Pellicer Creek - “God Knows Us”

 You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? 

You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. 

Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! 

How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.”

Jeremiah 12:1-4

Princess Place Preserve - “Living Signs”

 

God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.”

GENESIS 1:14 (NRSV)

Creekview Trail, Princess Place Preserve - "You have made Summer and Winter"

 

You broke open the fountain and the flood; 

You dried up mighty rivers.

The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;

You have prepared the light and the sun,

You have set all the borders of the earth;

You have made summer and winter.

Psalm 74:15-17 NIV

Hominy Branch Trail, Princess Place Preserve - "In the Shadow of the Almighty"

 He who dwells 

in the shelter of the

Most High

will rest in the shadow

of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1 

Princess Place Preserve - Forgiveness: "Seventy-Seven Times"

 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?  Up to seven times?"  Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Matthew 18:21 NIV

Covered Bridge, Princess Place Preserve - "All Play a Part"

 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we... have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.

Romans 12:4-6 NIV

Thought for the Day:  Each person has a part to play in serving God.

Princess Place Preserve, Oak Trail - "A Grateful Heart"

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1 NRSV

 Thought for the Day:  What a difference gratitude to God can make!

Pellicer Creek - "To See the World in a Grain of Sand"

 

"To see the World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."

By William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Psalm 115:3-4

Our God is in heaven;  he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.

The Winds and Waves Obey Him

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' 

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet!  Be Still!'  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?' 

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this?  Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Mark 4:37-41 NIV

Princess Place Preserve - Letting Go

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Psalm 127:2

Faith is Believing

 

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.  It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed.  Quote by Voltaire

For we live by faith, not by sight. 

2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV

Passing through the Rivers

But now, this is what the Lord says--he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.   When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not burned; the flames will not set you ablaze..."

Isaiah 43:1-2

Thy Word is a Lamp to my feet

 

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psalms 119:105

In the Woods

 In the woods we return to reason and faith.  The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

Renewal of Spring

Spring is here and nature has a rebirth and renewal of new growth, bright colors and perfect skies.

 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.'

Romans 12:2

Things that Cannot be Seen

 

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart."

~Helen Keller

At Pellicer Creek "To Be One with Each Other"

To Be One with Each Other
by George Eliot

"What greater thing is there for two human souls
than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen
each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,
to share with each other in all gladness,
to be one with each other in the
silent unspoken memories?"



 Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), was better known by her pen name George Eliot.  She was an English novelist and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological insight.

She used a male pen name to ensure that her works were taken seriously. Female authors published freely under their own names, but Eliot wanted to ensure that she was not seen as merely a writer of romances.

"Give All to Love"

These pictures are from Princess Park Preserve.  I like to express the beauty of my photos with poems and literary work.  "Give All to Love" is a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson about giving everything to love.  It is also about the death of his wife and he still loved her with all his heart and he shows his love every day.
"Give All to Love" is a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This poem is about giving everything to love. However, it's also about the death of his wife. He speaks of this with the lines "As a self of purer clay, / Tho' her parting dims the day, / Stealing grace from all alive,". However, he still loves her with all his heart. He shows his love every day and obeys his hearts true love for everything around him.

Read more about Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson Analysis & Poem by www.poemofquotes.com

Give All to Love" is a poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This poem is about giving everything to love. However, it's also about the death of his wife. He speaks of this with the lines "As a self of purer clay, / Tho' her parting dims the day, / Stealing grace from all alive,". However, he still loves her with all his heart. He shows his love every day and obeys his hearts true love for everything around him

Read more about Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson Analysis & Poem by www.poemofquotes.com

Give All to Love
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Give all to love;

Obey thy heart;

Friends, kindred, days,

Estate, good-fame,

Plans, credit and the Muse,—

Nothing refuse.

’T is a brave master;

Let it have scope:

Follow it utterly,

Hope beyond hope:

High and more high

It dives into noon,

With wing unspent,

Untold intent:

But it is a god,

Knows its own path

And the outlets of the sky.

It was never for the mean;

It requireth courage stout.

Souls above doubt,

Valor unbending,

It will reward,—

They shall return

More than they were,

And ever ascending.

Leave all for love;

Yet, hear me, yet,

One word more thy heart behoved,

One pulse more of firm endeavor,—

Keep thee to-day,

To-morrow, forever,

Free as an Arab

Of thy beloved.

Cling with life to the maid;

But when the surprise,

First vague shadow of surmise

Flits across her bosom young,

Of a joy apart from thee,

Free be she, fancy-free;

Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem,

Nor the palest rose she flung

From her summer diadem.

Though thou loved her as thyself,

As a self of purer clay,

Though her parting dims the day,

Stealing grace from all alive;

Heartily know,

When half-gods go,   

The gods arrive.

Sunny Days of Winter

  

This is how winter looks at Princess Place Preserve in Flagler County.  Matanzas River is icy blue under the winter sun and the hardwood trees leaves are a golden hue. These pictures were taken in January.  The rest of the country is under snow and ice.

The Dalliance of the Eagles

The Road of the Eagles

 

This is the road that leads to several Eagle nests in Princess Preserve Park of Flagler County.  I saw several young eagles but I did not see any large birds.  I have visited the Eagle site several times and still have not been fortunate to see the larger adults.

Walt Whitman had never seen the bald eagle's courtship ritual called cartwheeling.  He wrote "The Dalliance of the Eagles" based on the description a friend had given him of this extraordinary display. In the poem "The Dalliance of the Eagles" he had a deeper meaning then the courtship of eagles.  It symbolizes that as humans, we are courting with death for the thrill of being and the joy of living. Most of us want something that safe living does not provide. We all want to cartwheel through life uncertain if this will be our very last moment. It gives us living in this moment. It does not mean we should go out and live dangerously, but look deeper to find that which is our deepest longing. Then chase it passionately.


THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES
by Walt Whitman 1880

Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
Skyward in the air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull,
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,
She hers, he his, pursuing.



Whitman is regarded as one of America’s most significant nineteenth century poets. Born on Long Island, Whitman grew up in Brooklyn and received limited formal education. His occupations during his lifetime included printer, schoolteacher, reporter, and editor.  Whitman’s self-published Leaves of Grass was inspired in part by his travels through the American frontier. As the first writer of truly American poetry, Whitman’s legacy endures and he has influenced many poets of the twentieth century.