Praise

We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade,
 the presence of God.
 The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito.

C.S. Lewis

You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace:

 the mountains and the hills will break forth

 before you into singing,

 and all the trees of the field will clap—will clap their hands.

 Isaiah 55:12

Praise

by Elece Hollis

 If I could sing like a violet, offer incense like a rose, 

Dance before God in the wind like a daffodil,
Bless God like a hyacinth does,

If I could praise.

If I could whisper prayers like the dandelions

 Trust my seeds to His wind, if I could worship

So well as these in the spring grasses,

If I could praise.

If I could twirl like a tulip

Bow like a pearl peony, follow his light like a sunflower,

Sing like a blossoming tree to my creator

If I could praise.

I would find my heart content.

©2014 Elece Hollis , author of Meet God in the Morning, Poems from the Heart of Prayer,

 a devotional book with poems by Helen Steiner Rice. Find this book.

Out of Darkness

Joy is to behold God in everything.

Julian of Norwich

Out of Darkness

 By Elece Hollis

Out of the brown and sodden earth springs spring 

To surprise us again

Though we knew she was coming

 We knew and we waited and we thought ourselves

Watching!

 Spring came one morning—sprouted up

Surprised us yet again

With purple crocus and yellow daffodils dancing

How from brown come such joyful colors—yet they come

 Laughing!

 God created Adam from the dirt—now from the soil

Surprises us again

He mixes dirt with sunlight and rain 

 To wake our hearts and souls from winter's drear and set us

Singing!

Read Elece's devotional book for Springtime inspiration.

 Click on the sentence above to find a copy to buy.

Winter Songs

And the night shall be filled with music,

And the cares that infest the day, 

Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,

 And as silently steal away.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Winter Songs

When winter days are cold and drear,

Listen to me, Friend so dear,

Listen well and you will hear

The winter's sweet sweet music.

Winter's cold sings spring's bright tale

A song of the sun and thawing dale

Which comes as promised—without fail

Now can't you hear that music?

Winter's hymn is of summer bright

When heat clings even into the night

And children run and fly a kite,

These tunes are in winter's music.

Winter's chorus sings autumn days

When fireflies flit and bonfires blaze

And crimson leaves a'falling raise

The melody of winter's music.

Winter's ballad is in the wind's cry

Lifting and falling as days pass by,

Afternoon shadows—the night's lullaby

Notes of the year's fairest music.

©Elece Hollis 2015

This book of poems by Helen Steiner Rice includes devotionals written by Elece Hollis.
Try this source for a copy of Elece's book.

In the Winter of the Soul

"He who lives in hope dances without a fiddle."

Unknown

In the winter of the soul

Reach from your cold room toward a window

Reach toward a cracked door

Reach forward, reach outside that room

To a warm and sun-filled place beyond yourself

In the winter of the soul

Reach—pull—climb out of the dark places

Stretch to the light—to help—to hope

Look out, look up to the source of all comfort,

And love will shine in on you, and you will grow.

We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast...

(From Hebrews 6:18-19  KJV)

Let My Words

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

This is my resolve for the New Year and certainly my resolve for the rest of my days here in this earth. If my words can be pleasing  to God, I will know that I have learned to control my whole self. And wouldn't that be wonderful? Yet, I am like the disciple who found that he did things he wished he hadn't and he didn't do what he knew he should. We are so often our own worst enemies. 

Jesus said true things, many hard things, words that were filled with love, but still said what his friends and family, and everyone he had contact with needed most to hear. I want to be able to say what is true and also what helps others, what is kind and what inspires and what gives hope. I want to speak words that are positive and encouraging and words that will bless those around me.

Listen to Fernando sing this beautiful song.


My Words

Words I speak I can't unsay;
Deeds I do I can't erase
I pray that God will have success
In teaching me true godliness
I cringe to think that words I've spoken
Might leave a heart all bruised or broken
Train me, Lord—with bridle and bit
To only speak words truly fit
For your ears—words clean and strong
Words that bless you like a song.

What Color?

What man has written man may read; 

But God fills every root and seed 

With cryptic words, too strangely set

For mortals to decipher yet. 

CHARLES DALMON

What Color?

by Elece Hollis

Some colors we cannot define.

Here is blue. No red, maybe purple?

 There is gold of light and white 

Color bleeds through

Layers itself, bunches up

To make it's heart stronger,

Then shies back like
A young girl showing Daddy her new dress

November hydrangea

Tinged with wine and buttoned with sky

Lined with indigo 

Streaked and speckled with snow white 

Back-lit with orange and brown and green

Color not waiting to be named,

 But changing every second 

With the song of the autumn wind,

The warm caress of afternoon sunlight,

 The cold touch of night's hand,

 The frosty breath of 

Morning.

©2014 Elece Hollis

Read Elece's book for inspiration every morning.

 Click on the previous sentence to find a source and order your copy.

Come See!

Come See!

By Elece Hollis

Come see—come join in the song!

All earth sings praise to the Creator

Who has from time immemorial 

Raised His hand and created the seed,

The tree, the leaf, the bud, the flower

Anew each day—fresh and beautiful,

Bright and color-filled, light-kissed, and sweet-scented

Again and again—yet never has His paintbrush

Failed to make men and angels

Gasp and sigh in wonder

At His creations. 

 Come now—join in the song!

 If we be faithless, yet He remains faithful, because

 He cannot deny Himself.

2 Timothy 3:13

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness,

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Thomas O. Chisholm 1866–1960

Make Music

 "One ought, every day at least, to hear 
a little song, to read a good poem, to see 
a fine picture, and if it were at all possible,
 to speak a few reasonable words." 

Johann Wolfgang  Von Goethe

Make Music

by Elece Hollis

Make music wherever you go;

That's generosity.

Tap a rhythm—start the beat;

That's leadership.

Hum and strum a melody;

That's encouragement.

Laugh at false starts and off key notes;

That's grace.

Sing the words out loud and bold;

That's a gift to the world.

"Then those who sing,
 as well as those who play the flutes, shall say,
 'All my springs of joy are in you.'"

 Psalm 87:7

Click here to buy this book from Amazon

How to buy an e-copy of Elece's book

A Thousand Voices

Earth with her thousand voices, praises God. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Oh beautiful sweet scented roses

Unfurling after a rain,

At the first glimpse of overdue sunshine,

At the soft breathe of God on the wind.

Your petals, white as summer clouds,

With freckles of pink-pinpoint-pearled

You lift to dance and sing the praises

Of the artist who paints our world. 

©2014 Elece Hollis  Find a copy with this link:  Limitless Grace .