Musings from Hickory Lane,  the web site of Brenda Zook, aka Hummin'B
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Quotes
  • Photos

Reading messages in the...sky?!

10/27/2018

4 Comments

 
One evening recently, I hurried  out the door for my walk just as the evening sun dipped below the horizon. 
I was worried that I was too late,
disappointed that sunset had already happened,
certain I had missed the day’s sky splendor. 
​
But I also knew I needed the exercise, because as I recently learned, anxiety is energy that needs to go somewhere, and I definitely needed to go somewhere! 

​My jumbled thoughts and scrambling feet rushed down the road, past the cemetery.  I walked directly toward the spot where the sun had disappeared.  The skyscape before me wasn’t spectacular,  but it was nice, and I could feel my perspective shifting, broadening beyond my tiny (in-my-head) world.  
Picture
I breathed in deep draughts of the chill evening air, pausing just a moment to inhale the peace that surrounded me. 

And then I glanced over my shoulder;
behind me,
to the northeast,
the sky was a show of fancy pink and gentle blue.

Oh.  
Picture
I watched the post-sunset color show lighting up the sky, and I pondered the message written there.

​I surveyed the cows, the horses, grazing, heads down, every one of them unaware of what was spreading above them like a flood of glory.  


I  wondered how often I have been just like them.    
Head down.
Tunnel vision.
Nose to  the ground.
Focused only on what was in front of me, and completely oblivious to what was very near if only I had shifted my perspective to take it in. 


Picture
The color crept west and stained every cloud fragment magenta or steely blue. ​
Picture





​And then everything went pinkest pink... 
Picture
It took me awhile to get home that evening, walking frontwards, backwards, circling, trying to read the handwriting on the canvas spread above me.  In Psalm 19:1, David wrote: “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)   Tonight, the heavens were telling and I was listening, and here's what I heard:   
Don’t give up too soon. Even  when you think it's too late, God has a way of showing up.

Watch for God's glory in unexpected places. 

  Look east at sunset. 
Or north! 
​



What have you heard the heavens proclaim? 
Picture
HumminB
4 Comments

Sunday Ramble - still learning to pause...

9/19/2017

0 Comments

 

I’ve been trying to be more intentional about pause,
about refreshment, 
about figuring out what it means to rest…and then doing it.
(Or, in some cases, NOT doing whatever it is that isn’t restful.) 

I’m recognizing how easy it is to neglect this kind of self-care, soul care.  I want to be mindful every single day of the wonder of “the holy present,” but it's an unending challenge. 
  
Ironically, this goal is particularly slippery for me to catch hold of on Sundays.  Our household is deeply, (joyfully!) involved in the life/work of a faith community, and keeping track of “the holy present” can get lost in the shuffle of teaching, leading worship, preaching, connecting.  Don’t misunderstand – it’s good stuff; it just gets a little crazy. And finding the way to pause and refresh isn't easy. Sometimes a nap just doesn't do it. 

So, this week, we took to rambling.  


​My online Merriam Webster’s dictionary says a ramble is “a leisurely excursion for pleasure; especially: an aimless walk.”

​Maybe our journey wasn’t truly a ramble, because we were in search of something.  We just didn’t know quite what. But I think we found it.
Picture
We drove through autumn splendor, splashes of brilliant color that I didn't expect to see, not yet. (The first day of autumn isn't until Friday...and it still seems a bit like summer in my garden!?  Oh, broccoli.)
Picture
Our original destination was the Stone Mountain Hawkwatch, but we missed the show for the day. “900 broad-winged hawks,” the spotter explained.  His observation list  continued:“four bald eagles, three ospreys, a harrier...oh, and ?? monarch butterflies.” (They migrate too!  Individually, like the raptors, not in flocks like robins.) 

But apparently the bird migration superhighway shuts down in the late afternoon, as temperatures drop and thermals cease so we watched but spotted only one broadwing who had apparently also taken a longer nap than he intended!


