Ending 2021

As another year was drawing to a close, we spent some time in Northern Arizona.  It snowed almost the entire time.  If you look close in some of the photos, you will see the mountains.  You can see the snowflakes as they fall, too.

The gazebo at night

Before the Paling of the Stars

 

Before the paling of the stars,
Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cock crow,
Jesus Christ was born:
Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world his hands had made
Born a stranger.

Priest and king lay fast asleep
In Jerusalem;
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem;
Saint and angel, ox and ass**,
Kept a watch together
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.

Jesus on his mother’s breast
In the stable cold,
Spotless lamb of God was He,
Shepherd of the fold:
Let us kneel with Mary maid,
With Joseph laudatory*,
With saint and angel, ox and ass**,
To hail the King of Glory.
--Christina Rosetti, 1912

*In the original poem, "bent and hoary", with the idea that Joseph was older, and this was his second marriage, coming out of traditions not in the Bible that Mary was always a Virgin and never had biological children. Christians who hold this view, namely Roman Catholics and some Anglicans, interpret New Testament references of Jesus' brothers and sisters as being half-siblings from a possible 1st marriage of Joseph.  There is no actual Biblical data to support this.  Rosetti was a "High Church Anglican"

** Ox & Ass--  see the notes on this Christmas poem:  Here Between Ass & Oxen Mild  

Lakes & Rivers

We took a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona this fall.  Yes, this, too is Arizona.  (It's not all desert and the large, branching saguaro cacti.  BTW, AZ is the only state in the US where those cacti grow.)  Here are some photos of Big Lake in the White Mountains (near Greer) and the Little Colorado River near Springerville.   

There are other blog postings, as noted, with some of the autumnal plant life from this trip.

There is related Biblical poetry woven throughout the various postings.

Enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans reading this. Blessed fall season to the rest of my Northern Hemisphere friends reading this!

[Yahweh says]:

"I will open rivers on the bare heights

And springs within the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water

And dry lands springs of water."  Isaiah 41:18

[Part "deux"]

See, there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God, the dwelling places of the Most High.  Psalm 46:4

Then [the angel] showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb... On each side of the river was the Tree of Life... No longer will there be any curse... they [the people of God] will see His Face...  from Revelation chapter 22, a vision of heaven.

 

Plant Life in Arizona Mountains

     This fall, we took a trip to the White Mountains in Arizona.  (see other posts from this time) For those of you not familiar with the many micro-climates across the state, these pictures might surprise you.

     One venture was to the Little Colorado River, just outside Springerville. It was wet enough there to see poison ivy, a rarity in the southwest.  The autumnal colors were so spectacular, even the poison ivy had fall colors!  

    Another loop took us through forest roads and to Big Lake.  It was in this area that the one bluebell was photographed.  Interesting what is still blooming when the snap of real cold has triggered foliage change on other plants and trees.

     Biblical poetry is woven throughout, related to the photos.

Enjoy!

 Currant bushes and foliage. These grow well in the middle elevations of the southwest (4000-5000'). Above, shown with some fruit. Below, shown with brighter foliage in other places along the Little Colorado.

Poison ivy with some of that currant foliage and some green foliage from wild roses (see below)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time"  Ecclesiastes 3:11a  Even the poison ivy is decked out for fall.  Here it is shown with a tree/shrub, still green, that seems to be in the dogwood family.

Something from the dogwood family?  Notice the veins running near lengthwise, father than out to the "sides" of the leaves.  Hard to place exactly, due to purple berries, but there are western dogwood varieties.

A lot of the berries and fruit on these plants is a great reminder of a thought found in the Book of James:  Be patient, then, brothers [and sisters], until the Lord's coming.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early [spring] and the late [autumnal] rains.  James 5:7

Wild roses and rose hips, the name for rose "fruit."  Roses are in the same family as cherries, apples, etc.   In mid to the start of high elevations of the southwest, especially where it's wetter, wild roses grow in beauty.  They look a lot like what are called "old roses", the first domestic forms of roses.

