Autumn butterfly

One October afternoon amidst the falling leaves  a butterfly winged its way through our yard. My daughter caught it in her net on echinacea blossoms which had evaded the several frosts that have touched the yard. We looked it up in a field guide and learned it was an American Painted Lady. They apparently do not overwinter in Canada and are considered migratory. They also have a higher tolerance for the cold and are seen in the fall. We were very thrilled with its appearance and I decided to sketch it. I used pencil crayons for colour. ( the actual butterfly is at the top of the page.) Art is but a reflection of the soul of its maker and the butterfly speaks to the heart of God.


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Tapestry

This small tapestry that I wove is an 8 inch square. It was inspired by Michael Joncas song titled- On Eagle's Wings which is based on Psalm 91. The words in the song - And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand - are also the words of my own long experience. Unlike man, God does keep his word as found in scripture. He will do for you what He has done and is doing for me.
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The lie

I believed it for most of my life. It was taught to me in university. Anne Frank says it this way; In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." But than I remember watching my very young child choose what was not good at heart even though she had no way of knowing. And, it was at that point that I began to question what I had been taught. But the fullness of this lie was revealed to me several years later by the grace of God when I read in scripture, The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil all of the time. The Lord was grieved...." Genesis 6:5,6. I now believe all people including myself are naturally completely wicked because we have inherited sin. Psalm 51:5  - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." And Romans 3:10 -There is none righteous, NO NOT one." And just to make it clear again this is repeated in the following verse," there is NONE who does good, NO, NOT ONE." Our idea's of good is not God's.  Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  I have watched much evil in the hearts of those closest to me. How can such cruelty spring forth from the heart if people are basically good? I understand now the wickedness in my own heart. I drew this last gladiola from the garden and than multiplied it. It uplifted me the way flower's always do. It tells me of God's love for us all. It's beauty gives me hope in His perfection and grace -in a very ugly world.

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