Silver, Furry, Catkins, Reach for the Sky
Now we worry about a piece of bread, about a roof over our heads, about our social conditions. And it seems to us that the meaning of life consists of this. But the Church says, Look at the pussy willows: leaves will sprout and later flowers and fruit. So it is even in a Christian soul. ~ Archbishop Andrei Rymarenko (1893- 1978)
Local Fungi, Vaults Velvety Sea of Moss
From the creation, learn to admire the Lord! Indeed the magnitude and beauty of creation display a God who is artificer of the universe. He has made the mode of creation to be our best teacher. ~ St. John Chrysostom
If we lose our sense of wonder before the beauty of nature… this suggests that we have at the same time lost our sense of God’s grace. ~ Metropolitan Kallistos Ware
That green leaf on the tree which you needlessly plucked – it was not wrong, only rather a pity for the little leaf. The heart that has learned to love feels sorry for every created thing. ~ St. Silouan
Beautiful Star Mosaic by Melania
If we could hear stars sing their crystalline cantatas of praise to the Creator, our hearts would be so effused with such Divine sweetness and yearning; it would be unbearably impossible to not join in chorus of jubilation with them.
What sort of praise can I give Thee? I have never heard the song of the Cherubim, a joy reserved for the spirits above. But I know the praises that nature sings to Thee. In winter, I have beheld how silently in the moonlight the whole earth offers Thee prayer, clad in its white mantle of snow, sparkling like diamonds. I have seen how the rising sun rejoices in Thee, how the song of the birds is a chorus of praise to Thee. I have heard the mysterious mutterings of the forests about Thee, and the winds singing Thy praise as they stir the waters. I have understood how the choirs of stars proclaim Thy glory as they move forever in the depths of infinite space. What is my poor worship! All nature obeys Thee, I do not. Yet while I live, I see Thy love, I long to thank Thee, and call upon Thy name. ~ Ikos 12, (The Akathist Hymn: Glory to God for All Things)
The firmament has the stars for its beauty, and dispassion has the virtues for its adornments. ~ St. John of the Ladder
Scripture Art Photo by Juliana
I love seeing raindrops reflect like jewels on flowers and leaves. They’re mysterious, beautiful, and the centre of each drop contains a single speck of cloud dust.
Like the sphere of our own world, every raindrop is globe-shaped, and holds a microcosm of Earth’s history within. All water on Earth is – and always has been – continually recycled through the hydrosphere of our oceans, rivers, lakes and clouds.
Raindrops remind us everything’s connected.
Who knows… Perhaps a raindrop that falls on us today was once part of the Jordan River, surrounding Christ where He stood to be baptised?
Maybe that fluffy snowflake melting on our nose could have at one time, splashed against the bow of The Ark during the Great Flood?
Perchance this morning’s dew which sits serenely on a rose petal, once glistened in Eden’s Garden?
Raindrops are ancient and possess the numinous beauty of Creation. Water is life, and blessed water is Holy Water.
Let us keep looking up… for the heavens declare the glory of God!
…Accept the fountain of my tears, Thou who dost gather the waters of the sea to clouds... ~ Hymn of Kassiani
For when the ground soaks up rain that often falls on it and continues producing vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated, it receives a blessing from God. ~ Hebrews 6:7
…All things become opportunities for us to be joined more closely with everything and everyone. They become occasions for thanksgiving and prayer. Live in the midst of everything, nature and universe. Nature is the secret Gospel. But when one does not possess inner grace, nature is of no benefit. Nature awakens us, but it cannot bring us into Paradise. ~ St. Porphyrios (Wounded by Love)
Wild Backyard Poppy
…Whenever you discern something… which is a revelation of harmony and beauty, emphasize it and help it to flower. Strengthen it and encourage it to live. ~ Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
In love did He bring the world into existence; in love does He guide it during this its temporal existence; in love is He going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of Him who has performed all these things; in love will the whole course of the governance of creation be finally comprised. And since in the New World the Creator’s love rules over all rational nature, the wonder at His mysteries that will be revealed then will captivate to itself the intellect of all rational beings whom He has created so that they might have delight in Him, whether they be evil or whether they be just. ~ St. Isaac of Syria
The soul leaves all surface appearances, not only those that can be grasped by the senses but also those which the mind itself seems to see, and it keeps going deeper until by the operation of the spirit it penetrates the invisible and incomprehensible, and it is there that it sees God. The true vision and the true knowledge of what we seek consists precisely in not seeing, in an awareness that our goal transcends all knowledge… ~ St. Gregory of Nyssa
Vermillion Leaf on Pebble-Mosaic Church Walkway
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day weekend, eh?!
We’ve so much to be thankful for!
Every day.
Every season.
Granted, the blessings in our lives are unavoidably peppered with a few “banes”… but it’s the banes that make each blessing all the more sweet!
