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Perspective

| Marie Griffith

I spotted this miniature scene on one of my downtown walks recently. I was surprised to find it where it was, but I was even more surprised I hadn’t noticed it before.

The tiny door sits at the bottom of a very large tree standing on the narrow grassy area between the sidewalk and the busy street. Once the door caught my eye, I stopped to take a photo. I wanted to stay and look more carefully…..to see what other tiny things I could find…… but I felt I was intruding.

And it wasn’t until I studied the photo closely that I noticed the little pumpkin or gourd with a little green leaf on top next to the door. See it? IMG_5204

I almost missed this odd little sight. Almost walked right past it like I had before.

What else do I miss? Do I see what I should see?

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”      

C.S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew)

Fun

Image | | Marie Griffith

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My youngest daughter drew this cute and playful unicorn one afternoon on our driveway with her sidewalk chalk. Her artwork lasted several days before an afternoon rain washed it away.

But what fun it was for those few days to see the brightly colored unicorn galloping across the driveway each evening when I came home from work.

 

 
In response to the Daily Post’s Folly.
 

In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge Fun!.

Big

Image | | Marie Griffith

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This pecan tree makes everything around it seem small.

When I was a girl a picnic table sat to the right of the tree and we had a garden beyond the ridge of rocks.

Now, the garden and the table are gone.

But the tree still reaches into the sky and over the barn giving plenty of shade.

In response to the Daily Post’s prompt Vegetal.

Even So

| Marie Griffith

This is a close up of a bud on the fig tree in the backyard. You can see the “velvetiness” on the young newly opened leaf. Soon, more buds will sprout……more leaves will fill the branches. Then the fruit will come and grow and ripen. That’s the expectation.

That’s what’s supposed to happen. image

But what if it doesn’t.

Even so………..

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

  

Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV

Branch

Friends

Image | | Marie Griffith
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My daughter and one of her friends laughing and ice skating

There’s nothing like a good friend.

You can be yourself………..but if you’re not, she notices.

You can share the deepest parts of you.

She knows your story and you know hers.

With her, it’s okay to not be okay.

She’ll let you be scared but help you be brave.

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forever friends

Your laugh makes her laugh. Your tears break her heart.

It always feels like yesterday, even when it’s been a long time since you’ve connected.

She makes you better because she lifts you up and she loves you.

She’s an original and so are you.

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery

Image | | Marie Griffith

 

Just two weeks ago the life inside this tree was hidden, winter still had its hold. But as spring approaches new life bursts forth in brilliance. The morning sun highlights the swirling of the top bud and the bowing down of the one below. It’s like a dance.  image

What a beautiful mystery……springtime and apple trees, the wind and rain, the golden glow of sunrise, the bird’s song, rabbits and chicks……all of creation. My life and your life. All of our lives.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:3-4 & 9

In response to the Daily Post’s Create.

Awe

Image | | Marie Griffith

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When I stop to take a photo it’s because something about what I’m seeing has to be captured. And most of the time it’s not just one thing. It’s the whole of it.

A shed and a greenhouse in the middle of a lush field on a hot July evening. No filters or edits needed.

The rosy sky and the emerald field. The tall grass in the foreground and the trees in the back. And the magnificent sun settling down. The beauty is overwhelming, the colors astounding……and I get to see things like this every day if I will just look.

I was walking on my country roads when I took this photo. My old country roads where I used to live. I was probably tired from a day’s work with more to do when I finished my walk. Whatever my mood when I started, I was in a better one when I was through.

Because I’m in awe. And grateful. And I pray I never get used to this.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
    night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
    they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
    their words go everywhere on earth.
The sky is like a home for the sun.
The sun comes out like a bridegroom from his bedroom.
    It rejoices like an athlete eager to run a race.
The sun rises at one end of the sky
   and follows its path to the other end.
    Nothing hides from its heat.

Psalm 19:1-6 NCV

Magnolia

Image | | Marie Griffith


An unseasonably warm day of winter here in North Alabama gets me outside to explore the yard. The sun shines through the leaves of this beautiful magnolia tree. I can’t remember when Dad planted this tree. It must have been a long time ago because magnolias are slow to grow and this one is a good size.

I do remember the day I pulled up for a visit and Dad was about to cut the tree down. I asked him not to and here it is now….filtering the sun through its waxy green leaves in a beautiful pattern onto the ground below. It will stay here and grow taller, slowly taller and wider.

And I will think of Dad often because of this magnolia tree.

In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge Seasons.

Vibrant

| Marie Griffith

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  e.e.cummings

When I was a little girl I wondered over the rays of sunshine and how they shone down from the sky, sometimes in lines, like when clouds were in its way. I could have stared at the the moon and stars all night. I was amazed at the changing seasons, thunderstorms and rainbows, butterflies, and the wind. I loved the trees and their shadows, the big rocks in our woods, and the creek that trickled there. Dandelions and bumblebees and lizards and roses.

I still wonder at God’s creation. Something always catches my eye when I’m outside.

Like this okra plant on a late summer day.

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Or like this unnamed plant. I think it’s a weed because it grows in abundance on the fence line in the field by our home.
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Or these bright yellow green Mimosa tree pods.

Beautiful.

 

 

In response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge Vibrant.