Glory-Purple

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Glory-Purple

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Iris,

Color of glory,
Magnificent color,
Beauty gathered.
Not only whole-bloom wonder,
Glory-purple in every close-up
Snapshot that I take on iris-bloom-day.
Veiny velvet petals,
Crinkles and wrinkles.
Dimples and joy-samples,
Hard edges and softened lines.

                                                                          Iris,
Color of God-glory,
Magnificent Lord.
Everywhere, his beauty is slathered.
God has made the iris, to my wonder.
How can I but worship him
Who created drapes and crepes
To limn my hardish edges and softened lines
Until I, like the iris,
Become an example
Of God’s glorious designs.

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poem and photos are copywrited

This post is shared with "Seedlings in Stone" and "Playdates with God"

Camera-Shake, Life-Shake

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Camera-Shake, Life-Shake

Why would I take a picture of a dead patch in an evergreen shrub?  Oh, because hidden within the snaky, swirly ugly lines of dead, are designs with a capital D. 

On the other hand, other designs may emerge (instead of a “mess”) if my camera gets shaken.

Life has its lush evergreen shades, but also its (seemingly) dead patches.  And sometimes, I feel the wringing of a life-shake.  Oh, the days when it seems to me I’m just a mess!  Will anything at all go right, ever again?

My hopes die.  My plans get thoroughly shaken.  Today looks bleak, and thoughts of tomorrow scare me.  Maybe I’m in despair, or at least deeply disappointed.

I’m so grateful that God is still the Very God of the Universe.  Each day and each hour, I get to ask – yea, compel! -- myself to choose that his will is quietly working within me.  His promises are true.  His Word is true.  So in the long run, he will bring forth intriguing, creative beautiful designs in me.  (He says he will give me hope and a future with him!)

“For which cause we faint not…   For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of glory”  (II Cor. 4:16, 17)

This post is also shared with "Seedlings in Stone"  and "Playdates with God"

Dear friends, your comments would be much appreciated.

God Has Designs on Me

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God Has Designs on Me

CD disks are shiny silver.  Reflective of the light or atmosphere around them.  Most people simply throw them away when they’re no longer needed for their computer data.  However, surely something so beautiful cries out to be used in some way – perhaps gathered into an art-design.   Bottlecaps are ubiquitous, but more than that – they are fashioned wonderfully.   Often made from inexpensive materials.  Many are tossed out after being used to protect the contents inside bottles or jars.  But their roundness, and sometimes ridgy modeled edges, may also contribute to the elements for design.

God sees the shiny silver places in us, even at times when we don’t think we have – or ARE – anything of lasting value.  He knows that we, capable of reflecting his light, can remain both useful and beautiful.  He sees the circling parts of us that we disdain as not being worth much.   And then declares that we are “Accepted in the Beloved”, and “Adopted into God’s own family.”

The Lord may also re-color my habits, and traits until they’re most pleasing to him.  Or maybe he’ll emphasize certain lines or character to bring out a whole new aspect of my life‘s design.

How incredible it seems, that the high God who created the spectacular universe also sees me, in Christ, as beautiful, wonderful.  If I turn to him and trust his Word, he says he’s given me his robe of righteousness.  He “joys over me with singing.”  “We are gifts of God that he delights in.”

I’m so thankful that God Has Designs on Me!

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Feel free to link to this post but please no copying of images or text for public dissemination without permission.

This post is shared with L.L. Barkat  "Seedlings in Stone" and Laura Boggess' "Playdates with God"

A Face of Beauty

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A FACE OF BEAUTY

A face of beauty,
Gentle doll head,
Softened features,
Smooth and refined.
Elegant face,
With lips sweetly defined.

I’ve draped her
With exotic fabric:
Elegant scarf sublime.
Ah, to think this doll,
With head of sweet beauty,
Is mine, all mine!

The invisible God,
Mighty, but whom we can’t see,
Has made a face of visible beauty
Extending all over our Earth.
Oh, hasn’t he been kind?
And he created humans
To sweetly create
Elegances to touch our mind.

