LIMNS UPON A LIMB

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LIMNS UPON A LIMB 6-28-11

I’d missed out on getting to the beach for a long time. So when an opportunity came up for me to go, I was so glad. The lovely sunny day gave promise of a chance to enjoy beauty. However, on arrival at the beach, the ocean was blanketed with fog. Most of the gentle waves showed only as blurs. Nor did the mist lift as the day progressed.

When one kind of beauty is obscured, it becomes imperative to look for other signs of the unexpected, of liveliness and God’s presence.

The foghorn blared its rhythmic toot. Three pelicans flew by in formation, just far enough away to be a bit blurred by fog, but recognizeable in shape. And the close-in landscape gave a clear perspective. Several dozen seagulls lurked in the parking lot, in hopes of mooching some tourist’s leftover food. Dogs romped in the sand. People searched for agates, strolled along the sandy strand (ultimately disappearing into the fog), or lounged with their backs to great logs.

I took pictures of beach pebbles deposited in great flowing masses by the tides, tumbling rivers of stone upon stone upon. And then there were the driftwood logs, bleached silver-white by sun and weather, scoured into shapes and showing knobs and slivers and grainy patterns.

There amidst the strewn drifted woods, I discovered the drawn lines/signs on a longish, whitened log limb –
They had been limned in charcoal (perhaps taken from a campfire?) by an unknown passerby.

I’ve been to the beach many times. But this is the first time I’ve happened on charcoal drawings, or a log used as an artist’s canvas.

Some of my days seem blanketed with fog. With a mist which doesn’t wish to lift. So that my future steps, and even motivation for the present moment, seem blurred and not very hopeful or lively. But even in such times, God leaves his limns/signs for me to seek out, or come across unexpectedly. He gives me cause, and pause, to appreciate the Great Artist of all Nature, the Mighty Creator of all Life.

I take heart. “I am my beloved’s, and he is mine; his banner over me is love.” And that thought is comfort which never leaves me out-on-a-limb!


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This post is also shared with:
L. L. Barkat's Seedlings in Stone
"On, In and Around Mondays"



and Laura Boggess' The Wellspring,"
"Playdates with God."

FULFILLMENT

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FULFILLMENT

So many dreadful things are happening in this poor, tired world;
Many lives are being turned upside-down.
Constant bad news is enough to make us fearful creatures,
Unsure whether we can survive,
Even when we try to believe God knows what he’s doing,
That he “knows our frame is dust”
Yet we can’t seem to help our timidity,
But must only keep permitting him to be the fulfillment of Christ within us.
To remember that he counts our hours and our days.

The transparent bottle, before, held dishwashing soap;
The first two rinses were myriads of tiny crowded bubbles,
But the third rinse created a few large and sparkly cells,
Also a crown-like medallion of wonder.
Ephemeral, fleeting soap bubbles
Gleaming in the midst of wearying kitchen choring;
Lustrous designs influenced by the shape of the bottle.

My heart soars again,
My trust of God rebounds no end!
If his natural laws for this Earth
Can bring forth beauty out of nothing-much,
Then let me no more be a fearful creature,
But instead believe that I/we will survive
And live forever with the Lord;
He promised! We are influenced by the shape of his clear Bottle.
His love gently holds our human fragile vessels,
To bring forth the beauty of Christ-in-you-and-me.
Let me have faith that God really does know the perfect way
To transform the wide world, and you, and me!

Copyright 2011 by Marilee Miller


This post is shared with L. L. Barkat's
On, In, and Around Mondays


And with Laura Boggess'
Playdates with God

Bright and Wonderful Things

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Bright and Wonderful Things


Oh bright and wonderful Creator, God,
You have fashioned so many bright and wonderful things
For all to enjoy.

Thank you for creating
A bright and wonderful universe
With myriad starry treasures.
We applaud your making
Our bright and wonderful Planet Earth --
Just brimming with sights and pleasures.
Praise you for the ground that’s tilled,
And waterways with glory spilled,
And bright and wonderful animals
For all to enjoy.

Thank you for thinking
To send bright and wonderful angelfish
To splish and plash in the tropical sea.
You also gave your human beings
The bright and wonderful gift of creativity:
We carry out, through art, and life, a nativity
For all to enjoy.

For all bright and wonderful things,
(And the special gifting us with Yourself),
We thank you, Creator God!


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A while back, I posted on this blog my “sea” backgrounds for artworks, of aqua house paint on cardboard, over which was drizzled indigo batik dye powder. Later on, I showed my line drawings of angelfish that were to be placed against the backgrounds.
And now, here they are – 1. the painted (tempera) angelfish, which were then cut out. And 2. The finished collages of bright and wonderful fish pasted onto the “sea”.


art and text copyright 2011 by Marilee Miller
You are welcome to create a link to this post. But please, no copying of art or text without permission. Thanks.


Bright and Wonderful Things is also shared with L. L. Barkat's
"On, In, and Around Mondays"





and Laura Boggess' "Playdates with God"