Category: heaven

Posted in compassion, Emotional, eyes, faith, God, heart, heaven, hope, Mental, mercy, Physical, prayer, scripture, Spiritual, temporal

A Heart Knowing

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

Do you ever talk until your blue in the face, like talking to a wall or deaf ears? Maybe the trouble is that the person you are trying to reach has a stoppage somewhere. Either the head doesn’t know, or it is that the heart doesn’t know, or both.

Uh, prayer! Prayer for me for more patience. And prayer for him to open up his doors to God’s heart of compassion and mercy. Look beyond what can be seen with the physical eyes. Big eyes of faith, I call to our Father for this because I lack right now.

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. ~ Hebrews 11:1 GNT

And for him, that he realize what is more important. The physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being of our loved ones or stuff, stuff that is temporal. Give each of us a heart knowing and then, living out God’s heart in these matters. Two hearts melting together for a heavenly purpose.

 For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18 GNT

Posted in author, creation, death, earth, Easter, hallelujah, heaven, life, People, praise, season, words

This Easter Hallelujah

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

What a joyous season we are in! Hallelujah cries are everywhere! The birds. The bunnies. The flowers. The people sing. “Hallelujah” means “giving praise to our God!”

“Let them all praise the name of the Lord! His name is greater than all others; His glory is above earth and heaven!”

Psalms 148:13 GNT

Here is a more in-depth study on this word by author, Dr. Dikkon Eberhart. The famous song “Hallelujah” composed by Leonard Cohen has been sung by many musical artists such as Susan Boyle, Jeff Buckley, and Rufus Wainwright. Sisters, Cassandra and Callahan Star’s version is one of the greatest. The lyrics give the meaning to this spring celebration we call “Easter”.

Hallelujah

Written by Leonard Cohen
Sung by Cassandra & Callahan Star

Words, songs, and vignettes only begin to convey what God has in store for us …

Posted in age, body, comfort, death, eyes, Family, God, grandparent, health, heaven, Jesus, life, Physical, scripture, spirit, Spiritual, words

Our Bodies Wither

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

As I age I am more aware of the limitations of my own body. I was never an accomplished athlete, although I played a mean game of tetherball as a kid as well as softball in my youth into my middle adult years. I have been fortunate with fairly good health. So many do not have this. These past few years I also have been made aware of death. Another family member has passed away, not to return to this earthly life but pass onto his heavenly body. Thank God for the eternal salvation he and we have in Christ Jesus!

Aging

Aging came with hard work and active play.

Hands in the dirt, body stooped downward

to grow the trees and flowers to beauty full array.

Age spots, stretch marks, and belly rolls came

with each sunburn, baby, and those homemade recipes.

Hopefully aging with grace into this older woman I became.

These wrinkles do not melt away with the sun.

Unlike the layers of ice on the window

that drip, drip with the warmth of the sun.

Somehow those suntans subtract, then add age.

Camouflaged with lotions and makeup,

those wrinkles became more defined with age.

A gray here and there in my already multi-colored hair.

My first streak of silver looked intentional,

But one streak turned into more streaks to wear.

Bald patches, seasons of stress replaced with fun.

Hair loss eventually replaced with more white,

now volumes pulled up into a messy grandma’s bun.

Waking up in the morning it is harder to move.

House cleaning and plant tending chores

challenge this aging body to keep a groove.

That arthritis causes the joints to painfully inflame.

The irony is to keep moving those joints,

alternatively, idleness will be the ultimate blame.

The eyes grow dimmer, reading glasses to aid.

Fashion aware by the style and color of the lens’ frame

with these circling back around with a 40-year cycle made.

“Grandma glasses”, “grandma jeans”, “grandma bun”, they say.

What does it matter, I learn to comfort dress,

live how I want, with what I want, and with whom I may.

Memories come and go with each passing day.

Past photos capture and poems reflect,

some words said and not said are regrets today.

Other words remembered bringing warmth to the heart.

Like “I love you”, “I do”, “forgive me”, “I forgive you”,

and the wordless, kind gestures play a lasting part.

With you by my side come what may.

We will weather the threatening storms together

even to your last breath and my last day.

No matter who passes on first, the aging body will have its last word.

That word, the hardest will be saying “goodbye”,

Although our ageless spirits live on as promised by God’s word.

Anna Gall ~ January 21, 2024

"O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin—the sting that causes death—will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. How we thank God for all of this! It is He who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
~ 1 Corinthians 15:55 - 57
Posted in come, earth, eyes, faith, God, grace, heaven, help, hope, Jesus, mercy, mountains, sacred, scripture, seed

Rough Crags and Towering Mountains

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

The words were plenty to describe how I felt as a passenger in our sedan driving in the canyons with the rough crags and towering mountains surrounding. I felt swallowed up, minuet, minuscule, insignificant, a speck, as dust in the wind and then vaporized. It was a perspective I had not thought about in years as it had been at least 3 years since I was in the Rocky Mountains. I was overwhelmingly humbled by the sacred terrain at various times while vacationing in Colorado, brought to tears.

Such a vast and broad point of view if I were one of those mountains. It must be a fraction of how God views each of us. Yet He has personalized His love for each of us with His Son, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Oh, the love, grace, and mercy of our God! And how He views my faith the size of a mustard seed, and still helps!

