Springtime In An Unlikely Place

May 11, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

I’ve been seeing these little clouds of flowering white trees popping out all over the woods this week, and I’d been planning a hike out to where they’re blooming far across the field near our home—but then I spotted this lovely vignette of white tree trunks and blossoms while I was out driving, just exactly what I was looking for, and I swung in to snap some pictures. At the dump.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? I thought I would take my photos of gorgeous pure white blossoms out along the edge of a beautiful wide open field, to the gentle music of the creek flowing past nearby. Instead I stood behind the peeling paint of a sign that detailed accepted and unaccepted waste for this facility, only a few feet from mountains of filthy garbage, listening to a different creak—that of the metal entrance gate in the wind.

There’s a little picture of something really big here, you know.

We’d all like to imagine our selves and our lives as idyllic and pristine as that pastoral scene I had in mind. Lovely. Serene. Peaceful. Picturesque. In reality, though, we’re all a lot more like that dirty garbage dump. Stinking, ugly sinners with messed up hearts and lives. Not pretty at all.

But—

God can take the filthiest, ugliest waste of a life, wash it whiter than petals on those blossoms, and make it burst forth into life and beauty far beyond anything that I could ever capture with my camera.

Ignore my photos—and think about the incredible beauty of that!

“Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion, He understood,

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,

But He made something beautiful of my life.” —Bill Gaither

Because She Loves Pink

May 10, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 6 Comments

Because my mom’s favorite color is pink, it seems only fitting to post these pictures on Mother’s Day. Even more fitting, because the pictures of this splendid china rose just bursting into bloom were taken in my husband’s grandmother’s yard—so this is really in honor of the mothers on both sides of our family. Aren’t these flowers beautiful? But certainly no more so than the beautiful spiritual heritage our mothers passed down to both my husband and I. We are so grateful!

“I greatly desire to see thee…that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, is in thee also.” (2 Timothy 1:4-5)

P.S. I took these pictures in the rain. Thank you Lord—we needed it!

Marsh Marigolds

May 7, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

Well hello, pretty yellow marigolds! One day that brackish swamp was dark and empty, the next day there you were with your bright sunny faces and skirts of purple-green leaves so delicately ruffled, nodding and smiling as though it were only yesterday we saw each other last and not a whole year slipped by. I am so pleased to see you, too.

But you know what’s really lovely? It’s that you’ll only be bright and pretty along the swampy edges for a couple weeks or so, and then you’ll be gone again until another spring. No, I’m not really happy that you’ll disappear so soon. But the fact that you are so fleeting somehow makes you all the more beautiful, and you are such a sweet reminder to me that “if God so clothes the grass of the field [marigolds of the swamp], which today is, and tomorrow [next week] is cast into the oven [fades back into the murky swamp], shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30) He cares that much for me? Wow. Thank you for the reminder, lovely little flowers.

P.S. Also, thank you for kindly blooming near enough to the edge of the swamp so I could take your portrait today without getting water in my shoes. Dry shoes are nice.

In Celebration of Green

May 3, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

My favorite color is green, but especially so at this time of year. Am I the only one? I kind of suspect that a lot of people have a renewed appreciation for this vibrant color of life in the spring. There’s a whole lot more of it that’s going to be happening outside really soon, but here’s a little close-up celebration of the way green is beginning to appear everywhere we look.

“And the earth brought forth grass,

and herb yielding seed after his kind,

and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind;

and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:12)

Spring Snowstorm: The Sequel

May 1, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth…” (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)

And so, they weathered the snow and here they are at last!

First Flowers of Spring

April 27, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!

In wisdom hast Thou made them all;

the earth is full of Thy riches.” (Psalm 104:24)

When the hepaticas push their furry stems up between the dead leaves and pine needles and lift their exquisite, dainty faces up to the sunshine from the forest floor, it is always a certain sign that spring is here to stay. They are like tiny gems, diamond-studded circlets in settings of amethyst, so small one must stoop low and search to find them. But when you do—ah, how easy it is to catch your breath and marvel at the riches of His earth!

Pussy Willows

April 27, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 3 Comments

Is there any first sign of springtime so welcome as the pussy willows? Probably not—-unless it’s when they leave off their soft kitten grays and make happy polka dots of chartreuse all over the lowlands, ditches and swamps:Pussy willows are only the beginning; color and life is exploding everywhere we look these days. Spring is winning thousands of small and miraculous victories over winter, and the ice and snow is forgotten as all the glorious flowers and leaves burst forth. Life conquers over death, again.

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

Sky Art

April 24, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

I like to imagine that the sky is a canvas and God is the painter, and every sunrise and sunset, if we wish, we may sit and watch Him create with masterful strokes of some giant invisible paintbrush an original never-to-be-repeated-again masterpiece. I, for one, never get tired of watching; and He, apparently, never gets tired of creating them for our enjoyment. He could have just programmed in a standard sunset/sunrise model, you know. Aren’t you glad He didn’t?

“O give thanks to the Lord of lords…to Him that by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endureth forever.” (Psalm 136:3,5)

Spring Snowstorm

April 22, 2015September 10, 2015 ~ Beth ~ 1 Comment

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The hyacinths in my garden are undaunted by a sudden spring snowstorm. Actually they seem rather happy about it. While I may be impatient at the delay this cold snap puts on the coming flowers, they know that the snow brings the moisture and nutrients they need to make those flower buds swell and burst open. Brave little flowers-to-be, content with the Creator’s timing!

Stay tuned for the sequel!

Hello There!

April 19, 2015April 18, 2016 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

“You have crowned the year with Your bounty…and the little hills rejoice on every side.” (Psalm 65:11, 12)

This bright-eyed furry face, pausing on his busy way just long enough to say hello, seemed an appropriate way to begin this first blog post. I am, after all, a little like this bushy-tailed friend of mine, stopping briefly to peek around my tree trunk, curious about who may pause along their busy way in this big Internet world to look into my corner of woods. Welcome, whoever you are.

This is a record of a journey of wonder, in small places, in splendid places, in unexpected places. A journal of long walks through familiar woods and fields, along lakes and streams, always in search of beauty. I am like that squirrel, always running about in search of treasure to stow away to savor and enjoy later—only I for-go the hazelnuts in favor of breathtaking moments in time, captured by the click of my shutter. And, everywhere I search, and find without fail, the fingerprints of a Creator God.

May you find, as you join me on this journey through seasons, that the Lord has indeed crowned the year—and the world—with His bounty. The little hills—and the little squirrels—rejoice on every side. Come discover with me!