A roost at twilight

A great picture from last night, under the beautiful canopy of Florida winter sky: a flock of birds roosting, in high-vaulted cathedral -- painted with prime colors from God's palette! Enjoy!

Wild and beautiful

Persist, endure, follow, watch

To be recognized and accepted by a peregrine you must wear the same clothes, travel by the same way, perform actions in the same order. Like all birds, it fears the unpredictable. Enter and leave the same fields at the same time each day, soothe the hawk from its wildness by a ritual of behavior as invariable as its own. Hood the glare of the eyes, hide the white tremor of the hands, shade the stark reflecting face, assume the stillness of a tree.

A peregrine fears nothing he can see clearly and far off. Approach him across open ground with a steady unfaltering movement. Let your shape grow in size but do not alter its outline. Never hide yourself unless concealment is complete. Be alone. Shun the furtive oddity of man, cringe from the hostile eyes of farms. Learn to fear. To share fear is the greatest bond of all. The hunter must become the thing he hunts. What is, is now, and must have the quivering intensity of an arrow thudding into a tree. Yesterday is dim and monochrome. A week ago you were not born. Persist, endure, follow, watch.

J.A. Baker, The Peregrine

Oaks and winter fields

A glimpse of the Pennsylvania winter fields near one of my father's favorite hunting spots. Here is a classic study of sturdy oaks and snow-textured fields. Very cold! Very beautiful, too: The grey-blue of the sky, the sky-tinted snow, the russet oak leaves stubbornly holding on in the winter wind, browned grass and corn stubble, faithful evergreens on distant hill, snow-covered track leading into the waiting wonder... Enjoy!

Thanksgiving vista: majesty and sovereignty

Here's a pic from last year's Thanksgiving -- high on a hill overlooking a Pennsylvania town: the clouds are high, the blue varied and layered, the misty landscape floating into the distance like an ocean, melting into the distant sky: painted majesty! It's actually a nice meditation point for Christ the King verses, so here you go! Look at the pic and then let these verses flow over your spirit!

He is above principality and power

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

All things created in Him; He is above all: Walk worthy

Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Alleluia!

Selah.

A deepening sky and an evening star

On my way to a wedding Saturday, I had to stop and admire the sky. The blue was deepening high, with the evening stars... and away on the horizon a pink glow held the blue at bay, creating stunning visuals and relief of natural Florida landscape. There is so much here: the texture and grandeur of the sky, deep blue flowing to lighter blue, then pink, sky studded with early stars yet still glowing with power of sun... palms, scrubs, oak and Spanish Moss. Nice, no? Enjoy!

October painting: trees, field & sky

Here is a picture taken in October of last year -- the sunlight on the autumn trees, the phenomenal clouds with their rare blue-scale coloration and painted texture, and shadowed field of grey and dusky purple... it was an amazing moment: autumn glory! Enjoy!

A meditation of a pink rose

Here is a visual key for your devotional thoughts: look at this pink rose in silence, bow your head, pray, and consider what God speaks to you through this rose. God bless you!

Selah.