Thanksgiving is a daily Christian practice. It takes us outside of ourselves. It bestows unexpected blessings. It brings us closer to God.
With each heartfelt thank you, we string together organic beads of gratitude as strands of spiritual pearls. This iridescent, noetic necklace, swathes our soul with joy.
What if we woke up this morning to find only what we had thanked God for yesterday, what would we have? ~ Anonymous
We must begin with thanksgiving for everything. The beginning of joy is to be content with your situation. ~ St. Ambrose of Optina
…When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. …Give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit… ~ St. Basil the Great
Every genuine confession humbles the soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it teaches the soul that it has been delivered by the grace of God. ~ St. Maximos the Confessor
How You bring sweetness to those who think of You, how life-giving is Your word. It is softer than oil, sweeter than honey to talk with You. Praying to You brings life into us and gives us wings. What trembling then fills the heart, what dignity and greatness and wisdom there are in nature and all of life. Where You are not – there is emptiness. Where You are – there is richness of soul a torrent of life: Alleluia. ~ From the Akathist of Thanksgiving
God does not need our praise. Thanksgiving…brings us closer to Him. ~ St. John Chrysostom
When in truth we appreciate the gifts which God gives us, we don’t have time to seek anything else. We run to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you… For everything … thank you. And such a joy comes into our life… ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia
Thank you for visiting Blisswood!
Each morning is fresh and new. A perfect way to start our day is to give thanks for His many blessings!
This sweet and simple folk-hymn (by Martin G. Schneider) is remembered from my youth. There are many verses, but this first verse is my favourite! “Thank You for giving me this morning, thank You for everyday that’s new, thank You that I can know my worries can be cast on You!”
Local sunset, on paddle board – photo shared by Katherine
Such, then, is our God: unknowable in his essence, yet known in his energies; beyond and above all that we can think or express, yet closer to us than our own heart. ~ Kallistos Ware
If I do not feel a sense of joy in God’s creation, if I forget to offer the world back to God with thankfulness, I have advanced very little upon the Way. I have not yet learnt to be truly human. For it is only through thanksgiving that I can become myself. ~ Kallistos Ware
We know that prayer in itself cannot and of itself cannot save us, but carrying it before God can. For when the Lord’s eyes are upon un, He sanctifies us, as the sun warms everything upon which it shines. ~ St. Gregory Palamas
Prayer is spiritual breathing; when we pray we breathe in the Holy Spirit; “praying in the Holy Spirit“. Thus, all church prayers are the breathing of the Holy Spirit; as it were spiritual air and also light, spiritual fire, spiritual food and spiritual raiment. ~ St. John of Kronstadt
A Floribunda Rose with fragrant, dense clusters of beauteous blossoms
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11
The fruits of the earth are not brought to perfection immediately, but by time, rain and care; similarly, the fruits of men ripen through ascetic practice, study, time, perseverance, self-control and patience. ~ St. Antony the Great
I have run to the fragrance of your myrrh, O Christ God, for I have been wounded by your love; do not depart from me, O heavenly Bridegroom. ~ St. Porphyrios
May we buzz like bees to the Fragrance of Christ and become permeated with His Divine Perfume!
Then, with faith and patience, let us perennially blossom forth… wherever God’s Loving Hands have planted us!
Even on the cross He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the Presence of its Maker. ~St. Athanasius
Alabaster, Onyx, and Marble Mandylion (Towel) Iconostasis Mosaic – St. Sophia Orthodox Church, Canada
Jesus Christ is our precious and chief cornerstone… in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. ~ Ephesians 2:19-22
God is Beautiful, and His House reflects this Beauty as a sacramental image of the Heavenly Jerusalem here on Earth… Our Door to Paradise.
Beautifying the House of God is pleasing to Him. Traditional stylized toweling has a very long history in church iconography. Frescoed borders of stylized fabric of “towels, or mandylion” represent the original linens from Old Testament times used within the original Portable Tabernacle.
Decorative wall mandylion run along the walls of many Orthodox churches, and are covered with adorning emblems. These also recall the Scriptural theme of linen napkins and towels as cited in the New Testament. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left… ~ Acts 19:11-12.
Furthermore, Holy Tradition relates the miraculous Holy Image Not Made by Hands by the transference of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ‘s Face, onto a linen towel.
A Living Stone and a Holy People. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” ~ 1 Peter 2:1-6
Having made us in His own image, God has given us an indelible love for beauty. We worship Him with body and soul, using all the beauty of His creation to move us to prayer and worship – through icons, beautiful ancient singing, sweet-smelling incense, and majestic holy services.
Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation… ~ Isaiah 28:16
Jesus Christ is our Precious Cornerstone.
May our hearts build on God’s Beauty and Wisdom to become proper temples and dwelling places for the Holy Spirit.
Glory to God for all things!
