Pollen

Pollen.  It makes my eyes water and reduces the enjoyment of several varieties of blooming plants.  Yet so vital for the transmission of life.

This shot was taken with a macro lens (no magnification) and shows a surprising amount of detail of the pollen just waiting to be drawn off by a circulating bee.  Always amazed at the intricacy of the Creation.

It's Coming!

The time of the singing of birds is come! (Song 2:12)

The robins have arrived and I even saw a beautiful cardinal yesterday, though not in enough light to capture with a lens.  Winter is making a feeble attempt to reassert itself but the die is cast.  Spring is coming!

Full disclosure: this was shot last year.  We don't have leaves sprouting quite yet!

Lower Lights

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matt. 5:16)

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy from His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
For to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled, loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights, along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights, along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother, some poor sailor tempest tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor, in the darkness may be lost.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
Trying now to make the harbor, some poor sailor may be lost.

"Let the Lower Lights Be Burning" (Philip P. Bliss)

Polydactyly

The giant of Gath had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, 24 in all (II Sam. 21:20).  Our Nelson had something similar with his feet at birth, a condition known as polydactyly.  Though corrected as a toddler, the great toe on the right foot had a mind of its own.  He goes in for surgery today--please pray for him.

He's more of a David than a Goliath, truth be told.

But Grass

"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:" (I Pet. 1:24)

Surely we are but grass and our lives fade away.  Yet there are promises to us if we simply trust day by day.

"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matt. 6:30)

Slip

The way my mind works, I can't help noticing the dual usage of the word in this shot.  And I wonder if this verse doesn't capture a usage that is somewhere between the two:

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." (Heb. 2:1)

Mates for Life

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (Eph. 5:31)

Twenty-five years ago today the engagement of Cindy Herrmann and Brad Eisenmann was announced.  Words fail to describe the blessings experienced since then.  Truly my very best and dearest friend.

Think Spring!

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; (Song 2:11-12)


Well, we can hope, can't we?  It was 60 degrees last Friday and today we have a winter storm advisory promising 3-7" of snow.  Nevertheless, winter's back is broken and spring is inevitable. We're already enjoying 11 hours of daylight each day and gaining more rapidly as the vernal equinox approaches!

He Sends His Love

On the wings of a snow-white dove,
He sends His pure sweet love,
A sign from above,
On the wings of a dove.

When troubles surround us,
When evils come;
The body grows weak
The spirit grows numb;
When these things beset us,
He doesn't forget us;
He sends down His love,
On the wings of a dove.

Wings of a Dove, song/lyrics by Robert B. Ferguson

(Yes, I know that's a seagull!)

Sydney

I've never been to Sydney, though I'd love to go.  And I've never asked this young lady or her parents how she got her name.  She's "Syd" to us and a part of our family having watched her grow up and then having the blessing of her living with us last summer.

I've always liked this snapshot, caught at a relaxed moment rather by chance than by artfulness.