Two Blooms

Lord, I sing for joy at what you hands have made. 

Psalm 92:4

Red and pink what would you be

Without white and green?

Would we note you against more red or a field of pink?

Would we love you so much 

Without brown and gray?

You sing and shout—fearless, 

Happy, bright, joy!

Rose Bud

The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief;We are as they;

Like them we fade away As doth the leaf.

Christina Rossetti

Infant set to unfurl in youth

From there to full bloom. 

Bees buzz and seeds swell, 

Dry and fall.

Colors fade and petals droop 

With age—wither and wrinkle 

Dry and fragile as old skin.

Leaf and petals

Drop and the bloom is gone 

Seeds are all that's left behind

Blow away with the wind.

We see it everyday; 

Still we don't take it to heart.
Life seems robust and enduring yet 

Our days are numbered too,

And soon will pass.

Glittery Rose

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, 
but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.

Martin Luther

Someone added glitter to this rose;

I wonder at how silly we humans are!

To think we could improve on

Something so lovely as a rose,

Is like saying the sunset needs 

Better shades of red and violet,

The sky needs a different blue,

The ocean wetter waves.

Pralines

There is nothing quite as sweet as knowing you are loved.

c.e.hollis

Sweet, 

Sugary sweet!

Kitchen 
Smells
Like toasted pecans, 

Like Louisiana at Christmas,

Smells 
Like happy voices, 

Ummm-yum of family meals,

Smells
Like love and warm,
Smells

Like Grandma and a hug,

Like sweetest memories;

Smells 
Like happiness.
Like home.

Filly

All things bright and beautiful, 

all creatures great and small, 

All things wise and wonderful, 

the Lord God made them all. 

Cecil Frances Alexander

So small and fragile

The little girl munches hay,

But can't resist

Coming to the gate to be petted.

She leans toward our voices,

Listens for sounds she knows,

Sniffs our hands to see 

Whether we brought a treat, 

Watches our feet and

Shyly pretends 

Not to look at our faces.

Richly to Enjoy

Be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches,

 but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 

1 Timothy 6:17

Afternoon light glows on the table

Inside my kitchen

Where the fruitbowl waits to offer

Apples with names like Gala,

Jonagold and Pink Lady – Oranges 

That grew on trees beside the ocean and

Miniature mandarin oranges 

Were harvested, I think, by children's tiny soft hands

Across the world somewhere

Where soft warm wind blows.

What a sweet offering.

Sky at Evening

I avoid looking backward and forward 

and try to keep looking upward. 

Charlotte Bronte

Winter evening 

Clouds have formed 

Layers of cotton candy

Across the blue.

A snarl of tree branches 

Waves in the wind,
Like little sister's unruly hair
After she has run and played
Out in the wide world all day.

Breezes comb the tangles.

Leaning Tree

And this, our life... 
finds tongue in trees, 
books in the running brooks, 
sermons in stone...
William Shakespeare

Beside the creek– 
Water low within its boundaries,

Frozen in its slow places,

Banks edged in white;

An old tree leans out tentatively

Trying to bridge the icy water,

Touch the stream it shaded
 Last summer

Next year 
It will be firewood

Stacked neatly in the barn

And along the back porch

To warm us for another

Season to come.

Apples on a White Dish

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must

first invent the universe.

Carl Sagan

Red on white, 

Like cardinals against snow,

Apples on a white dish

Shine under green collars 

 And bright halos of sunlight.

So good of God to make 

Such mundane things as fruit

So beautiful to our eyes.

What if all apples were brown

to their cores? 

Orchid in Green

Just when we are certain we have seen everything wonderful 

in the world, God surprises us.

c.e.hollis

Symmetry and design

Too complicated not to have been planned

Constructed by an artist architect;

The orchid on my tabletop

Peeks at me in the afternoon light,

Whispers to me that there is a creator

That he is a person who loves 

Light and hope, 

 Gentleness and strength,

Beauty and truth, 

And especially loves you and me.