Because He Has Made a Dandelion

'We do not have to travel the world over 

to praise the wonders of His creation.  

We can grow exultant over one wildflower. 

We can find reason to praise Him 

every day of our life because 

He has made a dandelion.'  

Mother Mary Francis PCC, 'Walls Around the World,' Poor Clares, Roswell NM

Photo © N Shuman

In God Alone

N Shuman photo

Nothing Else...

N Shuman photo

Sweet Union

 

'Perfection: is it not a loving, sweet union of the will with that of God?'

St. Vincent de Paul 

Photo 2015 N Shuman

All Things to Beauty

Apparent in His Handiwork

'If things created are so full of loveliness, 

how resplendent with beauty must be the One who made them!

  The wisdom of the Worker is apparent in His handiwork.'  

St. Anthony of Padua

Lilacs photo © 2011 Nancy Shuman

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz

Those Greater Splendors

'Heaven is at present
out of sight,
but in due time,
as snow melts
and discovers what it lay upon,
so will this visible creation
fade away
before those
greater splendors
which are behind it.' 
                            

John Henry Cardinal Newman

 

photos by Nancy Shuman 

A Moment of Grace

Thank You, Lord, for a blush of autumn beauty

photo © 2012 Nancy Shuman

One Golden Burst

I thank God today that, 

just as trees are on the verge of bare,

we are treated to one last golden burst of bright.

Moments of Autumn Grace

Scents of apple and cinnamon fill my house.  The morning was heavy with storms, dark as night.  I savored sounds of rain while it lasted.  Now, not ready to give up a sense of rainwashed, tea-soothed, quilt-warmed coziness, I turn to my favorite music of all time.  

If there were theme music to my life, this would be it.  Why?   I don't exactly know.

I just know that this piece of music somehow finds its way into every corner of my memory.  Into every shadow of my dreams..... 










This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Round Up 

(apples photo by Nancy Shuman)

What to Take to a Potluck

I absolutely love summer.  I love the long, late hours of daylight.  I love fireflies flickering across a darkening yard.  I love densely leafed trees, the sounds of birdsongs, smells of grilling burgers.  

Most of all, I enjoy the social activities of this casual, spontaneous time of year.  Cookouts and picnics and reunions.  Potlucks where everyone brings Their Very Best...

Recently I realized that I have a Very Best to share.  To read about what I think is just right for (but not limited to) potlucks, follow me over to Suscipio (click on this line to get there).  

“The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, and chastity.” (Galatians 5:22)

A Glimpse of Wind

I cannot see wind, but I know when it's around.  I cannot see air, but I am sure of it.  

I spent part of Sunday in a park, snapping pictures of trees and new spring blossoms. Intent upon capturing close-up shots of early dogwoods, I didn't give much thought to what might be above me.  Until I heard the sound of distant laughter. 



Turning to look up, I saw the wind. 

"Bless the Lord,O my soul!  O Lord my God, you are very great! ....who makes the clouds your chariot, who rides on the wings of the wind...."  (Psalm 104:1 & 3) 

(photo N Shuman, 25 March 2012)

A Thousand Dimensions

I fell in love with the sea when I was seventeen.  Never mind that I'd never laid eyes on it.  Never mind that I was growing up in a landlocked American state, far from salty breezes.  I imagined crashing waves and windswept dunes and oh, such a wonderful smell!  

The first time I saw the ocean, that day when I was hit with the full impact of sounds and scents and gusts of wind for which I had only been partially prepared, I knew I'd had no way beforehand of picturing the scene spread out in three dimensions before me.  The constant roll of waves, that overpowering ROAR, the feel of feet being sucked down into wet sand.  Even though I'd dreamed of it and actually in some way loved it, there was no way I could have envisioned the totality of it all.  

Everything I'd imagined about the sea was true.  The only shock was in discovering how much MORE there was to it.  The three-dimensionality of it.  The engagement of senses I'd never thought would be called into service. 

Sometimes I compare my love of the sea to love of God.  Never having seen Him, I love Him.  I have true ideas of Him, and through His grace I can actually know Him.  Yet there is no way I can know Him in His fullness until I see Him face to face.  I cannot even envision such Totality, and I suspect such vision would overwhelm a human still in the flesh. 

