God Is Love

Heart Clouds
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God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (1 John 4:16b)

If you would like to send this picture as an e-card, visit Vocation Quest Cards.

Shine in Our Darkness

Light Breaking on Pensacola Bay
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O God, when all seems to be darkness in me,
may your Light break through,
for you are always here, loving me.

"If I say, "Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you,
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you."
Psalm 139:11-12

God Among Us

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made
through him,
and without him was not anything made
that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of all people...
The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth.
We have beheld his glory,
glory as of the only Son
from the Father.
(John 1:1-4;14)

In Radiant Beauty

Basket and Christmas Balls
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"The Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty."
(from the Liturgy of the Hours)

House of Many Colors

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I haven't been back to this house to see if the owners have chosen to go with a single color. I rather hope not. I am reminded of Joseph, beloved of his father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. (Genesis 37:3 KJV)

The Rock That Is Higher than I

Heart and Rock
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Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I;
for you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me abide in your tent for ever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings.

Psalm 61:1-4

A Vision of Goodness

More Urban Mandalas

"Sanitary Storm Sewer"
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"Warning: Do Not Fill"




Courtyard Rosette in Snow

There is beauty all around us, even in the most utilitarian of objects. For more urban mandalas, see Hubcap Mandalas.

Baby Wrens

Baby Wrens in Flowerpot
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The mama wren, rather unwisely it seemed to me, made her nest in a flowerpot on the patio. It was wonderful, though, to see the lovely babies. It was also wonderful to watch her approach the pot stealthily, thinking we couldn't see her. Finally, early one morning, a cat found the nest. One baby was killed, but somehow the mother managed to lead the second one to safety.

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. (Luke 12:6)

House of God, Gate of Heaven

God is present, no matter where we are, no matter what is happening. We may cry out with Jacob, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

Peahen on Branch

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The peacock was an early Christian symbol of the Resurrection.

Although the peahen is not as showy as her male counterpoint, she has a dignified beauty of her own. (The tuft of stray feathers that seems to be sticking out of her left side actually belongs to her chick, hidden behind her. )

Iced Drink on a Hot Day

Iced Drink on a Hot Day
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How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

Psalm 36:7-9

Boundless Mercy Video

This is a video reflection on a poem by Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022).

Hubcap Mandalas

How delighted I was to discover a community garden in Gainesville, with vegetables, flowers, and art. Here are some photos of painted hubcaps, found objects which have become in this setting a contemporary form of mandala.

For a reflection on mandalas and more photos, visit Caught Up in God: Urban Mandalas.

Boundless Heart

This is a photograph of Galaxy Cluster 1E 0657-556, used courtesy of NASA. I have shaped it to remind me of the immensity of God's heart, large enough to embrace all of us, no matter who we are or what we have done. I share the photo with you on this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

According to Raïssa Maritain, “…we have, under the action of grace and through the travail of the soul, to leave our bounded heart for the boundless heart of God. This is truly dying to ourselves” (Raïssa’s Journal).

The Blessing of Rain

Rainy Day from Window
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We are giving thanks to God for the desperately needed rain brought by Tropical Storm Barry to our drought-plagued region.

Below is a picture from one of the fiercer storms of 2004.

Rain Against Window

Hyacinths

Hyacinths
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If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And of thy store two loaves are left,
Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

- Saadi (medieval Persian poet)
You will find many versions and translations of this poem. This is the version I remember by heart.

Into Light

Out of darkness
Into light






Glimpse of porch and Alabama River

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Comfort of the Resurrection

Dandelion against Blue Sky
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That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire

and of the

Comfort of the Resurrection

CLOUD-PUFFBALL, torn tufts, tossed pillows ' flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-

built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs ' they throng; they glitter in marches.

Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, ' wherever an elm arches,

Shivelights and shadowtackle in long ' lashes lace, lance, and pair.

Delightfully the bright wind boisterous ' ropes, wrestles, beats earth bare

Of yestertempest’s creases; in pool and rut peel parches

Squandering ooze to squeezed ' dough, crust, dust; stanches, starches

Squadroned masks and manmarks ' treadmire toil there

Footfretted in it. Million-fuelèd, ' nature’s bonfire burns on.

But quench her bonniest, dearest ' to her, her clearest-selvèd spark

Man, how fast his firedint, ' his mark on mind, is gone!

Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark

Drowned. O pity and indig ' nation! Manshape, that shone

Sheer off, disseveral, a star, ' death blots black out; nor mark

Is any of him at all so stark

But vastness blurs and time ' beats level. Enough! the Resurrection,

A heart’s-clarion! Away grief’s gasping, ' joyless days, dejection.

Across my foundering deck shone

A beacon, an eternal beam. ' Flesh fade, and mortal trash

Fall to the residuary worm; ' world’s wildfire, leave but ash:

In a flash, at a trumpet crash,

I am all at once what Christ is, ' since he was what I am, and

This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, ' patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,

Is immortal diamond.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins

Foolishness of the Cross

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and to more easily read the text.)

For God’s foolishness

is wiser than human wisdom,

and God’s weakness

is stronger than human strength.

(1 Corinthians 1:25)