I walked down the aisle to "O God Beyond All Praising," a magnificent poem by Michael Perry, set to Holtst's magnificent "Jupiter" theme. The second verse says: Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring, That we, who know your favor, may serve you as our King. And whether our tomorrows be filled with good…
love: small and glad, day 7
This sixth-floor waiting room has wide windows, overlooking the city, which from up here has more trees than buildings, by far. In the far distance, a buzzard wheels and rides an updraft, and in the foreground, there’s a butterfly riding another updraft, up at what seems to me a dizzy distance for a butterfly, that…
Five Minute Friday: celebrate
An apt word, this weekend, as it's a celebrating weekend: a wedding shower tomorrow, my first official event as bride-to-be. There are all kinds of good reasons to celebrate weddings, but there are a few things we keep in view in the midst of the celebration: Marriage isn't eternal: it's lifelong, Lord willing, but it's…
Five Minute Friday: send
"Send out your light and your truth;" the Psalmist prays, "let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God." Psalm 43:3 After…
glimpes
This evening we drank hot chocolate and decorated the Christmas tree which has been fragrancing our living room for a week now all unadorned. I unpacked memories with the ornaments: all the little woodland creatures that used to talk to one another in the hollows between the tree branches, the cat and dog that always hang…
Noticing, Day 22: working backwards
Today I noticed how the sweetgums and poison ivies are taking their habitual lead in donning autumn attire, flaming out from among their more reticent deciduous neighbors. Is this a case, I wonder, of God giving more honor to those that lack honor? Whether it is or no, each fall I'm stunned by this glory of what…
Noticing, Day 20: but He did
This is a sprig of a beautyberry bush, genus Callicarpa, species americana. I've decided that October is the perfect month for noticing, because it seems that everything is lovely in October. Whenever I start noticing the colors of this world I get to inhabit, I think of a line from a Sandi Patty song on one of my childhood…
Noticing, Day 18: boys
Today, my brothers had a paintball game in the woods around my house. They used to do this fairly frequently, but it has become a rare occurrence. Fourteen boys [men] of various ages and sizes assembled with all the trappings of war: masks and guns and ammo and camo shirts and brave boasts. I noticed how familiar…
Noticing, Day 15: glory together
Today I notice how trees, taken piece by piece -- one limb, one twig, one section of trunk -- are strangely shaped things, weird and irregular and disproportionate. But take all those odd parts together and somehow glory happens. It's the same way with so many things: study just a finger or an ear and find…
Noticing, Day 9: declaring
Today, it's the morning sun shining in the fog around the bases of the trees, so that the trees seemed to be wading in fire, and then this on the way home: The heavens keep on declaring the glory of God, and the sky above continually proclaims his handiwork, pouring out speech day to day,…
Between Blue Rocks 