Category: Nature

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Listen, Memories, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Traveling

In The Sky

Sky Speaks ©Molly Lin Dutina 23-8-24

"There is a white scribble
in that Blue Sky," I note,
"scribble with a long underline
like an exclamation point."
It reverberates with “Look!”
This morning sky was dark and gloomy
Booming with thunder
Flashing with lightening
Now sky is glary with sunshine
Ridiculous with heat
hours ago you would never
have suspected this total change
was even possible
now be in awe of the 
power of transformation
hours can create.

Will you allow God to cause a similar transformation in you? Are you willing to yield to that power? The sky was always blue, yet our eyes could not perceive it.

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19 NIV

“I am making a new creation,” says the Lord. For you and me He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland! There is a plan. Whether or not our eyes can see it, our brains perceive it, the plan is there waiting for us to fulfill it. Through the power, strength and guidance of the Holy One a way in the wilderness is found.

We once visited Craters of the Moon park in Idaho. It was a very strange wilderness indeed. While we were there one woman went hiking with her friend for her birthday. She had hiked the park many times. They got lost and died. Here is a short video giving you a sampling of what that wilderness is like.

Visitors are urged not only to not hike alone, but to tell someone where they plan to hike. It is easy to get lost there.

It is easy to get lost here, also! Have you asked the LORD to guide your life and journey through this strange land of living?

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

In Christ. New creation. With purpose and a plan to fulfill. Follow on, fellow travelers!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Humor, Memories, Nature

Gossamer Glistening

I have been noticing spider strings in the morning sun. These are not “webs” as such, more like hunting lines? I suppose the spider drops out of the trees because these begin high in the air) and drops down into the grass. The sun catches the gossamer line and glistens in my eyes.

Makes me wonder how all the birds frequenting our feeder miss those lines as they come flying in? We have decals and a blotter marker that leaves a residue that the birds can see so they do not crash into our sliding glass door. Does the spider have something like that in its silk?

I forgot to write about all this until this morning when I put the sprinkler on our clump river birch and then the new Mallow shrub. High heat this week and no rain in the forecast, ugh. Trying to unwind the hose and blech! a spider string was caught in my hair. Now I am wrestling the hose, (and I eventually turned the hose storage roller over on its side), trying to get the string out of my hair and remembering that I did not write about all of this.

In high school I did a science project with Becky about spiders. She was an artist and her family lived in a large house with an old stone basement. We sprayed a piece of cardboard with hairspray, captured a spider web . And repeated the process. Not all the captures were successful. We used the good ones as our displays to discuss the various kinds of silk a spider uses in construction.

Likely the most maddening encounter I ever had with a spider occurred at our last address on Siesta Drive. We had bird feeders (as usual) on our front porch. One day we came home from shopping and wondered how the hummingbird was holding this strange position on the porch.

Upon closer inspection, Grr! A spider had captured it and killed it. I was furious that our little friend had fallen prey to the natural order. Then I began to wonder what size spider could do that? I went inside to get the broom. Believe it or not I found that spider hiding along the edge of the porch. I drove it out into the open and beat it to death with the broom. Not exactly proud of that moment, but I felt justified at the time.

Silk so strong. Arachnid so mysterious. I am not afraid of spiders but like many people I do not like when I get their silks in the face. Walking a trail at the Nature Center I am always sort of relieved when Bob goes first and knocks the hunting lines away.

So with all my unscientific lingo but strong interest I guess I could have the title Citizen naturalist?

A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse.

Living Bible, Job 8:
Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Nature, Thanks, Traveling, Yield

Too cold. Too hot.

Awoke with ceiling fan and floor fan on full blast. Legs and feet frozen. Temperature outside 62.

Same morning worked in yard and along entrance sidewalk for about 1-1/2 hours. Drenched. Every. Single. Stitch. I was wearing. August in Ohio. Was 76 degrees and humid when I came indoors. Bob says my thermostat is broken.

Here is my new favorite perennial.

