Rainbows

June 29, 2015April 6, 2016 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

It’s been a week of thunderstorms, the short and fierce kind that make us worry it’s going to hail on our newly transplanted tomato plants out in the garden, followed by brilliant sunshine that turns the freshly soaked landscape into a saturated sparkling sweep of color. It’s been glorious to watch the great white-topped thunderheads float by, billowing and building miles high, and watch the rain sweep in, pounding the earth. But most splendid of all have been the rainbows.

Multiple rainbows. Double rainbows. Bright rainbows. Pale rainbows. Whole, unbroken rainbows. Barely-there-against-the-pink-of-sunset-cloud rainbows. Pieces of rainbow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one week!I find it ironic that physical rainbows have been so prevalent on a week when symbolic rainbows are creating such excitement and discussion in the news.

You know, the rainbow has been symbolic since long before any humans claimed it for their own personal causes. In fact, it was one of the very first symbols designated in history of the world, by God Himself. It starts out as a sad story—sin is rampant on the earth and God in His righteous anger sweeps it clean with a flood. But it has a happy ending. He preserves one godly family and two of every animal and brings them back to safety when the cleansing flood has receded. He leaves them with a promise never to destroy the earth again in this manner—and the gift of a stunning sign in the heavens.

“And God said,

“This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” (Genesis 9:12-15)What I find particularly beautiful about this is that God didn’t just give this sign as a reminder to us of His promise. He also gave it as a sign to remind Himself of His promise. Every time He sees a rainbow, He remembers, too.

And so, in the midst of all this talk of rainbows, and in the wake of storms natural and spiritual, I find my mind turning not to modern connotations, but to the fact that God is faithful. Because this is what a rainbow really represents:

That He is in control.

That He made the earth and all that is in it.

That He can destroy it or He can preserve it—the choice and the power are His.

That He is righteous and just—and that He is also merciful.

That He keeps His promises. When you think about rainbows this week, remember that.

When I Consider the Heavens…

June 24, 2015April 6, 2016 ~ Beth ~ 4 Comments

northern lights and the moon / rejoicing hills On the evening of the 22nd, moving into the wee hours of the 23rd, we stood outside, oblivious to the mosquitoes (and believe me, it takes some pretty incredible distraction to make that possible right now), and watched one of the most spectacular displays of northern lights we’ve ever seen. They were everywhere, around and above us, even into the south, dancing and pulsating and rippling across the diamond-studded velvet of the night sky in glowing whites and greens. We were in awe.

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, there’s really only one passage in Scripture in my mind that comes close to describing the thoughts and emotions running through my head on a night like this—and in honor of the wonder that left me speechless, I will say no more and let classic opening lines of this ancient Psalm of David speak for me.“O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens…When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained…What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:1, 3-4)And to that all I can say is wow—and amen!

Fatherly Vigil

June 20, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

On this eve of Father’s Day, may I introduce you to the fiercely territorial and stunningly handsome patriarch of our small lake? His lovely lady is very capable of expressing herself as well, and they often do so together, the sound of their great wings echoing all over the nearby countryside as they trumpet indignantly at any unwanted visitors to their little realm. But right now, she’s busy with other things.

Cleverly located so it’s accessible only by water or treacherous swamp, they’ve built a nest and she spends most of her time hidden away there, lovingly incubating a yet-unknown quantity of precious eggs with the heat of her body. That is her work—and we eagerly anticipate seeing the rewards of her patience soon when they bring their new family out to show off to the neighbors they tolerate (us and the ducks).

But papa has a job, too. By day, he nervously patrols the area, watching for danger. At night, he often rests in this perch away from the nest, careful not to draw undue attention to the place he is guarding, yet close enough to be ever watchful and ready to rush to the rescue. He is the protector—and I have no doubt he would put his life on the line for his offspring should the need arise (though you won’t catch me getting close enough to those powerful wings to find out!).

There are a couple fathers/grandfathers in my life, who I also happen to love very much, who would do the same—and today I wish a Happy Father’s Day to these very special men. As you protectively love your families you model the infinitely greater love of our Heavenly Father, and we are so grateful!

“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13)

Golden Slippers

June 18, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

Along a dusty meandering forest road near our home, I happened upon these lovely little yellow lady-slippers.

They were not hiding away safe in a remote bog or deep, dark forest as one might expect. Instead, they were nodding along the edge of the harsh gravel as a growling grader moved past shattering the stillness of a quiet, rainy morning. And they were popping up along the scarred ugly edges of last winter’s logging, right alongside the rejected fallen trees left behind.

Beautiful little princess feet of gold, spreading the good news of summer come even amidst the less-than-picturesque scenes of everyday dirt and destruction. Good news of renewal and hope and redemption.

So are the feet of all who proclaim the Gospel along the dirty and destructed ways of life—

“As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15)

It’s kind of like those people are wearing figurative golden slippers as they walk through those rough places, joyful royal ambassadors for the King of kings, bearing the gladdest tidings of all time.

