Seeds Sown

It’s raining outside

A slow pitter patter

Punctuating fire crackle

And an afternoon quilting

In front of the fire

I must move soon

I have left it far too late

Seeds must be sown

In the west-end garden

Wild meadow flowers

To sit in the stirred soil

And wait out the winter days

I hear it has begun to rain

In Kenya Africa

Life and Death for them

Dry dusty days

Give way to wet

Voices ring

With Joy

With Hope

The rains have come

Sadly too soon

There is wailing

Love ones

Homes

Lost

In the deluge that overwhelms

You can have too much of a good thing…

I dig deep when Church

And Red Cross call

Scattering those seeds

In the Hope

Something good will grow

Words and Photographs © Denise Stanford 2013

Find Him… The Life Light

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1 v1-5 NKJ

Darkness…

Did Darkness

Take Jesus

From Garden to Prison

Betray Him and

Beat Him and

Hold Him restrained?

Was it Darkness

That crowned Him

With thorns

Deeply piercing and

Drove mighty nails

Through His hands and His feet

Was it Darkness

That held Him there

High on that wooden cross

Tortured for breath

Till He strangled

And died?

Was it Darkness

That spat upon

Tortured

Tormented

Ridiculed

Punished

That closed His Life down?

Twas darkness that followed

The close of His Life

Like the switch that dims lights

Or the breathe that snuffs flame

Twas Darkness that hid the land

Trembling and twisted

When dead rose from graves

The veil tore apart

But Darkness

Does Nothing

Is nothing

but

Lightless

Darkness

Hides not

Deeds of Woman

Nor Man

Our shame and

Our sorrows

Clearly

Displayed

Choices

Made

In Heaven’s full light

For Darkness hides nothing

No!

Twas not Darkness

Love then

Birth Pain

God chose

To endure

To bring back

His loved ones

To Life

He Holds it

Secure

For you

Out of a

Passion

He’s held for you

Always

Dearly

Costing

His All

Words and Pictures © Denise Stanford 2013

Have you seen…

Passion of Christ

 

The Anointing 

 

In The Eye of the Beholder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heatwave

I have lost count

Lost count of the days

7, 10, 12 or more

Days of heat

With no relief

Days of 32, 34, 36 degrees

Mid to high 90s

In the other money

Days of touching

All things warm

Days of cooling noise

Air conditioned

Air reconditioned

Days of burning

Skin

Gardens

Paddocks

Forest

Bush

Cat’s play half heartedly

Flopping down hot

Creeping off to find dark cool corners

Tempers flare

As  temperatures rise

I struggle

Days of aching muscles

Over hot

Pulsing head

Fatigue confusion

Unfocused

I too hide away

Now the nights

20 something

70 something

Not cooling

No cool change

Long awaited

No fresh breeze from seacoast

Wafting curtains

Bringing that gentle sigh of refreshing

Cotton sheets

No longer

Crisp

Cool

Curtains hang

Hot

Heavy

As the air

Sleep is

Not long

Not deep

Not refreshing

Like not sleeping

Breathing hot air

Is like not breathing

I look forward

Weather forecasts

1,2,3, 4 days hence

Relief in sight

I wonder

When struggles get too much

When Living is not like living

When Loving is not like loving

We look ahead

For days of relief

The days in Heaven’s Light

Is it pie in the sky when we die

This forecast of better days

No!

For these golden days

We need not wait

These can be found

Here

Now

In company

With a Father who loves his kids

Who would ease the pain

Ready to listen

On hot nights

In wakeful moments

Ready to walk

On scorching days

When the heart burns

With longing

Ready to offer shade

To the sunburnt soul

His cool cascades

Washing dust and ashes away

His refreshing

Quenching deep thirst

His Love satisfying

Deep and deeper longing

I need to

Look within the dry grass

To see the hidden green

No need to wait

I turn now

Move in closer

Claiming my place in

His Shadow

Beside still waters

There I will I abide

Words and Pictures © Denise Stanford 2013

Serenity

Today I pray Serenity

I pray for Me

I pray for You

I pray Seas of Tranquility

Soothing Anxiety

Drowning Fear

Overwhelming Foe

I pray Clear Vision

Evaporating Mists of Doubt

I pray Peace Full to the Brim

Unworried Ease quenching Fiery Darts

I pray Composure

To stop Obsessive

Checking

Rechecking

Second Guessing

I pray Serenity of Majesty

To Fall

Reminding again

I am Child of King

I pray for Still

To Find God

To Know God

I pray for Quiet Rest

Undisturbed

Unruffled

Deep

I pray for Calm

Dripping with Untroubled Moments

Keeping green the paths we all must tread

Oh How I pray

Find Serenity

Words & Pictures © Denise Stanford 2013

From the Archives

Believe

I Confess

When I began Within the Vine

I intended a soft place to fall

A place

Of Delight

Of Reassurance

Of Encouragement

However

When the man loses his job

When the friend is diagnosed with a tumour

When the baby expected with joy

Fails to grow

Stops moving

Then

Soft places are hard to find

Soft places are hard to speak of

Soft places are hard to take

When all else is comfortless

But

I forget

I forget all of us have hard times

I forget

If I stay silent in hard times

I permit that dark angel

To stop my words

To stop my pictures

To stop The Message

So I Affirm

God is here

Even in the Hard Times

Even in the Dark Days

Even when the place to fall

Is Rough

Is Bleak

Is Savage

I am reminded

Write Life

Write the Light that shines

In my own Dark Days

Write Reality

Write Fulness of Truth

Write of Fears that arise

Write of that Calm Voice

Stilling the Storm

The friend is

Stronger than tumour

Victories have been won

The Fight continues

Though denied  work promised

New Blessings give opportunity

For Man to work

A  little for pay

A lot for no pay

And the wife learns to budget hard

And the baby?

Born

Sooner than expected

After much prayer

He Grows

Strong

Stronger

Bringing

Much Joy

Many Smiles

Much Thanksgiving

From once worried hearts

But even before the story changes

I pray

This can truly be

A Place

To Delight

To Reassure

To Encourage

Then

If I tell all

I can tell

All is not lost

Photographs and Words © Denise Stanford 2013

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.