Hibiscus or Mallow Shrub

Yes, they are like day lilies in that they drop their flowers every day, but what a delight!

This rabbit is certain if he sits tall and still I either will not see him or think he is a wrought iron statue. (two slots left of Mallow.) Then he turned and ate a pyracantha leaf. No wonder that shrub does not flourish!!

Yes, I know, not the best focus. So far he has not eaten the mallow shrub to the left!

This what I got from an entire package of nasturtium seeds. Lousy ground and lousy year for gardening! Perhaps the wood chips are to blame as I now hear they make terrible mulch for growing things. Ugh!

Yes, the leaves are supposed to be mottled.

Perhaps it is because we did not sow seeds until after May 19th when we returned from Maui? So sad the happenings in Maui. Each time we watch the news we are just stunned. Those poor people. Most of them got out with their lives, but now not only the clean up but questioning if it will be safe to live there with all the chemicals in the soil. Land grabbers trying to buy up the land. The spiritual center of Maui in ruins. Lord may those who lost their lives rest in peace. May those who are still missing loved ones have Your comfort. They say identification may take months or years as in most cases the pathologists are working with dust.

The opening photo was our dinner in Lahaina at Kimo’s restaurant. Totally gone now.

Online photo. Now I wish we had taken more photos of the street!

Scanning videos and photos on line, trying to decide what best to show you. This one photo certainly sums it up. Front street as it is now. And then I find myself overwhelmed with grief for the people there.

Never mind. I have nothing to complain about. We have been told the Red Cross is the best place to give donations. One of the airlines that I had accumulated miles on asked if I wanted to donate the miles to the cause. I responded absolutely! My friend who ministers in Nepal said this Hope Force International is also quite reputable. 

https://hopeforceinternational.app.neoncrm.com/forms/general-donation-form

Whatever you do , try to give to something to the rebuilding of Lahaina. Such terrible loss.

LORD, uplift and sustain the people of Lahaina and those who love her. Send the comfort of Your Spirit to them. Show each of the readers how to best support them in their losses. May Your will be done in our hearts and in our giving.

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Verb?

Multiple times I have run across this idea that God is not a noun. God is a verb. Of course, I did not note the places where I first began to hear this. Trying to resource it on-line led to several authors. These are by no means exhaustive!

Perhaps the most commented upon is a book by Rabbi David A. Cooper entitled “God is a Verb.” He bases his book upon studies of the Kabbalah, a branch of mystical Judaism. He writes about God as a verb and our ‘co-partnering in God-ing.’

And as Jason Derr at Huffington Post writes,

God is not a force who acts on the world through coercion, violence or the suspension of physics and free will. God is a verb, an action we bring to the world to make love, justice, mercy, joy and goodness known.

Jason Derr, contributor at Huffington Post

This quote challenges the conventional understanding of God as a fixed entity or concept, suggesting that God should be perceived as an active and dynamic force or presence in the world.

https://www.rarequote.com/god-is-a-verb-not-a-noun-r-buckminster-fuller

When I was re-reading my notes from The Shack I was only mildly surprised to find this one from Page 204!

My very essence is a verb. I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless ‘I am,’ there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.”

The Shack by William P. Young

Certainly this gives us each food for thought. I will likely never be able to not personalize my relationship with God. Call it anthropomorphism if you want. Just how I was raised and at 72 years old likely too late to undo the thinking. But all of this does make me think hard about the idea. How about you?

There was a statement not long ago saying, “Your God is too small.” Yes! What if our concept of God is not BIG enough? A creation that continues to expand, unfold? I am not certain about any of the arguments for or against this. I do know that the LORD shows me things I never knew before. I want to interact with the participating presence of the Holy One in whatever way I am asked to interact. Will you yield to that?

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Humor, Nature, Thanks

Bathtub Joke

Do you remember the childhood joke about the bathtub? “How do you know there is an elephant in your bathtub?” Answer, “You can smell the peanuts on his breath.”

On a recent trip to Rocky Fork Lake, Bob caught this shot of a heron wading in the bathtub of the Canada Geese.