Thank you Lord, for a doll
With a face of beauty, and
For my own sweetly softened features
When I contemplate this little elegance, prime.
My heart swells: I appreciate
The God who invented us all,
And made us co-creators of beauty.
“Surely the presence of God is in this place.”
And I’m washed clean in worship of him, the Divine.

( c) 2012 by Marilee Miller


This post is also shared with L.L. Barkat’s
“Seedlings in Stone" and Laura Boggess’
“Playdates with God."

 

Seeing Things Differently

"Over the Sea 21" - Randall David Tipton   used by permission

overlay, old man outline, by M. Miller

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Seeing Things Differently

Not long ago, professional artist Randall David Tipton posted a painting on his website titled, “Over the Sea 21”.  The cotton candy pink cloud looks scrumptious.  But beyond that, a tiny, shiny white spot within the cloud reminded me of a star shining through the cloud.  My attention was captured.  Suddenly, the white dot became an eye, and hmmm, there was a thin “eyebrow” (in slight change of color) above that.  And then, of course, the nose was unmistakable to me. 

And there, the whimsical face/head of an old man----.

(I’ve outlined him that you might better share my view.) 

I like to think of him as the “essence” of the cloud, or a cloud-spirit (or sprite?) of some sort.  As children, we looked to find images in clouds.  Well, here was one not only discovered, but in my mind, seeing a further image in a pink cloud added to my enjoyment of the painting.

I asked Tipton if he meant to put a man in the cloud.  “No no old men placed in my clouds or anything else,“ he replied.

But you know how it is with an optical illusion?  You don’t see it, and then you do!  After seeing that illusion, I can’t “not” see it – though Tipton didn’t place it there intentionally.

Just as sharing our different perceptions about lovely paintings can open up new pleasures to many, so also may collaborative insight add to our ability to solve problems, tackle work that needs doing, or cope with new patterns that show up in our lives or in the wider society.

Aren’t we lucky that artists’ imaginations see things differently?  And that people with differing visions may enhance their (or our) fruitfulness or understanding?  In such a case, artworks – or life -- can be true serendipities.

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artist's website    http://randalldavidtipton.blogspot.com


This post is shared with L. L. Barkat and Laura Boggess.  

Beauty that Comes from God

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BEAUTY THAT COMES FROM GOD

Before Easter, I was given a lovely, potted rubrum lily in full bloom. A centerpiece of great beauty!

But now the plant is withering. I’ve clipped off several dying blossoms. And many of its leaves are falling off. Those leaves are fit only for the garbage can, right? But, wait! The veiny look is still appealing. Artist that I am, I think of capturing that look. What if I lay out some of those leaves on my scanner bed?

Hmmm. Not a bad pattern! But I can make an even more intricate design. A sprinkling of thread flowers (tatted) around the leaves. And above that layer, a paper on which I’d previously streaked some paint to create a background. Wow! Now a new design really comes alive. It’s not the same as the original, which was an abundantly blooming lily. But it’s a bright and perky new design. And underneath, the bulbs still live – and, if planted in the ground outside, will bloom again for a number of years.

Sometimes I can relate to the slowly-withering rubrum lily. Any possible beauty I ever saw in myself, seems to have faded away. Some of my good traits feel like they’re falling off, leaving behind discouragement, discontent, or a distant-ness.

But God created my beauty to be like a rubrum lily. He sees what I feel are dead parts, as if they’re ever alive. He goes on adding his own unique touches. During my seemingly-dormant seasons, he adds more of his own exquisite patterns and great surprises. Also, the bulb of my spirit breathed on by his Holy Spirit, is still alive. Because of his tender care and grace, I will re-grow and re-shape and re-bloom where he has planted me. I won’t be the same person that I used to be. I probably won’t even be the creation I THOUGHT he was making of me. He who is FULL BEAUTY himself, always will tend to the full depth of the beauty he is ever-placing in me.

“Behold the beauty of the Lord…”

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This post is shared with "Seedlings in Stone" and "Playdates with God"

Christ Is Risen!

This post is shared with L. L. Barkat and Laura Boggess