Thistles.  Beautiful, but check out the sharp spikes on the leaves.  A real reminder of when God cursed the earth because of humans' first sin, in Genesis 3:18:  "Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, yet you shall eat the plants of the field."  Fun fact-- artichokes are related to thistles, and their plants look like giant thistles!  (see also my much earlier posting by Martin Luther on his thoughts on the original creation, the curse, and the new creation.  he speaks of thistles)

 

Late bluebell, at Big Lake

Trees in Autumn

 As mentioned in other postings from this date, we recently took a trip to the White Mountains, in the far eastern part of Arizona, near New Mexico.  A different look for AZ, for those of you not familiar with the state, right?  Here is some fall foliage on the trees, some with evergreen mixed in. The colorful trees are quaking aspens, so named because their leaves shimmer at the slightest gust of breeze. They are a poplar, related to cottonwoods and Eurasian poplars.  Regarding evergreens, the elevation was high enough in spots to see Douglas-fir and true fir trees. I think there was some spruce around, but we didn't get photographs.

One of the travel loops took us to through National Forest and on to Big Lake, near Greer.  (see the other postings of this date) 

There is related Biblical poetry woven throughout.  Enjoy your fall, assuming you're in the Northern Hemisphere.  If not, enjoy your spring!  😉

In a high meadow, near some mountain tops in the White Mountains.  If you look closely, you see fire damage, which allowed aspens to grow.  Fire, though destructive and scary, is also "purifying."  It clears out the brush, which allows aspens to grow.  Aspens will not grow in the shade and requires these periodic clear-outs.  Then the aspens' root system anchors things so that erosion in minimized and other plant life can return.  

 

How long, O Yahweh? 

Will You hide Yourself forever?

How long will Your wrath burn like fire?  Psalm 89:46

 

[After the Flood, Yahweh said to Noah]:

"Through all the days of the earth,

Seedtime and Harvest,

Cold and Heat,

Summer and Winter,

Day and night

Will not 'take a sabbatical.' "  Genesis 8:22

Notice the rare red foliage on these aspens, near Big Lake, as above, on the way into the lake.  Typically, the foliage only turns a bright, golden yellow.  Some soils in isolated micro-environments allow the leaves to turn somewhat reddish.

[Yahweh says]:

"[The unfaithful] do not say in their heart:

'Let  us fear Yahweh our God,

Who gives rain in its season,

Both the autumn rain and the spring rain,

Who keeps for us 

The weeks appointed for harvest.' "  Jeremiah 5:24

 

  Be patient, then, brothers [and sisters], until the Lord's coming.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early [spring] and the late [autumnal] rains.  James 5:7 

 

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He  has also put eternity into [humanity's] heart, yet so that [a person] cannot figure out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

Autumn Violets

 

Keep love for youth, and violets for the spring:
Or if these bloom when worn-out autumn grieves,
Let them lie hid in double shade of leaves,
Their own, and others dropped down withering;
For violets suit when home birds build and sing,
Not when the outbound bird a passage cleaves;
Not with dry stubble of mown harvest sheaves,
But when the green world buds to blossoming.
Keep violets for the spring, and love for youth,
Love that should dwell with beauty, mirth, and hope:
Or if a later sadder love be born,
Let this not look for grace beyond its scope,
But give itself, nor plead for answering truth—
A grateful Ruth tho' gleaning scanty corn*. 

  --Christina Rosetti; Macmillan's Magazine; NOV, 1868 

*Book of Ruth.  Landowners were required not to glean (gather grain crops) overly zealously; they were supposed to leave something behind for the poor.  Ruth, who moved from her home in Moab to Israel with her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi (after both were widowed), gleaned to support both of them.  The landowner eventually fell in love with her and married her; she became an ancestress of Christ.

Birds' Nests

 

"Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided.  But because we cannot keep birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them build a nest in our hair."  -- Martin Luther's Large Catechism,  "Explanation of the Sixth Petition" ("Lead us not into temptation.")

