A morning of rainbows…..

 rising from the Great Lake up into a cloudy sky,

 hovering over the horizon as a brilliant bridge

 uniting sea and sky….

 making hearts sing and traffic stop on the bridge into town and becoming the chief topic of countless conversation.

    What a divine antidote to news of war and environmental devastation and human folly of all kinds! In spite of it all, we live surrounded by gratuitous Beauty and amazing  Grace---two of my favorite names for Godde!

      Let us treasure the marvelous creation in which we live with all our hearts, and do all we can to preserve it for those who come after us.

      If we allow our habitats to be ruined, nothing else we think important will matter much.

Most of all, maybe, money!

    

In a few moments

A calm sunny day suddenly changes

As the wind shifts from south to north

And blows ever stronger.

There is beauty in the change, and danger

    to anyone braving the waves and currents.

I have known days of sudden change like this 

in my life.  

And you?  

Can we look at them as a scene, like this one, which we can observe 

with a certain amount of appreciation, 

even objectivity?  

Last night at sunset, grandson Sammy and I stationed ourselves on the lower deck with pastels and paper, ready to try and paint the sunset "plein air."  Of course, the light and clouds and sun changed quickly and constantly, so all we could get was a momentary impression, hastily pictured on our paper.  

Doing it was a delight.

Reflecting on the experience helps me realize how fleeting life is, and how various and hard to capture are our impressions of what we experience.

Do even two people see the same thing at the same time in the same way?  I think not.  Add to that the constant flow of change and it seems to me arrogant and unwise to claim that one's own experience or view is anything more than one's own temporary idea or impression.  Who are we to think others should see it as we do, react as we do, understand as we do?   Better, perhaps, to offer one another our various views (in more ways than one) and by so doing enrich our experience in manifold ways.

Back here in Michigan, I am back at painting pastels, this time of the Big Lake rather than the Red Rocks of Sedona.

A rainbow was just starting to form after a thunderstorm at dawn was clearing away, and I got a picture of it, which inspired this painting.

It reminds me that rainbows appear when rain/tears combine with sunshine.

I remember times when I have been in tears, but they were not tears of sorrow, but of overwhelming feeling---sometimes gratitude, sometimes awe, sometimes just something inexpressible and mysterious.

I am so glad for rainbows in my life, and I imagine you are too.

A hummingbird at my feeder    again and again

teaches me today

the joy and necessity of sipping the sweet nectar 

of the Presence of God

very  very  often.  

When is the last time you took a sip?

Having just read this well written and researched book, I have decided I do not want to live in the shallows.  You will have to read the book to find out what this means, but it is important!

What this means for me, in terms of action, is that I am going to only look at Facebook on weekends, and only spend one hour max in the evenings (but not all evenings) answering emails, surfing, internet shopping, or whatever.  

Valuable though some of this might be at times, it is important to cultivate the discernment of what is good, better, and best.  If the good crowds out the best, that's not good!  And for me, the best includes what is most threatened by too much time on the internet and the like.  What is most threatened, according to this book, and I think it is correct, is the ability to concentrate for long periods of time on one thing; to think deeply; to read good books and make them one's own in one's long term memory  (ditto for good music, etc, etc.) to go out in nature (minus any electronic devices!) and truly commune with the Divine Creation in which we live;  and of course, take ample time for creativity, or old fashioned crafts like cooking, knitting, writing letters by long-hand to beloved people.   How much of this gets crowded out by our immersion in the communication gadgetry that so fills our lives!   So the question for me is:  not either-or, but what is the BEST BALANCE in my life between using the media available to me, and other things which are at least equally if not more important for my soul, spirit, and body.   How will you find that balance in your life?  And do you really realize what is at stake?

Who knew that you

brilliant, blooming cactus

could grow such stunning beauty

from such a tangle of sharp thorns?

I know that I too

can offer the beauty of Grace

even in the most thorny place

to all who pass by.