How do you know there is a heron in your bathtub? The long legs and no splashing.

photo by r m dutina

Some things just make me laugh out loud!! Heron likely just wanted lunch. Maybe she was hoping the geese would stir up the fish?

We will never know for certain!!

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

Genesis 1:20-23 NIV

And He knew there would be a woman in Ohio in 2023 who would laugh!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Like Breath of God

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.

Hildegard of Bingen

I heard this quote many years ago at a retreat. I was so inspired I actually collected feathers and made some note cards with the quote.

What does it mean? The breath of God is a powerful thing. Can you be as moveable as a loose feather? Can you be willing to go where He asks you to go?

This quote is from a blog, written by Jean Wise, (interesting name!) She was so succinct that I cannot improve on her writing!

God calls each of us to be His feather – responding to where He calls us. To be responsive to His nudges. To be open to His grace.

 I want to live as a feather. Not burdened down with the heavy concerns of my heart, but focused, surrendered, dependent entirely on God for every moment. Ah, to be a feather. What a lovely image this is.

https://healthyspirituality.org/a-feather-on-the-breath-of-god-hildegard/
Photo by Hari Singh Tanwar on Unsplash


I pray a gentle breath from God is all it takes to move me. I hope I can be a feather under His direction, doing His bidding.

Posted on in Memories, Nature, Traveling

Kauila and The Sea Turtles of Punalu’u

I have been wanting to look up this story and share it with since we returned from Hawaii. This is located at the black sand beach on the big island of Hawaii.

The mystical turtle, Kauila, makes her home in the Ka’ū district at Punalu’u Bay according to Hawaiian Mythology, Kauila was empowered with the ability to turn herself from a turtle into human form and would play with the children along the shoreline and keep watch over them. The people of Ka’ū loved Kauila as the guardian of their children and also for her spring that gave them pure drinking water.

Information from http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hi?Parks.punal

The presence of Kauila can still be felt today by the sea turtles that inhabit this special place. The Hawaiian Honu (Green Sea Turtle) can be regularly seen in the bay feeding on limu (a type of seaweed) growing in the shallows. In addition the Honu’ea (Hawksbill Turtle) sometimes enters the bay at night to crawl ashore and deposit eggs in the black sand. Both species of sea turtles are fully protected under the U.S. endangered species act and wildlife laws of the State of Hawai’i. Enjoy watching these marvelous creatures but do not touch or disturb them

The above words can be found at Punalu’u Beach Park, inscribed on a borne plaque along with the beautiful image of a child sleeping on the back of a sea turtle.

Punalu’u Beach Park, in the district of Ka’ū, is a delightful stop, just moments off highway 11 between the towns of Nā’ālehu and Pāhala. The county park is open 24 hours a day and there is no park fee.

The word Punalu’u means diving (lu’u) spring (puna) and comes from the tradition of diving to the bottom of the bay with upside down containers and filling them with the fresh spring water seeping from the bay floor.

Here is the plaque below the memorial. Salt air does tears things up!

Now you know why the quotes are from on line information!
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship

Randy Alcorn and Zoon

While writing the post about White tailed deer I came across this post and enjoyed reading parts of it. There is some fantastic art work full of imagination, none of which I chose to post. So with full credit to Randy Alcorn I bring you portions and the link.

Throughout Scripture we read that animals praise God. I don’t know exactly how animals praise God, but our inability to understand it shouldn’t keep us from believing it.

Consider the psalms. Psalm 148 commands all of creation to praise the Lord, including the animals: “Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens” (vv. 10-13). If in some sense fallen animals, shadows of what they once were, can praise God on this fallen Earth, how much more should we expect them to do so on the New Earth? “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6). Since animals are said to have breath, they are included among those directed to praise God.

