Snippets and Snatches

 I rest in peace, O Father,

Your hands are holding me.

All is by You directed,

You lead me tenderly.

I rest in You, safe hidden,

O Father mine, most dear;

In every care and sorrow

Deep peace may I find here.

I rest upon Your bosom,

Your heart beats there for me.

It knows full well each suffering,

And plumbs each misery.

I know that You directed

All that will come to me,

Each pain You give me serving

My soul’s true destiny.

My heart in fear or sorrow

May dwell in quietness.

I trust in Your will wholly

And that is blessedness.

by Sister Basilea Schlink

“Dandelions” acrylics

Spring Fever…my favorite seasonal malady that has me itching for beach walks and garden tours, neither of which I have embarked on just yet.  It is an early spring with azaleas, dandelions, dogwoods, and yellow-green leaf buds bursting forth in full color everywhere in this southern landscape.  I imagine God, the Master Artist, with His brush and palette of spring colors (very different from the autumn palette) splashing colors from the heavens in joyfully wild Jackson Pollack style.  The yellow green pollen dust falling vaporously like magic fairy dust from His pastels brings the sleeping earth to life and has some people sneezing and others complaining because their cars are dirty.  Yes, I am one of the latter who wasted fifty bucks at the car wash a few weeks ago (well, I did get the interior thoroughly cleaned so it wasn’t a total waste of money) but I am trying to see this phenomenon for the gift it is to the world, announcing the arrival of spring and new life!  Inspiration stirs within after the cold silence of winter.  May I shed my own deadness to embrace the glories of spring with a renewed and grateful heart that even appreciates the beauty of the commonplace dandelion, a nuisance of a weed to be eradicated for most, but also a gift of tiny suns shining like gold from the earth.