All right gang - here's a topic where there will surely be no arguments or conflicting opinions - well maybe not the latter part. But - let me explain.

Every now and then I believe God allows me to see a very rare moment of the brilliance of his creation. Call it whatever you want - doesn't matter to me. But I'm sure we've all had them.

I just witnessed Randy Newman on David Letterman performing "Easy Street" with the orchestra.

Brilliant. A once in a lifetime experience that I am so glad I did not miss. You can always tell these moments - because you feel a swelling in your heart, and your eyes tear up. You are thorougly convinced you are witnessing the closest thing there is to perfection.

Ever have one of those moment? Share it.

The birth of your child.

Yes - I would certainly think that there would be pages and pages of testimonies of this nature.
That is a moment of brilliance that just doesn't go away.

quite a few of those moments - first time I saw and heard Josh Groban sing - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

But one moment that stands out at this present time is on a return flight from the UK to the states. It was mid afternoon when we took off, a fairly pleasant sunny day. The plane was relatively new, so it was by far one of the most comfortable flights. Very soon after take off we were over southern Ireland (I had not seen it on past flights due to the weather - so I was not expecting what I saw) - I happened to look out the window - and what a sight to behold. Brilliant blue sky, dotted with white fluffy clouds and as we descended slightly it was like a picture unfolding as I got a view of the beautiful lush, green landscape below. Breathtaking does not begin to describe it. The view was momentary, but the memory will last a lifetime. A few hours later, it felt good to be home again.

yes,

every morning when i wake up...

I get one of those daily. I live in the country, and I get all kinds of God's creatures stirring about my place.

Yesterday, I was greeted by a "wall" of butterflies when I pulled into my driveway. The whole driveway (about 30 yards (26 meters) was covered with them. They swirled around the car as I passed, and swirled around me as I walked to the house. I came out to water the new section of lawn I just planted (less than twenty minutes later) and they were gone.

If that isn't God saying "somebody needs to welcome him home today," I don't know what is.

I have been very lucky.

I see the beauty of the underwater world every day as a diving instructor.

But there are moments that just fill your heart, I agree.

One such moment is seeing a mother and child asleep as the sun comes up. Just sitting and watching for an hour as they both come around from their slumbers - overwhelming.

I have given this some thought over the years,

... and have come to the conclusion that the more you train yourself in quieting the 'noise' (self-consciosnous, personnal preoccupations, obsessions, etc.),

... the more you free-up your concentration for something else than self-absorbed disconnected (from life and grace) thoughts.

Whether you arrive at these moments of 'self absorbed noise-free' states through meditation, prayer, deep breadthing or totally random, wherever you happen to be in those moments, and whatever happens in those moments, will touch and move you!

IMO those are the moments we refer to as 'state of grace'!!!

No self absorbed noise. Just present, open and 'available' to whatever is 'there' at that 'state of grace' point.

IMO, rather than outside circumstances, each one of us has more to do with generating our own presence and availability to life touching grace('moments of grace').

one of the most memorable times I have the pleasure to experience is when I wake up early in the morning just before dawn.. just before the world around me awakens as well. There is silence. Just before the sun rises you hear it! LIFE! The birds are first. It is as if they are trying to call the sun up. There chirping gets louder and louder as the sun slowly rises up over the horizon. Then small animals and the noise grows exponetially!! The sound slowly becomes a roar! And another day has dawned!
Birds fly about. Insects flutter away.. Steam rises from lakes and trees. It is utterly stunning!!
I have witnessed this in many parts of the country and it is just an amazing breath taking view. My favorite place is on top of a mountain. There is plenty to see and experience. It can be breathtaking and humbling at the same time. I suggest it to anyone...

Oh geez...I have a list of things...

things that make me pause...

The smell of fresh cut grass after a rain...

A fresh snowfall...AWESOME!

A beautiful day like today.

The sounds of soft piano music always calms my soul. A beautiful song called Umbrella...

These things make me know what heaven will be like...only better.

Have you ever raised cats on a farm? Our cats would regularly babysit each other's kittens while one of them would go out to hunt or otherwise be gone.

One day I chanced upon a baby sitting mother who had a few extra kittens I had not seen before. They were neither her kittens or her sisters.

She was baby sitting two baby skunks who were nursing right along with her kittens. Hummmmm.