Will there be, in eternity, sounds beyond anything we've ever heard here?  Colors not detectable to eyes of flesh?  A thousand dimensions spread before us, in every taste and shade, in every tone and depth, in every texture of Love.... ?

"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him."  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

this weekend, I missed....

It's a good thing I don't believe in 'fate,' lest I be accused of tempting it.  It is the providence of God that I believe in - therefore I can safely tell you that this weekend I missed snow.  

It had been promised (the snow), just as it had a number of times this season.  I was awaiting a whirling white visitation, splendidly cold, one to kiss my lips numb and leave them frozen.  Not the sort of thing one normally looks forward to, I admit, unless the season has been uncannily mild.  Or unless one happens to be a coziness addict - an appreciator of warm teas and soft blankets and the homey sense of well being that comes with thawing toes.

At this time of year, I normally feel starved for springtime. I grow weary of frozen air.  I get distressed by hazardous road conditions and threatened safety and cancelled plans.  But I do enjoy finding refuge from chill.  I like to look out from a sheltering house upon a world gone white.  

I hope I won't be writing soon to say there's been a drastic change.  But this weekend, I missed snow.  

(photo © 2010 N Shuman)

a rose in winter

France, April 1622: "Plant Jesus Christ crucified in your heart, and all the crosses of this world will seem to be roses."  (letter of St. Francis de Sales)

"The sun looks at a rose, along with a thousand million other flowers, just as much as if it looked upon the rose alone. And God, though He loves a countless number of other souls, does not pour out His love upon one soul less than if He loved that soul alone..."  (St. Francis de Sales)

A Tiny Ode to Snow

I am enchanted by snow when it softens a city.  It's like the gentleness of God blanketing all that is sharp and angular, and somehow this is magical to me.  Maybe that's because, in grade school, I rode the city bus twice a day.  The bus made stops and starts along Main Street, its doors whooshing open to let in soggy passengers toting briefcases and shopping bags.  I could hear sighs of relief as these weary ones fell into seats; they seemed grateful to be able to let chilled bones thaw.  I watched the snow-shrouded city roll by the windows; all was fresh and white and new and clean.

I don’t spend time on buses anymore.  But I still notice snow, making a decision to savor its sparkles even when it interrupts my plans. I allow it to decorate my life.  I sit beside a window for prayer time.  I thank God for pink and blue and amber sprinkles under streetlights.  I grab a camera and stick head (if not sliding feet) out the front door.  I appreciate the hush of city sounds.

Snow is, to me, the gentleness of God trumping the clamor of man.  In the darkest months of the year, the ones in which we might feel starved for light - that's when snow comes to brighten our paths.

And if it’s there, I may as well enjoy the view.

“Praise the Lord... fire and hail, snow and mist, storm winds that fulfill His word…”  (Psalm 148:7-8)

(photo © Nancy Shuman)

Sing!

"Song is the leap of mind in the eternal, breaking out into sound."  (St. Thomas Aquinas)

"Sing to Him, sing His praise, proclaim all His wondrous deeds.." (Psalm 105:2) 

"Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and inspired songs."  (Ephesians 5:19)

"To sing is the work of a lover."  (St. Augustine)

(photo © Nancy Shuman)

a time for waiting

"Worldlings... who live according to the ways of earth, as soon as they have some good thought or some idea that seems to them worthy of being esteemed... are never at rest till they have exhibited it and made it known to everyone they meet.  Wherein they run the same risk as the trees which are very early in sending out their leaves.. for if, perchance, the frost surprises them, they perish and bear no fruit."  (St. Francis de Sales).  

"It is owing to His favor that salvation is yours through faith.  This is not your own doing, it is God's gift.  Neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished, so let no one pride himself on it.  We are truly His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance."  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

(photo © Nancy Shuman) 

and so we choose life

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I consecrated you...."  (Jeremiah 1:5)  

"My frame was not hidden from You when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth."  (Psalm 139:15)

"Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live..."  (Deuteronomy 30:19)

A Flower's Invitation

"Listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers, the trees, the shrubs, the sky, and the whole world.  Notice how they preach to you a sermon full of love, of praise of God, and how they invite you to glorify the sublimity of that sovereign Artist Who has given them being."  (St. Paul of the Cross)



photo © N Shuman