This Majestic Glory

"They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life."---Jane Austen

I have a certain unhappiness, somewhat like Austen's, when I meet someone disinterested in the beautiful Creation God has provided for us. God has given us everything from soft, tendrilling roses to the harsh grandeur of lightning on mountains, and to be wholly unaware---or careless---of such snatches of beauty is pitiable indeed. God did not separate nature simply to the brief chapters of Genesis: his Word is full of it. Psalms is abundant with allegories of humans and eagles, the earth clapping its hands, and hills bowing low to God's glory. Song of Songs speaks of lovers in lush beds of flowers; God contends with Job when he asks Job if he made this wild world and every creature on it. Ruth gleans in shining harvest fields; the Israelites go through parallel worlds of both harsh desert and verdant land.
God shows himself continually through his creation, both in the Bible, and today. I challenge those locked up behind computer desks to take a breath now and then of the breeze, and to write about the season's changing. We have not experienced fully until we experience this majestic glory of creation.

Footsteps of Autumn Rain

An autumn moon, like fresh-shucked corn
The chin of an October morn
The footsteps of the gentle rain:
And leaves across the window frame.
A tabby cat with eyes of gold
The pumpkin and its top of mold
A single, solitary stain
Of raindrops on the window frame.
The open mouth of summer brooks
That linger, with a backward look
As if to say, "The winsome grains
Have rotted in the autumn rains."
The thin black caw of cobalt crows
A whisper of the coming snows
Red maples bent across the lane:
And footsteps of the gentle rain.

Autumn Pale

When the world in solemn stillness lies,
And the moon in silence, frowns
And the sad, dark wind
On the lonesome bend
Lips the river's frothy gown
When the brow of the hill is as brass as the bell
That hangs in the cornered dale:
We will lift our heads, and breathe a prayer
A prayer of the autumn pale.

The Eternity of Poetry

"The poem...was a passing reminder, a breath from the divine lips of beauty, a nightingale between two worlds of dust."---E.M. Forster

Poetry is an expression which has been produced, procured, imagined, entertained, and been read for centuries. It has broken hearts; it has opened minds. It has written the way of the world upon the hearts of men, where other forms of artistry could not touch. The written word, combined with the cadence and beauty of poetry, has become a pure place within the weariest roads. We are attracted to songs because of their rhyme(find any, and you will notice either its beat or its similar word forms, evidence of poetry, even in the hardest rap.), and pulled towards paintings with symmetry, form, and grace. This is the beginning, and epitome, of poetry: that we will be drawn to the love of its base, which is goodness itself, and build from there with our own forms of its cornerstone.

The Single Leaf

I saw a leaf, a single leaf,
Spin past the silent dale
And land upon the quiet chest
Of autumn's golden rail,
A single leaf, which heaven brought
To drift upon the shroud
Encased in other bits of rag
We call the copper cloud:
How sad it felt to view it there
Amongst the reds and rogue:
While summer moaned through fragrant woods
And threads of snowy blue---
How sorrowful my sunlit heart
In trepidation grew
To see the leaf go drifting down
Within the autumn's rue.

Between Skies and Sod

Could clouds present the golden sea?
Could sun imagine waves?
Could moon, in tidal heavens set
Be bought by ocean caves?
No---this is a world of separate place
And paling ocean strands:
The skies remain their own, and then
The seas claim frigates grand.
The heavens can't contain the blue
Of foam, or dolphin's tune:
As such, the flowing frothing waves
Do not encase the Bloom
That struggles vainly to the sun---
So thin, the line is drawn
'Tween earth, and sky, and crashing sea:
The differentiated lawns!

Happiness In Seasons

I would delight in nothing less
Then pure, attuned, fair happiness!
This is the way I claim what's mine:
October fields in gleaming rye
The April blooms, the May divine
November's trees of crimson wine---
December snows, and August rains
The shining January lanes,
A lover's knot for month's between:
The silent February sheen.
Of March, July, September's breeze
I'd gain the pale, unswerving leaves
That drift amongst the lacy round
Of stars, and moon, and shadowed ground.
June, left alone, is not forgot:
Its final petaled joy has brought
Completeness to my soul---and blessed
I bask in graceful happiness!

Evangelism

I'm no deep theologian or a sign-toting street evangelist (far from it---I'm still struggling to witness!), but I do know sincerity and a sense of humility will get you a long way with people.
People are people---all of us are sinners, and when we speak about Christ, we're doing it in gentleness and love, not in the heat of a fiery debate or winning the 'faith' argument. Listen and ask questions more than spouting religious dogma, and most of all, act like a concerned friend instead of turning people off with your irritation to 'get the upper hand' of the conversation.
Sure, people may say some stuff that isn't it line with you, but that's why you're convicting them of their sins and handing them the Gospel's truth. It isn't about argument---it's about salvation.
I found Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's ways of presenting the gospel really great for future use. (www.livingwaters.com has their videos and presentation.) I've given out their gospel tracts and their fun, unoffensive ways that get people's attention.
Of course, sometimes you can't get a person to change their mind at the moment. That's okay, too. You may have planted a seed that another person will water, and a third will help grow.
(www.NeedGod.com is also a great website, part of livingwaters.)

Birches at Dusk

Pale white trees in the silver dusk,
Silent leaves through the sunset hills,
Drifting blooms in the breathless air:
Songs of Spring on the sparrow bills;
Gentle, gracious, heaving Wind
Catching trees with the fingered fist
Corpulent moon on the bannered sky
Waiting amongst the grass-blown wisps.
Birches, fragrant and bending low,
Wait for the times of integral sun:
Flowering stalks, Springtime dawn
Red, on the brow of the river's run.

The Shift in Feminine Dress

The entire entity of femininity has seemed to fade in the last few decades. We see women in low-cut tops and short-shorts, flaunting their 'stuff', and, in some cases, appearing like a man in their cut of clothing and style choices. There's something to be said about a woman remaining fascinating because of her modesty. It's different, it's soft, and it's...astonishing. With so many women and young girls trying to attract---yes, attract!---lust from men around them, it's like a shining sunbeam when a woman comes into the room with a skirt on and a beautifully patterned top.
It's difficult to dress modestly with the ads we're given, but the truth is, it's definitely more fulfilling in view of a woman's personal femininity. It gives her confidence, grace, and gentleness of spirit, all aspects which the Bible repeatedly promotes. It guards and exudes purity, and most of all, it takes to great lengths the passage which says, "In which you [children of God] shine like stars." (Within a crooked and depraved generation.) --Philippians 2:15
Frankly, it's difficult to see over the bulging bellies and tight pants to the Christ-toting tee shirt above. If Christian women are to put themselves into the golden service which calls them to meek and gentle living, then their clothing should show it as well.
Women in the Depression had limited clothing choices, yet we whine about the little amount of modest clothing out in the world today. Certainly, we have to look for it, but it's there. We have racks to choose from, cheap and not-so-cheap, we have the ability to learn how to sew and often the money to buy inexpensive fabric.
Put a flower in your hair once in a while and see how it makes you feel. Wear a skirt to the grocery store instead of jeans. Be bold. After all, we are women. (:
(Compare and contrast the two pictures above and tell me what you think. Which would you see as more feminine, which more unattractive and unnoticeable in the mobs of the rest of society? Aren't we supposed to separate ourselves from this generation?)