beauty in the details...

...the joys of macro photography...

...the delights of the amazing details of God's creation!...

seeing the miraculous...

I have been thinking quite a bit the past few days about miracles... how they are more commonplace than we think--if we but have eyes to see...

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush

afire with God;

But only he who sees

takes off his shoes.

The rest sit round it

and pluck blackberries.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

God, we ask that You would mold us into those who would see Your presence and take off our shoes...

seeing the miraculous in the "common"...

The invariable mark of wisdom is

to see the miraculous in the common.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The common"... being that which we see in every day life...

and do not appreciate for the very miracle that it is.

Just because it is "common"

does not make it any less miraculous...

Like, for instance...

a nut...

or a fruit...

or a rock...

in a shape --a heart--

speaking of a Father's amazing creative love!

Or, draining the "water" from a tree...

to boil down into a gloriously sweet treat
called maple syrup!

Or, to see ducks walking by

with heads of brilliant metallic royal blue...

which, in just a slight turn of their heads,

shine an amazing emerald green!

Or, how a small, strange, papery egg sac stuck to a rock...

will produce hundreds of delightfully garden-loving praying mantises! (manti??) Or how a spring flower pushes its head through the snow and debris
to blossom in the spring sunshine

where no seed was planted ...

but comes up year after year "on its own."
Or, the strikingly amazing rainbow colors...

of an ordinary vegetable which would commonly be green...

These are all "miraculous"

in the common of our every day lives.

I am grateful that we have a Creator who daily

displays miracles for us

if we will have the eyes to see

and hearts to understand!

Oh, Hoppy Day!!

Some things are just too good to stop shouting about ... I couldn't resist one last Resurrection post! The joy of the risen Savior in our lives is great reason to do a little jumping for joy!!

Oh, Happy Day!!
by Tim Hughes

The greatest day in history, Death is beaten

You have rescued me

Sing it out "Jesus is alive!"

The empty cross, The empty grave

Life eternal, You have won the day

Shout it out, "Jesus is alive! He's alive!"

Oh, happy day, happy day!

You washed my sin away

Oh happy day, happy day!

I'll never be the same

Forever I am changed

When I stand, in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours; Jesus, You are mine.
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate!

Jesus is alive! He's alive!

Oh, happy day, happy day!
You washed my sin away.
Oh, happy day, happy day!
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Oh, what a glorious day!

What a glorious way

That You have saved me!

Oh, what a glorious day!

What a glorious Name!

(photos circa 1984...hopefully they brought you a smile or two...

that combined with the amazing joy of the living Christ in our lives!)

God's hand...

(In a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, high-energy X-rays emanating from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light.)


I love this photograph. I discovered it today online, and I think it is absolutely amazing!! It is beautiful and mysterious and fascinating!


It was described as "a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light." But, as I look at it, I see a picture of God's hand reaching for my heart. Across the vast expanse of space and time, He reaches for me.


Today I was feeling a little down, a little blue, and God reached across the expanse of space and time and touched my heart--by having a friend unexpectedly call me to come to her house so she could make dinner for me tonight. And my heart glowed with an eternal red cosmic light.


This week, as we meditate upon and celebrate the Passion Week and Easter, we are reminded of how God reached across the expanse of space and time and touched our hearts--by the unbelievable gift and sacrifice of His Son. And our hearts glow with an eternal red cosmic light.


God is continually reaching across the expanse of space and time ...reaching for our hearts... reminding us of His amazing love, of His amazing grace. Let us place our hearts in His hand that they may glow with His eternal light....

(see the article about the nebula)

inspiration...and joy...

In Your light I learn how to love.

In Your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest, where no one sees You,

but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.
~ Rumi

pure joy...

This was part of MY Saturday...

I hope yours was at least 1/8 this good!

~ wonder ~

If a child is to keep alive his inborn

sense of wonder...
he needs the companionship
of at least one adult who can share it,
rediscovering with him the joy,
excitement, and mystery
of the world we live in.

~Rachel Carson

~excitement~

~ pure joy ~

other captured creatures...

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we did manage to capture a few non-lobster creatures while we were trying to catch the quick and elusive legal-size lobsters. I, of course, had my camera with me, and I had to photograph the other creatures we netted as well.

Please note, none of these creatures were harmed in any way. They were merely dragged from their evening swims up onto the dock, shot (ok, photographed) by me, perhaps poked and petted a bit, and then sent back into the ocean on their merry way. I felt like it was an aquatic version of Wild Kingdom -- Marlin Perkins would have been delighted, I think! (ah, I'm probably dating myself here, but we watched that show every Sunday evening when I was a little kid)

And so, here, for your viewing pleasure, I introduce a few Catalina Island ocean creatures....

the ever-present Calico Bass...

our glass bottom boat tour guides say he can be recognized by his "cheap striped sportcoat".

(I caught this one, and though he looks a bit dead, he was perfectly active and fine! I think he was playing possum!)

...oh my goodness! what the heck is that?!?!?

here it is up-close-and-personal...

it's a spider crab.

These are slow-moving and non-aggressive, and I found it quite delightful. I think this one may be old, as I see it has lost one of its back legs and a couple of "toes." It seemed perfectly fine with me touching it and even picking it up. These crabs have hook-shaped hairs on their backs that attract the growth of algae which is used as camoflage.

I see it is a beautiful sky blue color underneath the algae camoflage.

And look at those red toes!

...and this is because I just HAD to pick it up!

(I had the gloves on for the lobster-grabbing.)

See how big it is!!

It was quite heavy, too!

Last, but definitely not least, was my very favorite sea creature we caught--

which, at first, we thought was a sea slug...

it's a sea hare !

I thought this was so cute! It was blobby and squishy and soft with a velvety soft wet skin. A boy who was there when this was brought up said, "It feels like pudding!" That was a most accurate description of the feel of it! If you look closely at its skin, you can see a lovely brown spotted pattern with reddish-pink through it as well. It really was strange and wonderful! (I had seen one of these at our local aquarium, but this one was at least five times bigger than the one they let us touch.)I hope you enjoyed this little "tour of the sea" with me!
I do so love to see the amazing creatures God has made...
so very many strange and delightful and colorful and wild!
I'm glad He's so very creative!!

celebrate the Sabbath...being breathless...

But the love of Jesus is utterly unaccountable--

except that He is God

and God is love.

It has no cause in us.

It reacts to,

or repays,

or rewards just nothing in us.

It is beyond human measure,

beyond human comprehension.

It takes my breath away.

~Walter Wangerin, Jr in Reliving The Passion

everything's amazing and nobody's happy...

Today is Saturday... a day for chores... or... a day for play and fun!

I'm sure most of you have probably seen this little video, but it is worth posting for those who have not. I have loved it each time I've watched it! Enjoy!

...let US never cease to be AMAZED or stop being grateful for the blessings in our lives...

birds of paradise...

One rainy day recently, when there was a break in the rain, I went outside and captured the beautiful colors and textures of some birds of paradise...

I love the way God uses the amazing contrast of complementary colors...

...and light... ...and shape...

...drenched in rainy-day beauty...

Thank You, God, for such loveliness in our every day...