’ve got it, Sis! There’s no place like HOME for Christmas!”

And the timer sounded and the ordinary was all around and I felt my smile and a few gentle tears too as I blew a kiss. I’ll be home for Christmas one day, William, and I know it will be far better than snow and mistletoe and holly!

This piece may not fit your theology or thoughts on dreams and visions and that’s ok. Even if it was only imagination, I believe the Lord Jesus has continued the healing process in my soul through it all and I am grateful.

The Lord used Pastor Jack Hayford’s I‘ll Hold You in Heaven – Healing and Hope for the Parent Who has Lost a Child through Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Abortion or Early Infant Death to do just that for my Mom. I offer this as a resource which could be a blessing to others like her who carry this pain of a lost child.

From Psalm 139 RSV – For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(vs 13) Your eyes beheld my unformed substance, in your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. (vs16)