Always Be Ready

June 15, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 4 Comments

Photographing wildlife is all about three essential things: 1) being in the right place, 2) at the right time, 3) with a camera in hand. Any two components without the third = no picture. I must admit that the times when I’ve had all three work out at once have been rare. But they’ve been all the more exciting as a result—and these two photos are some of my favorite examples.

If you look closely at the first photo, you’ll see it’s really an action shot—that’s a pretty mama doe nursing her fawn, eyeing me warily even across the field. This was shot from my car window, on a day when I just randomly happened to have my camera in the seat right next to me.

And the second photo was a breathtaking close-up chance encounter in a wild raspberry bramble. I was out walking, camera in hand for a wildflower shoot, and came upon this little one’s mama suddenly, sending her leaping frightened off into the woods. This little guy was probably not more than a day old, still wobbly on his feet, but he followed the instructions she left to the letter: he dropped to the ground and didn’t move a muscle even when I stepped a little bit closer to take his portrait.

The lesson here is that one should always be ready for the unexpected.

As in, never leave the house without a camera.

Or in other vastly more important ways like this:

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)

(For more information and instructions on how to be ready for Him, read the whole chapter and the following one as well!)

6:36 AM

June 12, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

This is only a tiny slice of the beauty of this morning.

No camera can capture the feel of cool morning dew on bare feet, or the warmth of the rising sun on my face as it burnt through the swirling mists on the lake.

You can’t know that sky high over my head was patterned with a magnificent rippling pattern of cirrocumulus clouds, all shining and white.

Perhaps a video recording might capture the liquid trilling flute of red-winged blackbirds, the trumpeting of many swans and the distant drumming of a grouse that blended in symphonic harmony all around me—but I doubt it would do it justice.

If you looked very closely, you might be able to tell that there is a miniature scene inside every single one of those water droplets, that, if magnified, would be a sparkling world of a thousand blades of grass strung with more pearls of dew with a million more worlds inside.

These pictures are a lovely glimpse of this moment in time, 6:36 AM—but there was so much more.

That’s kind of how it is with heaven. We read about streets of gold and robes of white and singing praises around the throne of God, but they are all only glimpses into wonders that we can’t even imagine. Lovely glimpses, yes—but there will be so much more. I can hardly wait!

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully…” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Wild Calla Lilies

June 9, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

I was never overly fond of calla lilies—until the summer we moved to our current home and I found them growing wild in the swamp down the road. They quickly became my favorite new flower. They are much more diminutive version of the cultivated versions, little white points of petals peeking out from amidst the brilliant green of arrow-shaped leaves, growing up all along the watery edges of still brackish pools. They bloom just as the lilacs are beginning to fade, so it’s become my tradition to walk down and pick a handful of these when it comes time to replace the wilting lilac bouquet on our table. There are so many of them in this spot, I call it the Calla Lily Pools—it’s so lovely!

“Why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29)

Silly Goose

June 8, 2015April 21, 2017 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

I came suddenly upon a family of Canada geese crossing our driveway the other day. Almost all of the goslings hurried off as fast as their little legs could take them into the field grass, following their mother who led the way to safety honking wildly in alarm. But this little fellow seemed to have an independent streak and I imagine he’s the child who has given his poor mother the most gray hairs—er, feathers.

Off he went foolishly running in the opposite direction from his family, right down the center of the driveway in front of me. I was fortunate enough to have my camera at the ready, and of course, since his legs were very short and he had hardly any wings to speak of, he was no match for me. I easily caught up with him and snapped a portrait of the wayward little guy before shooing him off to where his mother and siblings were calling for him at a safe distance away. Silly goose! Good thing I was just an appreciative human with a camera and not a hungry wolf, or that would have been the end of him.As I watched him go, I was reminded of this passage in Isaiah:

“All we…have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way…”

Good thing for us the verse doesn’t stop there, or that would have been the end of us, too!

“…and the Lord hath laid on Him [Christ] the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

We have foolishly wandered, but He has provided a way to safety anyway. How unworthily blessed we are!

Farewell to the Lilacs

June 5, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

The lilacs are turning brown around the edges and fading away, and all the yellow swallowtail butterflies that have been flitting happily about them for the last couple weeks have gone away, too. Bless the farmer or farmer’s wife who planted a small spindly seedling in our yard some 100 years ago! Did they ever envision how splendid it would become, this massive bank of lavender every spring that wafts its heady fragrance on the winds to our porch?

How grateful I am for their foresight! Those people are long dead and gone, but their vision of beauty continues to live on in our front yard for our benefit and enjoyment. As I savored the last remnants of perfume from my porch today, I was reminded of Someone else who envisioned and planned something beautiful long before I was born, stunningly, and very intentionally, with me in mind. Actually, as long ago as before the world began.

“God…hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” (2 Timothy 1:9)

Not only that, but there’s more to come:

“For…eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I am so grateful!

Pinecone at Sunset

June 1, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

The newly forming cones on the red pine in our yard, beautifully highlighted by the evening sun.

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth…the tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so.'” (Genesis 1:11)