creation’s glory

We watch diamond-bright stars glinting like tiny jewels set with precision and perfection in an inky, indigo velvet sky and it takes our breath away. Darkness of night always makes the light shine brighter than before. Every shaded thing makes brighter colours sing.

And as we gaze into the heavens, or look closer to home and observe tiny pearlescent beads of dew coating flowers and leaves, and ponder just Whose caring hand is behind every created thing, we become filled with awe, wonder and gratitude towards our Creator-God for spilling His treasure so lavishly on earth.

Each plant and flower, every drop of rain that falls, all the shining stars and lustrous planets in the universe are tokens and expressions of God’s great Love being made manifest for us. There is spiritual intent behind the daily graces we often take for granted.

Earth can seem so dark at times, filled with so much sadness and pain, yet these symbols are significant in revealing God’s steadiness and faithfulness, as He holds them out to us as a holy offering again and again. In the seeing, with eyes renewed by faith, we begin to trace His love spilling forth in large ways and small, just as we are meant to do.

a velvet eternity

our dark universe

a velvet eternity

it’s a school for love

©joylenton

I often witness sunsets but rarely wake early enough to see in the dawn. When I do, it’s always with breath-held awe. Few other sights grant us such a glorious reminder of God’s hand at work, as He whispers to the sun to “do it again!”, delighting in giving us the gift of one more day.

If we appreciate the created world, take time to observe with our senses alive, we become participators in one of the greatest shows on earth. From dawn to dusk, God is shouting out His love for us, urging His bleary-eyed children to wake up and smell the potential wrapped up in this divine offering from heaven above.

As someone who fails to wake (or sleep) well in the natural, I need all the supernatural assistance I can get, (plus coffee!) to enliven me from the inside out. Even if it takes until noon, it’s still a good practice to pause, breathe, sit quietly, rest and absorb life outside a window before getting too embroiled in tasks.

Just this afternoon, I saw a beautiful little bird in the garden, who swiftly evaded my rather slow attempts to pin her down with my camera, sad to say… maybe another day. Such unexpected sights set our hearts alight. And people-watching is often a favoured (natural?) activity for writers. 🙂

Maybe as we covertly watch those around us, we can praise God for creating this person and that, pray for them as they pass us by, try to read the inner ache and longing in their eyes, seek to remember how God lovingly crafted each one— including those we may not actually like very much!

Nature-watch

Behold, bright spring dawn shines frosty-quiet, moist

and cold—above which moon withers soft, at rest

Gentle insect walk murmurs deep, secret, season peace

sweet like forest air poetry, and every fresh flower

tendril will thrive between stony rock-moss vine

And we nature-watch, rooted in this sacred world

When we do stop and look outside, or take a walk if we are able, we find our souls coming alive to the beauty on our doorstep and beyond, relaxing in the midst of God’s creation, becoming freer on the inside as we open ourselves to a keen-eyed awareness affecting heart and soul.

Life is always overshadowed by the thought of death, but that shouldn’t stop us from appreciating the here and now and letting tantalising images of eternity play in our minds instead…

Like petals whisper

Life sings sweetly, like petals whisper smooth over

skin, but some say crush of death is like cool rain,

shadow-mist symphony—it swims through our fingers

Together, we sit and watch sun’s beauty soaring hot and

shining above the blue, as love recalls a sad dream