March 23, 2000 - Nature Edition
Welcome to this edition of the ring. I found time between road trips to reach out to you again. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions, comments, prayer requests, whatever. I love hearing from you. Hopefully we'll find the right house soon and I can get everything back to a more normal pace.
EMERALD
- Leslie Johnson copyright 1999
Endless green
linking future
with past
Endless green
like a distant
dream
a dreaming of God's
design and scheme
endless green
for a world
to survive
and thrive
Endless green
links all past
to the future
Endless green
Have you looked outside lately? Looking out my window everything is coming bloom. Aunt Vesta (who built this house) had planters and little flower gardens everywhere. She and her husband would sometimes walk in the woods and bring back wild flowers to put in the planter beds. In the fall I saw the dayflowers blooming blue. They are so beautiful. Right now the lawn is sprinkled with tiny white and purple violets and tiny lavender spring crosses. In the huge stone planters (there are a few of them, making the yard look like a miniature Stonehenge) there are tulips, surprise lilies, and irises. Mingled within these are at least three kinds of ferns and various plants and flowers of which I don't know the names. My husband, being a plant scientist, has been able to name some of them for me. The red bud trees, pear trees, peach trees, and a miniature rose tree are all in bloom around the property, adding to the symphony of color and fragrance. The beauty that God creates each spring is just amazing to me. I never seem to tire of it or take it for granted.
GOD'S BOUQUET
- Leslie Johnson copyright 1999
Golden highlights play
in the sunlight of the day
blues and pinks and reds
make a crown for your head
lying down in the grass
sights and smells are amassed
God presents beautiful hues
to delight the senses and fill our view
the world is a beautiful holiday
when spring is God's bouquet
Sometimes when I am outside walking around I feel closer to God than I do when I'm with His people. I see with the amazement of a child how He created all these flowers and plants and trees. All of it so incredibly linked together in it's survival and success. God is so endlessly creative in nature - so He can be just as creative within the lives of each of us if we open our eyes to Him and allow Him to be.
LITTLE PART
-Leslie Johnson copyright 1999
God, you put us in charge of Earth
now when I put my hands
within the soil
planting things to watch them grow
the toil does not seem so burdensome
I am not as eloquent as Emerson or Dickenson or Thoreau
I simply want to let You know
that I see You in all this
more clearly than in my neighbor's eyes
I watch the seed grow
planted in dirt
knowing that You have made the Earth
and all that is within
with a plan in mind
I play my little part
so minuscule in the history of mankind
but still so very important to You
concerned enough that You watch
every bird, every plant, every tree
to see if it thrives
I am weighted in Your designs
more than any forest animal, tree or vine
Like the nature all around
You insure that I survive
when I plant the seed within the Earth
I have faith that You will
bless its growth
With this faith and trust in You alone
I am alive
I love to take walks. I collect flower specimens for pressed flower arrangements, take pictures, and at times make feeble attempts at sketching. It also gives me time to think and to pray. To smile at children lost in play. Reminds me of how God must have enjoyed His walks in Eden. And I can feel Him so close at times.
NATURE DIVINE
- Leslie Johnson copyright 1999
Lord, You walk in the garden with me
We admire every flower, vine, and tree
I see so clearly in Your creations
Your love that never suffers stagnation
but grows within us as the vine
bringing us closer to Your divine
nature is the truest clue
that invested in us is all of You
You sacrificed for mankind
no second thoughts, Your love is blind
You charge us with the Earth
we work it to watch the flowers' birth
We tend the animals at Your request
watching the birds blooming in their nest
rabbits hopping across the lawn
the unstable steps of a newborn fawn
All these things I witness with You
knowing always that Your love is true
When you look outside of your window, I hope that you feel as awed by the raw beauty of nature as I do. I hope that you too can see the hand of God reflected within even the tiniest creation. I count it as a blessing that God shares the splendor of Genesis with us every spring as the world is reborn. Just as we are reborn from within when we open our lives to Christ.
ABUNDANCE BLESSING
-Leslie Johnson copyright 1996
At this time of harvest
O Lord, we give thanks.
We are blessed by abundance
throughout the year:
by the beauty of the flowers
and warmth of spring
when we thaw and the earth is reborn
and we feel our own youth again.
By the sun and rain
and growth of summer
when we toil the hardest
for the fruits of the earth
and enjoy the quiet coolness
in the shade of a tree
by the abundance of the fruits
of our labors and the lovely
color of leaves in the autumn
This is the time when we
put the most away and prepare
for the coming winter storms
By the blankets of white
quietness that lay across
the earth in winter.
This is when we should take
advantage of time we could
spend with out family,
finishing old projects, and
laying other concerns to rest
Thank you, O Lord, my God,
for every season of my life
No matter how harsh the season,
there is always something
good and pleasant in it -
something that can be learned
Thank you, dear Lord,
for teaching me.
Amen
Hope you've enjoyed this "nature" edition of the ring. God be with you and yours. Peace, love, and forgiveness.
Leslie Elain
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Email: shaken@angelfire.com