Passages in Revelation also indicate that the animals will praise their creator: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'” (Revelation 5:13). What are these “creatures” said to do? To sing praises to God in worship. If “every creature in heaven and on earth” includes animals, then animals praise God.

https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-animals-capable-praising-god/

I sometimes read “every creature” to mean human, but no, it means every creature, Molly! in heaven, on earth, under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them.”

The most striking example of animals praising God in Heaven is often overlooked because of word selection in our Bible translations. We’re told eight times in Revelation of “living creatures” in the intermediate Heaven: “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’… The living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (Revelation 4:8-9).

The word translated “living creatures” is zoon. Throughout most of the New Testament the word is translated “animal” and is used to indicate animals sacrificed in the temple and wild, irrational animals (Hebrews 13:11; 2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). In the Old Testament, the Septuagint used zoon to translate the Hebrew words for animals, including the “living creatures” of the sea (Genesis 1:21; Ezekiel 47:9). In extra-biblical writings, zoon commonly referred to ordinary animals and was used of the Egyptians’ divine animals and the mythological bird called the Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2-3 1 Clement 25:2-3 ). In virtually every case inside and outside of Scripture, this word means not a person, not an angel, but an animal. The King James version translates zoon “beasts” in Revelation, but the negative connotations of that word led subsequent translators to settle on “living creatures.” The most natural translation would be simply “animals.” That word would likely have been chosen by translators if it didn’t sound so strange for readers to envision talking animals praising God around his throne!

https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-animals-capable-praising-god/

I love it! I just love this sort of Bible study where I learn something I never knew before. I was taught and believed that the ‘living creatures’ around the throne ‘look like a lion, ox, a man, and an eagle’ but Alcorn purports that they are more than just what they look like. They are animals. Now that gives us something to ponder!

“Talking animals praising God around his throne!” Sweet. In the Episcopal church years ago we had a casual Sunday evening service and we were so few in number that we would circle the altar table for communion. The information from Alcorn’s teaching and that Sunday evening experience let me envision praising God with talking animals in an intimate circle of communion.

Yes, the creatures described by Ezekiel come to mind, but as one commentary notes, “The description in the vision cannot be taken too literally, for the prophet constantly reminds his readers that the images used to describe the vision only approximate what he actually saw. The visionary combination of vague, evocative images with concrete but fantastic objects helps the prophet to describe the divine reality that he saw but that cannot ultimately be described.” Harper’s Study Bible

I praise God saying whatever the Zoon are, bring them on LORD. Come quickly I pray! Let’s get Your victory party started!!

Somehow we have failed to grasp that the “living creatures” who cry out “Holy, holy, holy,” are animals—living, breathing, intelligent and articulate animals who dwell in God’s presence, worshiping and praising him. They are greater than the animals we know, and they preexisted the animals we know. Perhaps they’re the prototype creatures of Heaven after whom God designed Earth’s animals. But even though they’re highly intelligent and expressive, they’re still animals; that’s what Scripture calls them.

Randy Alcorn
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Challenge, Faith, Nature, Thanks

White Tailed Deer and Other Critters

Monday afternoon before I could grab my camera out of the corner of my eye I saw a large doe walking down our street with 2 fawns behind her. The fawns were larger than I usually see, but still had their spots. In one sense the sight was breath taking, in another scary.

If you are a regular reader you might remember I posted a week or so ago how deer came in the night and mowed down (ate) sunflower heads and roses and neighbors rare day lilies and all manner of garden flowers. I hoped this doe was not ‘casing the joint’ for tasty flowers. Last evening I went out and sprinkled repellent pellets on the flowers. They were all intact this morning. One neighbor feeds the deer on a platform feeder in her front yard. Not many of us are happy with her about that.

This one in our backyard, but you get the idea.

Deer trotting down the street in afternoon sunlight.

There are times I take Lucky out for her evening walk and the air is rank with the smell of skunk (which some peculiar people like m husband think smells good). There have been a few times when we have the bedroom windows open at night and I can smell skunk. My next door neighbor has a driveway camera. She told me the skunk is a little one but he travels all of the yards in the dark. We know from camping that you can smell skunk without them spraying. Like Pepé Le Pew they just radiate that stench! Please Lucky, do not get sprayed by that thing! That is one of my concerns when Lucky gets out and takes off.

