Between the curtains and the sofa lay,
Friday, August 1, 2025
August
Between the curtains and the sofa lay,
Saturday, May 1, 2021
"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!
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Common Poppy |
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Shirley Poppy? |

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African Daisies |
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Phlox & Wood Sorrel (one of many things called "shamrock") |
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Snap Dragons
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Prickly Pear |
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Drought Resistant Pine (Canary Island Pine?) |
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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.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
I Will Praise the Lord at All Times
Winter has a joy for me,
While the Saviour's charms I read,
Lowly, meek, from blemish free,
In the snowdrop's pensive head.
Life-invigorating suns:
Hark! the turtle's plaintive song
Seems to speak His dying groans!
Summer has a thousand charms,
All expressive of His worth;
'Tis His sun that lights and warms,
His the air that cools the earth.
What! has autumn left to say
Nothing of a Saviour's grace?
Yes, the beams of milder day
Tell me of his smiling face.
While the sun makes haste to rise;
See His bleeding beauties drawn
On the blushes of the skies.
Slowly moving in the west,
Shews an emblem of His grace,
Points to an eternal rest.
Saturday, December 1, 2018
The Word
In the beginning,
All Nature resounded with THE joyous WORD.
THE WORD was recorded by the prophets,
God's Holy Men of old.
"In the beginning was THE WORD,
And THE WORD was with GOD,
and THE WORD was God.
This One was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1-2)
THE WORD was spoken to the Virgin Mary,
She conceived and bore a Son,
For in the fullness of time,
And laid Him in a feed trough,
For there was no place else for Him.
Shepherds heard THE WORD from Angels,
Wise men came to view THE WORD,
Led by their star's bright light.
THE WORD gives men wisdom,
For THE WORD is, itself, WISDOM. (Proverbs 8)
The Wise Men gave THE WORD gifts,
But THE WORD gave them greater gifts.
Though they left Bethlehem,
THE WORD never left them.
THE WORD has been handed down now
Through countless number of ages.
But THE WORD still stays among us,
Speaking as plainly to people as ever.
So, we, too, have seen His glory,
The glory of the One-and-Only-Begotten from the Father,
Full of grace and truth. . .
"Your WORD is TRUTH." (John 17:17)
As it has from time immemorial. . .
"Your WORD is a Lamp unto my feet
And a Light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
THE WORD brightens and cheers the walk
And leads us to Himself.
---C. Marie Byars, 1989
St. Louis, Graduate School
(original Bible Translations)