Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The shadow of the spiritual all around us

A book I go to when I am feeling tedious or soggy-brained from days of rain is Warren Wiersbe’s Preaching and Teaching with Imagination. So after standing on the back deck in the wee hours of morning (three in a row)searching for meteorites that were supposedly streaking across the sky at a rate of fifty per hour, somewhere above the cloud cover that veiled them from me, I was in need of some Wiersbe inspiration.

Although I started with Wiersbe, a quote he used from Oswald Chambers set me off on another track. Here’s how it went: 

O.C— “Learn to associate ideas worthy of God with all that happens in Nature—the sunrises and the sunsets, the sun and the stars, the changing seasons, and your imagination will never be at the mercy of your impulses, but will always be at the service of God,” along with a reminder from Tozer “to perceive in natural things shadows of things spiritual,” reminded me of the photography and poetry of cyber friend, Richard Havenga over at Walk With Father Nature.

Although not a photographer myself, I love how looking through a lens causes you to see wonder all around.


This shot, "After Rain,  reminded me of the joyous praise in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “Pied Beauty.”—“Glory to God for dappled things.”  (See Richard’s own poetic take on this.)
 

And how about walking on water, "Upstream"
Or the powerful silence of Swans on a foggy morning:

 Although Richard has many shots that invite praise, one in particular, symbolized a special moment I had had that morning.

Someone I have labored over in prayer for years, through seemingly impassable situations and wrong turns, sat across from me, awash in God’s light of healing and restoration.For the first time in years, I saw a future and a hope where previously I had hung onto it by faith. 

Persevere in prayer. God is ever-faithful. 

Richard sees it this way in "A Wing and a Prayer"
I saw the Spirit 
fly above the mountians
and placed a prayer
upon its wings.

Now I wait 
in patient silence
to accept with grace
what praying brings.

Many thanks to Richard Havenga for permission to use his lovely works. Hop on over to Walk With Father Nature and be blessed

P.S. I wonder where tomorrow's chapter will lead!

Blessings,
Marcia








5 comments:

  1. love it, Marcia! What a blessing to see His hand in everything!

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  2. Marcia:

    First of all, I thank you deeply for your generous comments about my poetry and nature Photography. I am merely the photographer giving the glory to God (G3). You, your site, and your book have also been a blessing in my life.

    Secondly, I pray everyday, for the Holy Spirit within to guide my words.(Which occurred in my poem "A Wing and a Prayer")

    Thirdly, thank you for the links to "Walk With Father Nature". I hope many of your devoted readers become "Followers" at WWFN.

    Lastly, Mary and I are eager to meet you when we come to visit in September.

    Gratefully,

    Richard Havenga

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful, Marcia,the words as well as the photography. So glad I remembered to sneak inside the door, again.

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