Finis~

“For last year's words

 belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."

T.S. Eliot

*  *  *

"Any new beginning

 is forged from 

the shards of the past,

 not from the

 abandonment of the past."

Craig D. Lounsbrough

*  *  *

Juniper

"The Juniper tree's name is derived

 from the Latin word juniperus.

 In Latin, juniperus is a combination

 of the word junio, which means young,

 and parere, to produce,

 hence youth producing,

 or evergreen."

Wikipedia

*  *  *

 may the New Year

bring you peace and joy

thank you for your visits here

*  *  * 

as this chapter comes to a close

blessings, always blessings

finis

Silent Night ~

may the peace

of His coming keep

and guard your heart always

wishing you a

 most blessed Christmas

*  *  *

"The heart of the giver

makes the gift dear and precious."

Martin Luther

Advent IV ~

"Our eyes are at fault, that is all.

 God is in the manger,

 wealth in poverty,

 light in darkness,

 succor in abandonment.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God Is In the Manger

*  *  *

And this shall be a sign to you;

 You shall find the babe

 wrapped in swaddling clothes,

 lying in a manger.

Luke 2:12

*  *  *

“In total reality, he comes in the form of the beggar,

 of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, 

asking for help.

 He confronts you in every person that you meet.

 As long as there are people,

 Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor,

 as the one through whom God calls you,

 speaks to you, makes demands on you.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

Advent III ~

"So, Advent is not waiting on tiptoe for Santa Claus to appear.

 It is gradually allowing ourselves to remember

 what unfathomable hope there emerges

 in God’s identifying with the human realm

 so fully that it embraces and reverses

 even the loss of hope."

Laurence Freeman

*  *  *

"You keep us waiting.

 You, the God of all time, want us to wait.

 For the right time in which to discover

 Who we are, where we are to go,

 Who will be be with us,

 and what we must do.

 So thank you ...

 for the waiting time."

John Bell

*  *  *

Wait on the LORD:

 be of good courage,

 and he shall strengthen your heart:

 wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

Advent II ~

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes,

and is completely dependent on the fact

that the door of freedom has to be

 opened from the outside,

 is not a bad picture

 of Advent.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer

*  *  *

"…to open blind eyes,

 to bring out prisoners from the dungeon

 and those who dwell in darkness from the prison. "

portions of Isaiah 42:1-8

you can read it in its entirety

here

*  *  *

comments will be off

during Advent

thank you for stopping by

blessings as you prepare for His coming

Advent 1 ~

“The season of Advent

 means there is something on the horizon

 the likes of which we have never seen before.

What is possible is to not see it,

 to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you.

 And you begin to grasp what it was you missed,

 like Moses in the cleft of the rock,

 watching God’s [back] fade in the distance.

 So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.

 There will be time enough for running.

 For rushing. For worrying.

 For pushing.

 For now, stay.

 Wait.

 Something is on the horizon.”
Jan L. Richardson

 Night Visions:

 Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

*  *  *

comments will be off

during Advent

thank you for stopping by

blessings as you prepare for His coming

Thanks-Giving ~

"There is something about the presence of a cat...

 that seems to take the bite out of being alone."

 Louis J. Camuti

*  *  *

Wishing you and yours a wonderful

time of Thanks-Giving 

in the days ahead

* * *

the pace will continue to

 be quiet here as

 we move

 into the season

 of

Advent

which you can

 read about

here

Quietude ~

"The snow has quietness in it."

Anne Sexton

*  *  *

 quietude |ˈkwīəˌt(y)oōd|
noun
a state of stillness, calmness, and quiet

 in a person or place

 

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French quiétude

 or medieval Latin quietudo,

 from Latin quietus ‘quiet.’

dictionary

 *  *  *

it's a light snow

a hint of things to come

 

Lamplight ~

"May it be a light to you in dark places,

when all other lights go out."

J.R.R. Tolkien

*  *  *

Your word is a lamp to my feet,

 and a light to my path.

 Psalm 119:105

*  *  *

the days grow shorter

yet His word gives light

Impermanence ~

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree."

Emily Bronte

*  *  *

the poem in its entirety

can be found

here 

*  *  *

wishing you a new

 month of thanks-giving

as we bid farewell

to October

 *  *  *

O give thanks unto the LORD,

 for [he is] good:

 for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

Psalm 107:1

Seated ~

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin,

 and have it all to myself,

 than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” 

Henry David Thoreau

*  *  *

 preparing to rest

awhile

*  *  *

I do appreciate all of you

who stop by and the 

comments that you share

Stonecrop Plant ~

this particular sedum

(stonecrop plant)

is named

Autumn Joy

the color intensifies

as the days grow shorter

the first photo was taken September 14

the last two were taken October 13

*  *  *

"One of the sanest, surest, and most

generous joys of life comes from being

happy over the good fortune of others."

Robert A. Heinlein

*  *  *

 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren,

 whenever you are enveloped in or encounter

 trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

Be assured and understand

 that the trial and proving of your faith

 bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

James 1:2-3

*  *  *

"Stonecrop" is from the Middle English and literally means

 "sprouting from the stone,"

 a reference to its commonly being seen

 growing amongst stones 

(which provide the drainage that stonecrop plants crave). 

from link above

Autumn Gold ~

"Autumn carries more gold in

its pocket than all the other seasons."

Jim Bishop

*  *  *

overhead & underfoot
it's a golden time of year

harvest ~

have a wonderful

weekend

*  *  *

In Sight Or Out Of Sight ~

“They might not need me; but they might.
I'll let my head be just in sight;
A smile as small as mine might be
Precisely their necessity.” 

Emily Dickinson

*  *  *

my little grandson

on a chilly autumn day

*  *  *

both of my grandsons bring

smiles to my face

Lanterns ~

it's been a good year for

Physalis alkekengi

more commonly known as

Chinese Lanterns

you can read more about them

here

*  *  *

"I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”

Emily Dickinson

 

 

Vestiges & Harbingers ~

vestiges

 *  *  *

harbingers

everywhere a sign

of what was

and what is to come

*  *  *

"Nature to a saint is sacramental.

 If we are children of God,

 we have a tremendous treasure in Nature.

 In every wind that blows,

 in every night and day of the year,

 in every sign of the sky,

 in every blossoming

 and in every withering of the earth,

 there is a real coming of God to us

 if we will simply use our

 starved imagination to realize it."

Oswald Chambers

Stand Therefore ~

(a little click will enlarge the photo)
a wind has blown the rain away and blown
the sky away and all the leaves away,
and the trees stand.  I think I too have known
autumn too long
ee cummings

*  *  *
they are falling fast
yet many remain
seasons change
*  *  *

The Here And Now ~

the blue was just that blue

the gold that gold

yesterday afternoon

the brilliance

 shone

*  *  *

"I want to remember

to let myself be intoxicated

 in the present

 - the here and now -

 so I can see the beauty

 right in front of me."

 Matt Knisely

 Framing Faith

*  *  *

Seasons Meeting ~

they touch

on the edge of the woods

sharing their color and light

summer and autumn moments

*  *  *

It is the summer's great last heat,
It is the fall's first chill: They meet.
Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

*  *  *

the equinox

here