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills– From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.“

Psalms 121: 1- 2
Posted in come, comfort, earth, Emotional, faith, forgiveness, grace, heart, heaven, home, invitation, sorrow, Spiritual

An Invitation

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

Come As You Are is a beautiful invitational hymn by David Crowder…

Come out of sadness
From wherever you’ve been
Come broken-hearted
Let the rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh, sinner, come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t cure

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

Lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
And fall in His arms
Come as you are

There’s joy for the morning
Oh, sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

Come as you are
Come as you are
Come as you are

Posted in body, brother, church, death, father, grace, grandfather, grief, heaven, Jesus, life, love, mother, peace, Physical, prayer, season, soul, Spiritual

I Still Love You

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

In darkness, in grief, in despair, or even just in the midst of seasons that never seem to end, we need to make space for pause.

~ Ann Voskamp

I still love you even though you left so abruptly. I had even wished it was one of your April’s fool’s jokes. I wondered that whole day on your favorite holiday if you would send a message or telephone to say, “April’s fools! It’s all a joke, I am not really dead.” But not so. You are dead, or least to this world. You have passed onto a much happier, freer life now. How is Heaven, my brother?

I still love you even though we lived so different lives. You a bachelor, no family to attend to and I with 6 adult children and 8 grandchildren. We still shared a love for our beloved mother, father, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and our northern friends. We lived in the same childhood home & family tree farm, made childhood vacation memories. We shared a love of the great outdoors, you especially with your hunting and fishing; I with my gardening. It meant the world to me when you came to Dean and I’s greenhouse and brought Grandpa to see our new adventure.

I still love you even though you left without saying those words to me. You left angry at me and our other siblings. You wanted no accountability, live life mortgage-free and a life full of cigarettes, alcohol, women, and gambling. You were writing checks your body could not cash in on anymore. We all can be a prodigal son at times, get off-course to what really matters. I know I have in my life. I had just hoped you would have come around while living on this earth. But I think you are now with those you loved the most, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Paula, your soulmate Eileen, and the Lord. The heavenly reunion was a joyful one, I am sure.

I still love you as you have taught me how to laugh and be unconventional. I think you will continue to teach me lessons. I know you were not a churchgoer, but a believer in Jesus Christ. Despite how many knelt knees and fervent prayers are said, it is by His grace that we are saved and set free. I have my quiet time almost every morning, but this week I am attending Mass every morning, too. Not sure how long God has called me to this, but I feel a peace each morning while praying with others and for others. I did this for various seasons while working in human resources, attended noon Mass at the church a block from my office during some troublesome times and for troubled employees.

“We can love completely what we cannot completely understand.” ~Norman Maclean

The movie A River Runs Through It reminds me of you. You are the Brad Pitt character, Paul. I saw this movie a couple of days before I learned of the news of your passing, and I told Dean “Paul reminds me of Steve.” The closing words of Norman Maclean’s story, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and ran over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops.” To me that river is the blood of Jesus, running through us, the rocks are us, and some of those rocks just have a little bit more sprinkling of raindrops, the blood of Jesus. God rest your soul. I love you, brother Steve.

Posted in citizenship, creative, Emotional, Financial, God, heaven, house, live, meditation, Mental, Physical, prayer, purpose, quote, scripture, spirit, Spiritual, Vocational, write

By Chance Or Creative Citizenship

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

 

A wooden birdhouse nailed to a backyard maple tree was home to Eurasian tree sparrows year after year. Eventually the squirrels chewed a bigger hole and took residence.  Now the tree does not exist as we made way for a room addition to the house, but the prized songbirds still return to our feeders every winter.  The Eurasian tree sparrow finds its citizenship in some select communities in the St. Louis, Missouri vicinity.  “Its presence in Missouri dates back to shortly after the Civil War. At that time it was a fad among nature enthusiasts to import nightingales, chaffinches, bullfinches and other songbirds from Europe. This was done in the false hope that new birds might help control insect pests, but was also an excuse among nostalgic immigrants who wanted to see birds ‘from the old country,'” written in a Missouri Conservationist Magazine article.  These meek songbirds entertain us humans by making nests in our birdhouses and stay around for winter dining on seeds left in the feeders.  Not native to Missouri, but they thrive.

Writers and artists need their own space to allow their creative juices to flow.  Writers’ and artists’ retreats can be found around the world.  Michael Pollan’s cites in his book, A Place Of My Own, “a room of one’s own … is a space of solitude a few steps off the beaten track of everyday life.”  I think we all need that space whether it is a nook in your house, a favorite bench at the park, or trail to walk amongst the trees and wildlife.  Creativity is for all people.  Historians, sociologists, and National Geographic photography and author, Dan Buettner study people around the world, seek those who thrive and live as centenarians. These century-old people have 9 common threads in the communities they live in what has been now dubbed the “Blue Zones”.  These threads are unique to their culture but can be tied together.  These threads are: they move naturally, have purpose, consume plant-based foods and stop eating when 80% full, practice moderate wine consumption, have daily down time, their family comes first, live in the right tribe for self, and belong to a like faith community.

As a wellness professional I stand by the concept of “The 7 Dimensions of Wellness”:  physical, spiritual, vocational/financial, emotional, social, intellectual, and environmental which I can easily tie into the Blue Zone’s 9 common threads.  With all this, what is one dimension that the others surround around?  It is the spiritual dimension.  It defines our purpose, beliefs, and values.  It centers our thoughts, prayers, and meditations.  It is big enough that it allows us to accept others.  And your spiritual practice,  is it integrated in everyday life?  Are you thriving?  Where do you find your citizenship?  Are you here by chance or did the Creator create your place/space for a purpose?  And where will you be after the Earth is no more?  Your spirit lives forever.