Skunks roaming our property at night.

Did I mention the rabbits? The web says that cottontails only get about 2-3 pounds and 15-18-3/4 inches long. The ones in Sherry’s yard look huge. Like as big as large cats get! These things can move or just sit so perfectly still that unless they twitch an ear you might not see them. They are out grazing morning and evening. I wonder what their burrows are like. Instead of a drone I would love to get a tiny camera in their nest to watch what goes on. Maybe I can attach a GoPro to one and get the hopping action? A few visit the garden and likely eat the plants. One more reason not to try to garden next year. Otherwise the rabbits are lovely and peaceful.

Lucky has occasionally found toads or frogs along the sidewalk as we walk in the evening. I am guessing the drought conditions this spring led to the death of many tiny frogs. Lucky finds them dead along the edge of the grass or occasionally on the sidewalk. Like Grogu, Baby Yoda, she would like to eat them. She never forgets where she has found them either! I am kept on my toes trying to remember so I can warn her to “Drop it!” or “Leave it!” One day someone left a large dead crayfish on the edge of their driveway. That she did not like! Jumped in the air and backed up in fear.

Maybe the death of the baby frogs explains the huge population of crickets?

A few neighbors have seen snakes. I am afraid of snakes. A very primal, visceral fear that brooks no explanation. I know they eat mice and other things. Perhaps one would like to consume the chipmunk that taken up residence under the deck, runs tunnels through the gardens,etc? I just do not want to come upon it catching, eating or digesting! Or even resting.

We live in suburban Amelia, Ohio yet the wildlife are right here with us. Deer, skunks, frogs or toads, snakes, oh my! All manner of things reside here and we are in their midst. I have not seen a single coyote recently? No explanation for that. I hope the Canada geese stay gone. The sidewalk around the retention pond is much neater without their droppings. Only a few rabbit pellets lately.

Treasures in Plain Sight! What have you seen in your neighborhood recently? I praise Him for all of creation.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Humor, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Traveling, Yield

Hawaiian Chickens

and roosters, and chicks. They are every place you go. I even stopped at a grocery store Starbucks. When I came out the people on the porch sipping their beverages were amazed at the hen and chicks that were passing through looking for bakery crumbs.

We stopped at one overlook to take some photos. There at our feet was a rooster. Bob captured this portrait.

Chickens have been on the islands for decades. Storms caused many of their coops to be destroyed. After their escape they have found life on the islands rather easy. There are no natural predators in residence! Talk about free range chickens!

We even walked the jungle trail to Honolua Bay on Maui where the snorkeling is said to be tremendous. Guess what?

You can easily see 7 chickens here! There were many more around our feet!

I often wondered if I caught a chicken and took it to a restaurant would they kill, clean and cook it for me for lunch? Does any one harvest the eggs?

Some of our neighbors here in Ohio keep chickens. The crowing of the rooster always makes me smile. The by-laws of our subdivision prohibits the keeping of chickens on our property. I wonder how these residents would view free range chickens!

I wonder if Jesus told every church leader in the greater Cincinnati area that Christians were to keep chickens, how that would go over? His words in the New Testament are

 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34

Jesus longs to gather us to Himself. Just as in Isaiah 30:15 there is that haunting phrase, “But you would not.” Are you resistant to Jesus’ call to come to Him?

All four Gospels refer to the crowing of the rooster when Jesus is speaking to Peter about denying Him. Can you imagine how Peter felt when He heard that crowing?

So the next time you hear a rooster I want you to ask yourself if that is Jesus calling you to His side like the hen gathers her chicks or is it a reminder that each of us has the propensity to deny knowing the Lord Jesus? Either way I urge you to be willing to go to His side. He will lead you in paths of righteousness. Do not be a free range chicken. We, unlike the chickens in Hawaii, do have an evil predator seeking to destroy us and our faith.