…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. … And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8 -9
What is my only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
~Heidelberg Catechism
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~Mary Oliver
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
~ T.S. Eliot
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To live is so startling, it leaves little room for other occupations.
~Emily Dickinson
I believe in God as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
~ C. S. Lewis
Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.
~ Augustine
Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.
~ Mary Oliver
The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.
~ Wendell Berry
Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine the true poetry of life.~ Sir William Osler
But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
~George Eliot’s final sentence in Middlemarch
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
~ E.B. White
Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.~~ “The Wild Geese” Wendell Berry
Let it come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.
~ Jane Kenyon from “Let Evening Come”
You can only come to the morning through the shadows.~ J.R.R. Tolkien
Look for what you notice but no one else sees. ~Rick Rubin
If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. ~ Thomas Merton
This life therefore is not righteousness,
but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet
what we shall be,
but we are growing toward it.
The process is not finished
but it is going on.
This is not the end
but it is the road.
~Martin Luther
Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
~ Mary Oliver
It is not your love that sustains the marriage —
but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
She has done what she could…
~Mark 14:8
What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?~ J. R. R. Tolkien from The Hobbit
Barnstorming 
These pics take my breath away (as do the ones yesterday). I cannot bear to have them disappear back into the void of cyberspace. I want to keep looking. So — I’m printing and making copies to put on the wall above my PC.
When you say, “We’ve seen nothing yet,” it is a major understatement. I sincerely hope that our Creator-God will continue to surprise us with the
beauty of changing seasons when we are finally ‘home.’
It just occurred to me, Emily, in a deeper way, that He has given us the seasonal changes as a ‘message,’ a ‘preview’ of the full Kingdom beauty to come. OR …. is it a
message meant for us to understand and appreciate the world in which we now exist — His beauty-filled space that we do not always take the time to see, to take into our being each day as part of our much-needed soul food?
We take so much for granted as we race blindly through each day, week, year of our lives without ever stopping to look, to see, to acknowledge the messages that He is sending to us in Nature, and in the human lives being lived among us..
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You are the most gifted writer I have ever known. You are truly amazing. Everything you write, everyday, blows me away. Thank you for your brillance! Best, Heather Hejmanowski
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Yes to both of the previous comments. Where I live, we don’t have such distinct seasons. We have had a few days with the fall chill, yesterday looked like rain, sunny today with a high of 78° and to be back in the low 100’s this weekend. But yes, our vegetables are still putting on and full fall will be here soon enough.
I do enjoy the beautiful photo’s you pick to go with your words. And the deep meaning that comes from within. Hugs, laura
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For me summer is only gone with the first snowflake…
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Your pictures are so stunningly beautiful. As you lament the passing of summer, know that others reading your posts such as myself here in South Texas are lamenting the fact that we don’t get to watch summer change into fall and then winter very much. We watch it happen through people like you who share it with us. My husband’s family is from Mount Vernon, he climbed Mount Baker when he was a teen and took me to see your part of the country when we were first married 40 years ago. It is so beautiful there. Thank you for all you share with us who have found Barnstorming/Briarcroft. I open your posts every morning to start my day. Perhaps it can help to know others are wishing they could experience your change of summer to fall, that we experience it through you while putting pumpkins on our porches and acorns & leaves on our tables, pine cones across our mantles, but keeping the air conditioner running all the way into November! I am so glad I found you. You are my same age and I resonate with you which is a rare find for me. Thank you so much and Happy Fall! Susan
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Hi Susan and thank you for your snapshot of Texas, a place I’ve never visited. I am so glad you found me too!
if you ever come up this way again, let me know!
blessings, Emily
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ah, Nancy, my friend, summer dwells inside you, so is never gone!
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love you Laura, you are the best!
Emily
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Heather, what great encouragement for me to keep trying every day, thank you so much for reading and writing to me!
Blessings, Emily
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Alice, as always you “get” it and say it so far better than I! I love reading your comments and the insights you share. Love you always, Emily
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Fabulous fall! I love the idea of putting on “the soft shawl of inevitability”…and those photos, wow!
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