Serendipity Sunday: God With Us...

Serendipity: Making a delightful and unexpected discovery

"He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you take refuge: His truth shall be your shield (the One who protects you) and buckler(the One who supports you)."

~Psalm 91:4~
This weeks delightful discovery is the following poem by Joseph Beaumont (1615-1699).

GOD WITH US

Fountain of sweets! eternal Dove!
Which leav'st thy glorious perch above,
And hovering down, *vouchsafet thus
To make thy nest below with us.

Soft as thy feathers, may
We find thy love to us today;
And in the shelter of thy wing
Obtain thy leave and grace to sing.

*to bestow a privilege upon

Praying your day is filled with peace, rest, and praise.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

*photos ~ mourning doves visiting Quill Cottage this past spring

A New Years Blessing for You.....

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first page is New Year's day."

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce~

Dear Readers,

Today marks the beginning of a new year, "...a blank calendar full of endless possibilities: three hundred sixty-five new mornings and evenings, fifty-two fresh weeks, four new seasons with their cherished pastimes, and another twelve months full of holidays and ample opportunities for memory-making." (Sarah Ban Breathnach~Victorian Family Celebrations, page 50)

Each year is broken up into four distinct seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each is filled with traditional pastimes. These seasons can be likened to the seasons we pass through in life. In Springtime things begin to bloom and blossom, life is abundant and full, beauty abounds, and anticipation reigns in this season of new birth. In Summertime when things heat up, the days seem long, we begin to swelter a bit in this growing season. Autumn brings freshening breezes, a riot of color, a time to harvest, and is a resting season. Winter brings a chill to the air, the landscape gets a little bleak, we huddle and cuddle, in this season of waiting. None of these seasons last that long and one blends into the other with familiar regularity.

Have you ever noticed the order they were placed in? Spring ~ a time of hope and renewal gives way to Summer ~ where things heat up and are a little harder to bear gives way to Autumn ~ where you catch a little break from the heat which gives way to Winter ~ where things can get pretty cold and harsh or look pretty bleak and then...the cycle begins again. I think this was done with very intentional planning from a loving Father who wanted us to see the seasons of life and learn its lessons through the physical example of the changing seasons of our environment.

No matter what season you find yourself in this new year, I pray that it will be a season where you will sense God right there with you, covering you with His protection, lavishing upon you His affection, caring for your every need, bringing you blessings beyond measure, healing up your broken places, encouraging you to carry on, inspiring you to new heights, filling you with joy, holding your hand when things get tough, and carrying you over the places that get rough. May He open your heart and eyes to the blessings and the beauty of each new season of your life. God's best blessings to you all, my dear blog friends!

THROUGH THE YEAR
by Julian S. Cutler

God be with you in the SpringtimeWhen the violets unfold,
And the buttercups and cowslips
Fill the fields with yellow gold;
In the time of apple blossoms,
When the happy bluebirds sing,
Filling all the world with gladness~
God be with you in the Spring!

God be with you in the Summer,When the sweet June roses blow,
When the bobolinks are laughing
And the brooks with music flow;
When the fields are white with daisies
And the days are glad and long~
God be with you in the Summer,
Filling your world with song.

God be with you in the Autumn,When the birds and flowers have fled,
And long the woodland pathways
Leaves are falling, gold and red;
When Summer lies behind you,
In the evening of the year~
God be with you in the Autumn,
Then to fill your heart with cheer.

God be with you in the Winter,When the snow lies deep and white,
When the sleeping fields are silent
And the stars gleam cold and bright.
When the hand and heart are tired
With life's long and weary quest~
God be with you in the Winter,
Just to guide you into rest.

New Years blessings to you all,
Miss Sandy

P.S. I will be taking a short break over the next few days and will return sometime next week. As with all new years comes a time of prayer, planning, preparation, evaluation, and a setting down of goals. This is what I will be doing over the next few days. I'll see you soon!

Words and Birds Converge....

What fuels your imagination? What fires up your creativity? For me in recent weeks it has been a mixture of the written word and simple stones like these...

I decided to step into a creative realm foreign to me and use mixed media art as an illustration for a poem I wrote. I have never done this before and found it to be a fun if not somewhat frustrating challenge. The overall project was fun but getting a stone head attached to soft sculpted body was maddening! Handy hubby had a hand in this project also as he built the frame to my specifications and did a wonderful job!

This piece is a play on words and the writing process that compares them to birds. This stone sparked my imagination and took it on a flight of fancy when I found it. Immediately I knew this was a Shakespearean ravens head and I could see him strutting his way across a stage much as words do across a page. Without further ado, I give you, "WORDS".

(click on images to enlarge for better viewing)

My thoughts are tumbling,
Words are jumbling,
Weaving through my mind.All a swirl,
They twist and twirl,
A clear thought I cannot find.Where do these words,
Like little birds,
Come from?

Upon wings they explore,
Dip and soar,
As they go and come.

They stop and rest,
In mind’s nest,
Waiting to hatch.

They come of age,
In gilded cage,
Seeking out the latch.

Gliding unfettered,
Boldly lettered,
They flit upon the page.

The words dart and dance,
And then they prance,
Across their clean white stage.

They take flight,
With all their might,
As they wing their way to freedom.

Words written,
With them I am smitten,
Oh, how I love to release them!

May you too find your muse and create something beautiful this weekend!

Blessings,

Miss Sandy