Behold!

Maybe it’s a butterfly on a tangerine cone flower or an expansive, breathtaking vista. It might be minuscule and cellular or cosmic and grand; simple and stark or intricate and complex; lovely and serene or loud and boisterous; man made or God created. It might be a song, a symphony, a discovery, or an idea.Continue reading “Behold!”

Life: A Butterfly Journey

Butterflies are beautiful creatures, but their midair flutterings and apparent irregular, undirected courses beg the question of why they don’t just make a bee line to their destination? (Probably because they are not bees!) However, their erratic flying makes it difficult for predators to pick them out of the air! Their flight pattern is metaphoricalContinue reading “Life: A Butterfly Journey”

Inexhaustible Questions

In a voice trembling with suffering and grief, Job cried out to God, whom he felt had unjustly allowed a series of tragedies to befall him. A righteous man, he believed he had been wrongly treated and deserved better. He did not just complain to his friends; he was so distressed that he wanted GodContinue reading “Inexhaustible Questions”

The Grace of Sun and Rain

As this storm blows across the Camden hills and down Penobscot Bay, rain will fall indiscriminately on those in its path, a reminder of a statement Christ made in his inaugural sermon: “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5-7)Continue reading “The Grace of Sun and Rain”

What Saith the Heron?

Sitting on the river’s edge at dusk watching and listening to heron fish and squawk, I wonder what messages they are conveying to each other. Creature communications are complex, but the idea that God speaks to us is vastly more intriguing and mysterious. In the Bible narrative, God made His purposes known in visions andContinue reading “What Saith the Heron?”

A Reminder

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling… The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice,Continue reading “A Reminder”

The Heron and the Gull…

Although these two creatures are members of the same taxonomic family, they are quite different. Seemingly respectful of personal boundaries, they are hanging out but with no visible interaction with each other. The heron is intent on fishing for dinner, but the curious gull is paddling around the heron without disturbing it. One wonders ifContinue reading “The Heron and the Gull…”

Whose Footprints?

This is the time of year in Maine when one is more likely to see footprints in the snow rather than in the sand. However, any footprint is a reminder of Henry W. Longfellow’s words: “ We can make our lives sublime/ And, departing, leave behind us/Footprints on the sands of time.” (from A PsalmContinue reading “Whose Footprints?”

Creation Knows!

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? InContinue reading “Creation Knows!”

Nature’s Song

Watching the moon quietly rise down river and the sun set in glorious splendor up river while listening to evening songs of twittering kingfishers, tweeting eagles, a rippling tide, and gentle breezes whispering through the pines as heron quietly fish and fog silently threatens, I am reminded of an old hymn : “Let all thingsContinue reading “Nature’s Song”