The Long View

 

"If I knew tomorrow were the end of the world,

I'd plant an apple tree today." 

(attributed to Martin Luther; 16th century German)  

O God, Our Help in Ages Past*

 

1. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Our shelter from the stormy blast,
   And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
   Thy saints have dwelt secure;
   Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
   And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
   Or earth received her frame,
   From everlasting Thou art God,
   To endless years the same.

   

   Colorado Rocky Mountains

4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
   “Return, ye sons of men”:
   All nations rose from earth at first,
   And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
   Are like an evening gone;
   Short as the watch that ends the night
   Before the rising sun.  

   

   Sierra Prieta Mountains, Arizona

6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
   With all their lives and cares,
   Are carried downwards by the flood,
   And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
   Bears all its sons away;
   They fly, forgotten, as a dream
   Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
   Pleased with the morning light;
   The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
   Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
   And our eternal home.  --Isaac Watts, 1708 (pub. 1719)

*A hymnodic version of Psalm 90.  (This Psalm and hymn are often used in liturgical churches on New Year's Eve, due to the discussion of "time.")

The Bright Morning Star

 This month, I'm making a departure to post something by David C. Brown, a "blog acquaintance" from the U.K.  He first posted it in July, 2016.  The link to his blog is below.

Thou art the Star of the morning;
Thou art the Bright Morning Star;*
Saints, in the midst of man's scorning
Welcome Thy light from afar:

Star of the morning,
O what a source of delight!
Soon Thou wilt have Thine assembly
Shining with heavenly light.  

Thou art the Star of the morning;
Thou art the Bright Morning Star;
Shining with heaven's adorning
Into the night where we are.
 
Star of the morning,
O what a source of delight!
Soon Thou wilt have Thine assembly
Shining with heavenly light. --David C. Brown, 2016

Sing it to  the hymn "Showers of Blessing"

*Christ as the Morning Star from the Book of Revelation.  (For more on this matter, see my posting, "Little Star, Might Star" from last month.)

The Bright Morning Star-- Grace Notes Blog

Signs of Change

 

In Romans 8:18-23, St. Paul wrote about how all creation was subjected to futility, to frustration, not because it did anything wrong, but because God decreed it.  (See Genesis chapter 3 where the very ground was cursed because of humanity's sin. Sinful humanity could not be allowed to live on in an otherwise perfect creation.)  Paul talks of creation groaning as if in labor pains, waiting to be set free.

Over the past 2 years, I have finally gotten my favorite flower, black-eyed Susans, to grow here, though outside of its range.  This year, however, one of the plants is putting out some freakish flowers with multi fused heads.  Below are photos of one with three fused heads developing.  

open with some "normal" heads

These links will provide you other black-eyed Susan photos and a poem I wrote about black-eyed Susans a couple years ago.  

Black-Eyed Susan (poem)

"The Desert Shall Blossom"

 In Isaiah 35:1, the Bible says:

"The wilderness and parched land will be glad:

And the desert-plain will rejoice and blossom."

    These passages originally spoke of a spiritual blossoming with Messiah's coming.  Secondarily, they hint at the perfection of the natural world in the recreation to come in heaven.

    We are seeing a somewhat more literal version of this in our own backyard this spring.  This is a mixture of area wildflowers and cultivars from elsewhere.  Enjoy! 

Common Poppy

Shirley Poppy?

Larkspur & California Poppy

 

 

 

 

 

 

African Daisies

Phlox & Wood Sorrel (one of many things called "shamrock")

Snap Dragons

Globe Mallow & Saltbrush

 

Prickly Pear

Drought Resistant Pine (Canary Island Pine?)

  

Black eye Susan with Bachelor's Button

 

 

Black-eye Susans are my favorite flower.  They are native to the Midwestern US.  After many years of trying, I got them (with God's help!) to come up here last year. The above photo was about to open when I first posted. Now it has, with more to come.  Below is a link to a poem I wrote about Black-eye Susans.

Black-Eyed Susan (poem)