We thought we'd watch the sunset here, but the due west view was obscured by trees. And so, our destination of disappointment was the starting point for our next adventure.  (I want to remember this life lesson...) 

We rambled behind the Hawkwatch on a path I'd never hiked; now I know it's part of the Standing Stone Trail. So much beauty surrounded us. 
Picture
Mountain ash
Picture
the (trail) goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began...(with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien)
And on and on and on...We stumbled upon a grand amphitheater from which to view the sunset.  "Where am I," I wondered.  
Picture
And who is Sausser?
Picture
Pile?!? The sign seems rather understated.
Picture

Seating options were myriad; the stadium was empty.

But you had to bring your own seat cushion. 

And refreshments.  Mmm. Sweet and salty.


Even without a sunset, the view was vast and varied. We were peering into the 'Shire as I've always imagined it, mellow and soft in the angled rays of deepening day. (Only our 'Shire was behind us...) 

Picture
And then sunset.

Glorious.

Luminous.

Transcendent.

And I've run out of adjectives.....let the sunset speak. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1) 

​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The heavens declare...
God did this. 
God is like this:
endlessly creative, 
no two sunsets exactly the same,
and happening every minute around the globe. 
All.the.time. 
From a certain perspective,
sunset is continuous. 
​(Sunrise too...)


My brain gets stuck right there, right here,  and I simply breathe in deep.
The beauty.The peace.
The mystical tranquility.

The sun dips below the last cloud bank, the last mountain range.  It's gone.   
Picture
The soundtrack of Late Summer Dusk is playing, louder now -we're surrounded by crickets and cicadas and intense katydids.  Shadows fall across the 'Shire.  Time to head home.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star, 
​ Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar. 

(from Bilbo's Walking Song in ch. 19 of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Picture
It's much darker as we re-enter the wooded path, and I wonder about nocturnal creatures awakening.  We encounter only two, a large toad probably soaking in the last bit of rock warmth, and a porcupine hustling out of..."oops, who are you??" and rapidly back into an impossible slim rock crevice.  
Right here, right now,
it's dark,

darker,
darkest, 
but somewhere, 
the heavens are
​(still!)
telling the glory of God. 

Picture
I want to keep listening...

HumminB
0 Comments

    Author

    I'm finding my way beyond the maze of the "middle" years
    (if I'm gonna be 100 and something someday...) 
    ​living life as a country woman who is a
     writer, gardener, wife, mom,  nature observer,  teacher,and most of all a much loved child of God.  

    Picture

    Stay Connected!

    Enter your email address for free notification of blog updates.

    Categories

    All
    Adoption
    Adventures In Going Nowhere
    Aging
    Amish
    Anne Lamott
    Anxiety
    Attentiveness
    Autism Spectrum
    Be Still
    Be Where Your Feet Are.
    Bible Study
    Birds
    Birdville
    Breakfast Club
    Buechner
    Change
    Christmas
    Clouds
    Country Life
    Creativity
    Easter
    Family
    Firefighters
    Following Jesus
    Friendship
    Garden Ponderings
    Gift Of Presence
    Grace
    Granola
    Grapenuts
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Holy Week
    Homeschool
    Hope
    Humor
    Israel Trip Reflections
    Joy
    Lessons From The Garden Of Weedin
    Life Lessons
    Marriage
    Mother Teresa
    Narnia
    Nature
    Ordinary Days
    Orphan Care
    Out The Door
    Parenting
    Pause
    Poetry
    Poverty
    Prayer
    Recipes
    Rest
    Shepherds' Meal
    Silence
    Solitude
    Songs
    Soul Stretching September
    South Africa
    South Africa
    Stand
    Stuff Management
    Sunsets
    The House
    Thursdays Are For Thankfulness.
    Time
    Tolkien
    Trees
    Trust
    Waiting
    Walking
    Weekends
    What's To Love About Winter?
    Wintergardens
    Wonder
    Woods
    Word Pondering
    Yogurt

    Counter

    Archives

    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.