God, the Gardener of Life

In simple humility, 

let our gardener, God, 

landscape you with the Word, 

making a salvation-garden 

of your life. 

James 1:19-21 MSG

There is a path through the church's garden, through the trees and shrubs, where new spring growth has taken hold here and there. Wildflowers lift their purple and yellow blooms sunward. Light green, early growth foliage hangs low over the walk. Stones line the path intermittently yet continuous enough to mark the way. 

In preparation for the morning I’ve selected scriptures, identified intentions for prayer, and chosen to greet Him as Abba, and otherwise determined to be a listener as each step is taken. 

Breezes move gently through the canopy of limbs and against my face. Scripture images of Bible text scroll across my mind: the comfort of the Psalms, the teachings of Philippians, the promises in the Book of John... In the walking, hymns rise in a hum; Abba’s gift, not my plan. 

As I make my way, these stones remind me of the Biblical markings of God’s way and God’s voice. These wildflowers, they remind me of thanksgiving for even the unplanned, the unsightly circumstances of living for that too is redeemed as beauty. That scent, the invisible yet present. These buds near to bursting forth, so like the promises of our faith, the renewal of life. And that wind, always the image of the life giving breath of God. 

At the journey’s end I circle back retracing my steps, lingering slow to whisper a well of gratitude. The dappled shade playing across my heaven tilted face.

Art and Faith

Church bells ring at noon next door to the Nasher Sculpture Garden patio. 


I sip ice tea listening, hearing the patio’s water wall streaming in unison with bells. 

The occasion is an ‘artist’s date’ in Julia Cameron style; “a nurturing replenishment of creative consciousness”. Thus a solitary trek into the caverns of the city to find this walled seclusion of bubbling water and tree-scaped shade that creates a canvas for the sculptures lolling about on the lawn. Heart and soul love it here. Textures, form, pattern, and mediums portraying metaphors of each artist’s vision awakens the lobes of emotion and meaning . 

That hemisphere of the brain that responds to the abstract, the symbolic, and the tangential; that hemisphere hums in a place like this. Hums in the company of molded metals, polished stone, burnished bronze, botanical art and streaming water walls. Literally, I experience a mental shift as my thoughts react to the dense sensory input. The mind rises out of mundane tangles to climb scaffolding, step by stairs, to musings that stretch beyond present realties. 

“Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order...” Thomas Merton

I welcome the sense of spiritual FILLING and subsequent BALANCE that results from the exercise of this lesser used grey matter. Exercise via the viewing of the creative. Viewing the creative enlarges the realm of possibilities and inspires alternatives, confirming that there is yet another way to ‘see’ and more room to grow. Viewing the creative demands attention, invites appreciation and expects ‘seeing’ in a different way. Seeing beyond a cursory glance, ‘seeing’ that is magnified and then juxtaposed against ‘seeing’ that is global, ‘seeing’ that carries thoughts beyond the sculpture garden to mental trajectories of the immense, the omnipotent, of the God shaped.




My experience with the creations of artists never fails to blend with thoughts of the original Creator. I find truth in writer Ann Voskamp’s thinking: “Creativity is good theology;”and in Thomas Merton’s statement, “Music, and art, and poetry attune the soul to God.” Experiencing art travels parallel to and then is woven into the experience of faith. The human potential for and pursuit of creation reflects the Holy Spirit within us.

Renewed by the Spirit's Work

He saved us through a second birth,
renewed us by the Spirit's work...
Titus 3:5


Scarlet leaves of autumn,
flags of waning life, nutrition withheld from leafed out growth. Yet, the evergreen limbs of this southern shrub, unfurls a glorious autumn offering of new growth in wine-hued spires at its tips.

New growth can arrive in the autumn of life.

Second chances, deeper thought, revisited experience, new lenses through which to see ~

Renewed by the Spirit’s work,
Salvation arrives from God’s persistent encouragement for faith.







God's gifts unfurl through the seasons of life. My gratitude matures with living and the offer of His holy mercies year after year. I'm writing down those mercies with the Gratitude Community, so the the heart can be strengthened yet again: mentioned here #656 - 660.

~ quiet evenings at home
~ a life season of peace filled days
~ gratitude for God's warnings, for His unshakable pursuit of our hearts
~ gratitude for time, more time to grow in faith
~ for opportunities to humbly, gently encourage others to deeper faith

Divine Nature ~ Scripture and a Snapshot

Paul’s words in Romans 1:20, expresses my soul’s response to what I see when I look attentively at the world all around me. Images of God's close up, minute beauty even in the Creator’s work that constitutes the burgeoning Holly tree beside our patio showered with rain glistening on the color and form of leaf and berry surfaces.  Fruit ripens red for winter adornment.  Nature’s seed preparing to carry on God’s replenishing plan for our natural world.



His Devine Nature Clearly Seen...

Morning air rising from watered soil misting cool around my feet.





Slated foot paths and raised timber beds are damp. Else wise there is not a breath of movement among the splendid stalks bearing fragile beauty. Guarded by steep pine forested embankment backed by weathered wood fencing, the shaded refuge teems with majestic blooms.  Captivated by the satin texture, minute ribbing of each petal, and varying hues of color I wander from stalk to stalk framing up each one in the lens.  

Time drifts unnoticed, rare, Spirit full. Silence reveals only the hushed garden sounds which pulse like a heartbeat. Startlingly, the beating presence of a hummingbird arrives on a bloom miraculously inches from my gaze; simultaneously transparent and iridescent.  Wanting only to prolong the viewing I dare not raise the lens. But stare deep, determined to burn its image in limbic memory. Turning with the bird’s flight, musing in reverence I marvel and swell with God’s wondrous ways of extending His presence and glory to His people.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities

-His eternal power and divine nature-

have been clearly seen.

~ Romans 1:20



Photos in this post were taken on vacation to Pender Island, B.C.