Readers

The Art of Creation: Through Our Readers' Eyes

July 8, 2021 - This week, we share the fabulous photos sent in from readers. We hope you enjoy The Art of Creation: Through Our Readers' Eyes. By Louise Conner

Thanks to the readers who submitted pictures and comments to go along with them. They help us see the art of creation all around us in different ways! If, when you look at any of these pictures, they strike a chord with you and you want to respond in writing, please feel free to leave a response in the comment section by following the link at the bottom of the post. For this special post, only subscribers will recieve it by email and be able to see it on the website—if you would like a friend to see it, I suggest that you forward it to them.

Mac Taylor

Here my dog Chepe is bounding with joy towards the Cascades, full of life and energy as the sun gives its warmth to grow the grasses and trees and blackberry bushes...

Yes! I love the joy in this picture. Thanks for sharing it, Mac. He looks like he's headed straight for those mountains! And thanks for sharing other pictures of that Father's Day walk as well, some of which I've posted below.

Christine Sine

This is the latest addition to my poppy collection - black swan poppy. It is unique and beautiful. Has stopped me in my tracks in awe and wonder each time I look at it.

Christine, the center of that flower is so amazing, with the contrast between the white and the scarlet. But the ruffly edges are pretty cool, too! I can see why it stops you in your tracks. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Jeff Reed

This picture was taken looking west from a mountaintop in the middle of Wild Horse State Park, an island in Flat Head Lake, Montana. It was exhilarating to explore an island only accessible by watercraft on which wild horses, mule deer, and bighorn sheep roam freely. Tasting something this primitive and isolated left me hungry for more encounters with nature’s innocence, scenes uninterrupted by the ubiquitous intrusion of modernity (even as I carried my high tech iPhone with me to snap the photo!).

Thanks, Jeff! It looks like and sounds like it was a great adventure. How satisfying to get a taste of that wildness, with the animals roaming freely. There are places where I would love to step back 100 years—and it must have felt like you got to do that (except for the phone :)) Did it smell or sound different?

Rick Mylander

Gail and I were walking late one evening last month just before sunset in Coupeville’s Rhododendron Park, a little-known gem with towering Doug firs and enormous coastal rhodies. Our attention was caught by what at a distance appeared to be a stump on fire, and it resolved itself as we approached into a hollow trunk remnant just coincidently catching the very last of a direct sun ray from the west, standing out in the forest’s darkness. It became for us a burning bush, a gift of God’s grace, and provided yet another reminder that all of God’s creation is holy ground.

The inside of that tree trunk is so bright, lit up by the sun! Thanks for sharing this experience with us and for passing on the reminder that holy ground is all around us, Rick.

Jan Bowman

Crater Lake — Yosemite: Half Dome — Mt. Bachelor Places I have visited this June ❤️

Thanks for you sharing your travels to these lovely places with us, Jan! I had so many wonderful experiences in Yosemite with my parents throughout the years—all of our vacations were centered around being outdoors together and your picture of Crater Lake makes me think that sharing these experiences is important to you, too.

Elaine Breckenridge

When I first saw this cross, on Camano Island, Washington, I felt as though I had entered a sacred sanctuary. I had! God is surely in this place I've named Madrone Chapel. There I found a pew beneath a Madrone cross overlooking the sea. Angels disguised as birds are my choir. The light shimmering through the trees are as beautiful as any stained glass window. Each visit, I know, I am on holy ground and surrounded by God's presence.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have more open-air sanctuaries so that our songs could mingle with the songs of the birds? I am glad you have such a beautiful place nearby where you can go and be aware and certain of God's presence. I think we need those places. Thank you for sharing this with us, Elaine.

Lisa Ellis

A Sign of Hope in Grief—St. Patrick’s Day March 17, 2021—These two found a way thru the curbside. They were a delight to find a few weeks after my father’s passing Feb. 21 and the heartache of packing up his house belongings, mostly on my own because of the pandemic. This surprise is a reminder, somehow for me, that both of my parents left a legacy for my sister and I to share how important all of creation is in the big picture and as a witness to the resurrection in daily living—God's making all things new through grief and loss.

Lisa, your picture makes me wonder how the bulbs even got into that crack! But there they are, as you show us, popping up in a very unlikely and difficult-to-thrive place. What a good reminder that sometimes, underneath that hard concrete, something good is growing that we don't even suspect is there.

For those who might wonder, the picture at the top is of this post is (I believe) a tree cricket nymph that dropped in a-visiting in the middle of our lunch. We shared our table, deck, and view, but not our lunch, and in exchange, got a close-up view of his intricate legs and body. Quite a little work of art he was.

I loved seeing the pictures and perspectives shared by our readers. Thank you, again! I look forward to doing this again—maybe with pictures, maybe with something else—so that we are can continue to include your view into the art of creation.

Louise

You can contact me directly at louise.conner@circlewood.online.

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