caterpillar, How Great Thou Art

Yesterday, one of our children sent us this photo of a caterpillar with a single drop of rain, a perfect sphere, a water bearer, and an agent of praise.   I rejoiced in the picture because it gave testimony that my lover and I had done our job as parents, our children have eyes that see.  Not that they had eyes, but that they had had their eyes opened.  We all have eyes, ears, fingers, a nose, and taste buds, but these are dulled until they are anointed through salvation to work properly.  The Bible says when the prodigal son “came to his senses”, he went back home.  It also says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him…”.    Our child probably didn’t know they were moving me to worship but having your eyes open is one of the greatest testimonies of praise for the One who not only made them but opened them as well.    

      

Assurance I am Possessed

I long to know people.  I am never one who seeks to waste time on small talk or chatter.  I would rather sit quietly with you than come away not knowing who you are.  I find people and their lives fascinating and treasure their telling of their tales.  I celebrate their highs and mourn with them their difficulties.  Life is short and can end in a twinkling and demands we know each other, and have compassion and love for each other.  This is why I love the earth so much.  It never hides but bares itself, bears upon you, exposes it truest truth, never what it isn’t, but is always what it is, and above all accepts me as I am.  If I know you, you can accept I want to know you more.  I want to walk along with you.  Most are unsure of this openness, wary of being known but I assure you I am gifted the love for others.  It is my assurance of salvation for it is not me but He who possesses me.    

 

Get To Being Saved

A momentous event.  It is spring warm outside which means our doors are open to the wonderful sounds, smells, and life outside our home.  Right now, a mockingbird sings, a breeze is strong enough to sway the branches and Sissy’s saving chimes slowly swing notes up from the dock.  As one must look to see, one must listen to hear, and breathe to smell.  The art of coming to our senses is being rapidly lost.  The gifted reminder of the prodigal sons' move toward salvation is no longer a ready part of our personal memory which gives saving a lesser window to come to us.  77° is a good reminder to get to being saved.     

Earth Elder

I am an elder of the earth.  I know the land and sea. I have been to mountain tops, lived through ocean storms, have found my two great loves, Him, and her, and have given my whole being away.  I have survived death and returned to the living, been tormented by burns, broken-hearted by lost ones, and experienced births firsthand, and deaths of the living.  I have seen behind the veil, had angels come to serve me, fought God and lost, walked every mile the prodigal and every mile back home. I have lived in squallers, under bridges, in mansions, and on My Side of the Mountain.  I have opened myself to the Great Eternal and suffered the torments and ecstasies.  I see most dawns and sunsets, married people by waterfalls, and love my lover everywhere.  I have pushed my body to collapse, lain in hot springs deep in the Rockies, and lived above the Arctic Circle.  I am scarred from head to ankle from heart to soul from daylight to daylight.  I have lived and am living.  I am an elder of the earth.   

The Earth in Labor Rests

It is delicate this morning, softness flowing over the mountains polishing the river.  My consciousness of it is all that is known, my heart alone making it present, otherwise, it would be unnoticed, and then—what’s the use?  I often think that noticing the earth I am helping, like whistling at my lover makes her glow with being noticed.  Clarinets softly serenade and a water bird floats by.  Rain will come tomorrow and today prepares me for it.  It is soft and quiet as the earth in labor rests a morning before pushing on its birth of spring.         

"He Pulled Outta There" today.

I have known two great witnesses of the faith, my mom and dad.  All my references of how to live in the peace, love, and works of the faith find their foundations with these two great pillars of the temple of Christianity.  My dad has long since passed.  My mom is fading into eternity little by little her mind leading her body.  Throughout it all she has remained most lucid in her faith.  When she could not recall much, she could always recall her faith in the way she would pray.  Even this is fading now.  This week Betty and I visited with her.  We always close our visit by reading one of the familiar Bible stories and singing an old familiar hymn and then I ask mom to close us in prayer.  We talked about Easter and what it meant, and I asked her, “Mom do you know what happened to Jesus after he was buried?”  She looked puzzled for a minute and then exclaimed in certainty, “Well I guess He pulled outta there!”  Yes, halleluiah, He’s pulled outta there today!!!    

Every visit I show her pictures of her life 
long ago and all her loved ones who came from her.

The World in Silent Still Lay...Happy Easter

I live in a box, a studio we call it, 27/32/9 feet with a southwest wall of glass.  Our bed is on wheels and every evening I roll it to the glass, so we don't miss any of the wild things of night.  We are surrounded by wilderness, forested on three sides, the Mighty Tennessee in front, and mountains beyond.  We have a sincere art collection that surrounds us, a small wood stove to heat us, and screens allowing the smells, sounds, and breezes into our home.  Our closest neighbors are animals and birds who are endlessly present throughout our day and night.  We are off-grid, mostly have cell service outside, read, write, make art, talk, and live to be with each other.  We are constantly entertained by the earth, sky, and heavens, and live mostly unaware of human presence.  We hold our family close, our few friends near and our remembered ones dear.  God our God is always present, His reality ever before us, welcoming us to His world, showing us his might, power, and majesty.  We on occasion must cry out to Him, but mostly, quietly, are moved to thank Him.  This morning, I remember Him in the grave but His world, now filling with sunlight, forces my thoughts out of His tomb and into His resurrected light of tomorrow.  “The world in silent stillness lay, to hear the angels sing…”  He is risen.