Very interesting...

JB

The little skunk who came in from out of the rain:

A very small skunk had come into my covered porch during a very noisy and violent rain storm. My dog was barking at the intruder and both of us had received a very fine mist of its delicate perfume.

I snatched up my dog and brought him into the house and left the door open for the skunk to leave. He had other ideas. He curled up behind a chair to rest until the storm passed. I looked behind the chair and he just looked up at me with black marble eyes. He was not leaving. I was not about to make him.

By morning he was gone. He was really very cute.

There was this moment of perfection and love and peace...that came as a gift to me just this past spring ....but it was sent straight from God.

It was just a couple of days after the very special man in my life ,went home to be with the Lord.
I was just starting out on usual early morning walk.
On this particular morning, my heart was heavy with grief, over the loss of my special friend.

As I started out on my walk on this particular morning, I suddenly noticed ,as far as the eye could see..... literally thousands upon thousands of yellow flowers everywhere.
There were al these yellow flowers on my lawn, on the neighbor's lawn , all over the grazing lands of the ranch ,on the sides of the road...and I remember thinking ,wow...God sure blessed me with a field of flowers this late spring all of a sudden!!
And despite my tears over the loss of my loved one, I rejoiced at all of God's Beauty everywhere.

I also remember thinking ..how amazing to see all these yellow flowers pop up like that overnight ...at the end of te spring flower blooming season.........cause the flowers were not there the day before.
So I just thought ...wow...spring just sprung up all over again, with these flowers overnight.

Well...The next morning, I woke up early again ,so I could enjoy the yellow field of flowers again....cause I am a flower lover...... ....but as I started out again on my usual morning walk.......I looked around....
And there were no yellow flowers to be found.
Not one.
No where.

So then , I ran across the highway to look at my neighbors lawn...cause I remembered thinking the day before...hmmmm....how strange to see that in the middle of my neighbors always freshly mowed lawn, were all these yellow flowers blooming like that.
So as I ran over to look at their lawn again, I found not one yellow flower on their lawn.....nowhere.
I even bent down to se if I could find some flower stems, thinking that maybe the flower petals had not opened yet that morning.
(Can you just picture me on my neighbors lawn, crawling around on the lawn, looking for flowers?
Glad my neighbors weren't home to see me....)
But as I crawled around on their lawn, I did not find one flower stem......no where..

And that is when I knew....
The Yellow Field of Flowers were sent from God from heaven above...... as a sign from My beloved friend was trying to let me know.... all is well...and was sending his love.

See...my friend used to photograph me in a field of flowers..and he always used to say how much he loved how I loved springtime and flowers.

To me, on that very special morning...the yellow flowers everywhere....was a gift sent to me....straight from heaven above..from my special friend.

I never saw the flowers again.

But that morning will be remembered as a day of how God sent me a sign .... to comfort me in my time of sorrow..and to let me know .. my friend was thinking of me..and was sending his love from heaven above.
And so was God .

That's awesome Morningsong! Really cool! It reminded me of a poem I wrote:


You are Gone

My broken heart pines
There's a tear in my eye
yet the sun still shines
and the birds still fly.

My heart is gone...
stolen away,
Yet I hear a song
saying "love is the way."

The flowers still grow
It just seems wrong
I guess they don't know
that you are gone.

Your Poem is Sad but So Beautiful !!!

You Are Beautiful Too, Jeannie..Inside and Out.
And Always Kind.
May God Bless You Always, Jeannie

((((((((Jeannie))))))))))

Every time I see the ocean (pretty much every day).

It's always different. Some days clear and calm and you can see the bottom. Other days rough and full of drifting life and detritus... amazing sunrises, beautiful sunsets...

I can't "prove" there is a god. But I know art when I see it.

I know that it might seem Korny but I do, in everything around me.

The children playing baseball at the diamond behind our worksite

The wildflowers growing everywhere

The wind whispering in the country rustling the trees

The little striped gopher that I helped escape from the downspout

The crickets chirping soothing me to sleep

The sweet smell of the corn fields in tassel

All around me.

Except for these two cats. All they do is eat and poop.

Ah... Josh. The voice of an angel. I believ that he and Andre Botchelli are the purest voices on the planet.

I can only imagine how fascinating that must be. My only perspective of it is through my television set. To have it be one's job! Remarkable.