Category Archives: Quotes

Legend of the Dogwood ~ Easter

 

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The Legend of the Dogwood

There is a legend, that at the time of the Crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber of the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus, nailed upon it, sensed this, and in His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering said to it: “Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross. ..two long and two short petals. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember.”

I recognize that this is just a legend but I wanted to post this entry because I’ve always loved the Dogwood blooms. If I look at them and think about what my Savior did for me that’s a good thing. He created the tree, the beautiful bloom, and you and me to enjoy it! Praising God this Easter season for His sacrifice on behalf of us.

Here are some interesting facts about the dates that Easter falls on;

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox. This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman Calendar.

Here’s the very full moon from last night 3-21-08 that caused Easter to be so early this year!

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will see for the rest of our lives! The next time Easter will be this early is in the year 2228 (220 years from now).

The earliest calendar date on which Easter can fall is March 22nd and the latest date it can fall is April 25th.

Next year in 2009 Easter will be on April 12th!

Happy Easter Everyone…

Sky Watch ~ Good Friday

 

Luke 23: 44-46 ~ “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said thus, He breathed His last.”

For more Sky Watch photos visit Tom at  Wiggers World.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Poetry of the Cross

Over at Rebecca Writes there are links to posts with the theme of the Poetry of the Cross. This is something I found that I’ll contribute during this Holy Week.

I found this old book on our bookcase that Dear’s parents owned. It is called The Gospel in Art by Albert Edward Bailey copyright 1916.

I’m sharing this portion from the section RENI: “ECCE HOMO” John 19:1-5

 

Reni, Guido (1575-1642) Original: in the National Gallery, London.

“There is no denying that the thought of Christ’s suffering has been a powerful stimulus to the religious life of the past. Latin Christianity is full of it, and even Greek Christianity found inspiration in it. Hymns to the suffering Savior have sounded from many a monastery cell and have echoed sweetly down even to our own time. Take for example the wonderful hymn of Bernard, redolent of the midnight vigil and of modes of thought characteristic of his age, but of such beauty that every country and every Christian sect claims a share of it.

“O Sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down;
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorn, thine only crown.
O Sacred Head, what glory,
What bliss till now was thine!
Yet though despised and gory
I joy to call thee mine.”

This hymn is one section of a long poem beginning “Salve mundi salutare,” addressed to the different members of Christ, “a most devout prayer of the Abbot St. Bernard, which he made when an image of the Savior with outstretched arms embraced him from the cross.” There is a still earlier hymn by Theoctistus of the Studium, Constantinople, less widely known but scarcely less beautiful in Neale’s translation. It is found in some of our hymnals under the first line, “Jesus, name all names above.” This hymn evidently arose under the same need as Bernard’s, and serves to show how all the harrowing details of suffering may be blended in thought with one’s highest spiritual good.

“Jesus, crowned with thorns for me,
Scourged for my transgression,
Witnessing in agony
That thy good confession.
Jesus clad in purple raiment,
For my evil making payment:
Let not all thy woe and pain,
Let not Calvary be in vain.”

When we visited the National Gallery we started in the religious art section with painting after painting of Christ on the cross. After a while I was eager to head to another part of the gallery. When I think of Jesus I do not typically picture Him on the cross at Calvary. I’m always eager to get from Good Friday (which my nephew thinks should not be called “good”) to Resurrection Sunday. I love to picture the Risen Christ, triumphant and victorious, after all that pain and agony. He Lives! Thanks be to God!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Maundy Thursday ~ John 13: 1-17

 I’m reposting this from last year… Blessings! 

Maundy ThursdayCeremonial washing of feet

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday of Holy Week (the Thursday before Easter). It was the day on which Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, sharing a meal with them which we call the Last Supper.

In those days it was usual for a servant to wash the guests feet on arrival. On this occasion there was no servant present and none of the disciples volunteered to do the menial task. Instead, Jesus got up and washed his disciples feet, giving them an object lesson in humility and service.

In some churches priests carry out a ceremonial washing of the feet of twelve men on Maundy Thursday as a commemoration of Christ’s act.

In Britain it is still customary for the sovereign to give ‘Maundy Money’ to a number of male and female pensioners – one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign’s age. The money is contained in two purses: one red and one white. The white purse contains specially minted coins – one for each year of the sovereign’s life. The red purse now also contains money, in lieu of gifts which used to be offered to the poor. Up to the time of James II the sovereign also washed the feet of selected poor men.

The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin for ‘command’ (mandatum). It refers to the command given by Jesus at the Last Supper, that his disciples should love one another.

Thanks to Jeff Osborne for supplying the picture below which shows a bowl with two platforms. The guest would be able to stand on these and have water poured over the feet into the bowl

 Ethiopian basin for washing feet

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet ~  John 13: 1-17 (ESV)

13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet,  but is completely clean. And you  are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant  is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

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What Jesus did here to teach his disciples is very important for us to consider. He showed the “full extent of his love” by washing their feet and instructed them to follow his example and wash each others feet. We can’t miss the fact that serving one another is a very important truth that Jesus wants us to understand and follow. We need to put others needs above our own. Who does God want me to serve? Who am I suppose to wrap the towel around my waist for? Who am I suppose to lay down my rights and privileges for? Who am I to show the full extent of my love to?  Who am I suppose to humble myself for? I pray that I will go deep in understanding this amazing thing that God wants me to follow Him in and that you will, too. Let us consider together what our Savior, Master, King did and try to do the same.

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+13%3A+1-17

http://www.thisischurch.com/christianinfo/maundythursday.htm

WFW ~ Hebrews 12: 1-2

 

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

For more Word Filled Wednesday click here.

Santa Monica Mountains Wildflowers

To be able to call the plants by name
makes them a hundredfold more sweet and intimate.
Naming things is one of the oldest and
simplest of human pastimes.

Henry Van Dyke in Little Rivers

 

Giant Coreopsis, Sea Dahlia                   Indian Paintbrush ~ Figwort Family
Sunflower Family

 

Wild Hyacinth ~ Amaryllis Family             Chocolate Lily ~ Lily Family

California Encelia ~ Bush Sunflower,  Sunflower Family

Wishbone Bush ~ Four O’Clock Family

Rattlesnake Weed ~ Spurge Family

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter’s on its way

And In the wonderful words of Swinburne –

Winter’s rains and ruins are over
—————–
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the Spring begins

~

The paths lead them in pleasant places who walk among the wild flowers.

March 1952  ~ John Kieran

Psalm 104: 24-25 ~

“O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures
innumerable,
living things both small and great.”

For more Wildflowers in Winter click here.

ht: quotes from  An Introduction to Wild Flowers by John Kieran

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Thankful Thursday ~ Hope

I am so thankful to God for this time of year. This time before Spring arrives. The anticipation for Easter and then the culmination with a great celebration of the Resurrection. I think this even trumps Christmas for me. I love Christmas, too, but the New life and new birth and flowers and strawberries that come with Spring just overwhelm me! Thank you God for these simple pleasures and your amazing sacrifice and miracle of your Resurrection that make this season so beautiful!

Hebrews 6: 19, 20 ~ “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us has entered on our behalf. ”

For more Thankful Thursday click here.

WFW ~ Mathew 6: 25-27

 

wfw_blue1.jpg

Mathew 6: 25-27 ~
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more imortant than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

For more Word Filled Wednesday head over to The 160 Acre Woods

ABC Wednesday ~ G is for…

 

G is for Gulls that we see in abundance on our Saturday walks at the beach in Ventura, California.

G is also for Anne of Green Gables that I just read for the first time. What a delightful book. I had seen productions of the series on Television. Here is a quote from the book.

“Marilla felt more embarrassed than ever. She had intended to teach Anne the childish classic, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” But she had, as I have told you, the glimmerings of a sense of humor – which is simply another name for a sense of the fitness of things; and it suddenly occurred to her that that simple little prayer, sacred to white-robed childhood lisping at motherly knees, was entirely unsuited to this freckled witch of a girl who knew and cared nothing about God’s love, since she had never had it translated to her through the medium of human love.

“You’re old enough to pray for yourself, Anne,” she said finally. “Just thank God for your blessings and ask Him humbly for the things you want.”

“Well, I’ll do my best,” promised Anne, burying her face in Marilla’s lap. “Gracious heavenly Father – that’s the way the ministers say it in church, so I suppose it’s all right in a private prayer, isn’t it?” she interjected, lifting her head for a moment.

Gracious heavenly Father, I thank Thee for the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters and Bonny and the Snow Queen. I’m really extremely grateful for them. And that’s all the blessings I can think of just now to thank Thee for. As for the things I want, they’re so numerous that it would take a great deal of time to name them all, so I will only mention the two most important. Please let me stay at Green Gables; and please let me be good-looking when I grow up. I remain,

Yours respectfully,
Anne Shirley.

“There, did I do it all right?” she asked eagerly, getting up. “I could have made it much more flowery if I’d had a little more time to think it over.”

Now after all that you deserve one of these that begin with the letter G!

 

Make mine a Guinness Please…

For more ABC Wednesday click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.