Nature’s Powerful Presences

Recently I was walkingin on The Lawley in Shropshire, and we paused to admire the Highland cattle in an adjacent field.

They were handsome, strong, charismatic even!

I think Aelbert Cuyp must also have found cattle fascinating in this way, in this painting I recently came across.

They dominate this painting by him, as they do many others by him. There are as much a part of human life as the windmills and the church, the sunlight and the sky.

Human life is moved to the sidelines and into the background. For the time we spend gazing at this beautiful painting, we are absorbed by animals, the creaturely world of the cattle.

Do you ever feel that, looking at cows, at sheep, at birds, at a pet cat or dog? They have a fascinating, separate existence from us – related to our existence, and yet so different!

Sheep on Wilderley Hill, with The Wrekin in the background, Shropshire, October 2021

In Cuyp’s painting, their existence is monumental. They even seem to have something of a sacred meaning for him, as they do in some other cultures. They are there, and it feels as though we are privileged for a while to be in their presence, a presence which is material, dignified and powerful.

Makes you think, the next time you walk past a field of cattle or sheep!

Transformed Wholly to Wonder

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When red kite wander

Across my way

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I ponder

On why

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My hearts beats

A little faster

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It is that sense

Of blessing

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That suddenly life

Takes on a new meaning

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And what was simply

A hill-side wander

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Has been transformed

In a moment

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Wholly

To wonder.

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Featured image above by Image by Roy Buri from Pixabay

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2 red kite photographed above Wilderley Hill, October 2021

What New Encounter?

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What new encounter

Did you have today?

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Was it something

Marvellous

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Like a flock of plover golden

Against a cloudy sky?

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Or something

Everyday

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Like the way

A child just wonders why?

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How we keep the soul

Fresh and new

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Is a discipline of soul

And mind

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Achievable by habit

Achievable for you.

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A flock of golden plover, Shropshire, October 2021

So Different, So Connected

Experience is forever new – but it’s also forever connected with what’s gone before. This was inspired by that thought and by an encounter (at a safe distance!) with a tree…

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Experience confronts me

With absolute newness

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I had never seen

That tree in that way before

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And now that moment

Is a door

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To a future

That is life

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As yet unseen

So different

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Yet so connected

With all that I have been.

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A windy day in Shropshire!

My Heart Leaps Up…

“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man…”

Wordsworth

It’s not a very scientific explanation of a rainbow but Wordsworth’s lines have a magic of their own.

They remind me of my connection with the world. That grey skies not only have silver linings but also that out of nowhere a beautiful rainbow can suddenly appear.

It so happened on this blustery walk in Shropshire, I was also blessed by a flock of golden plover, who performed an amazing aerial dance over the fields:

Does your heart leap up when you behold a rainbow in the sky?

You can read Wordsworth’s full poem (it’s quite short!) here.

Rainbow over The Wrekin, October 2021

Brother Sun

St. Francis of Assisi talked about “Brother Sun”. As we passed the Autumn Equinox recently in the UK, sunrises and sunsets have become very visible for us all, and I’ve enjoyed recording and posting about some stunning sunrises, in particular, in September 2021.

“Brother Sun” has amazed me painted the sky such beautiful colours, and accompanied me on my daily commute – apart from the recent days of cloud and rain!

Don’t forget to acknowledge the light of Brother Sun the next time you see him!

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Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,

especially through my lord Brother Sun,

who brings the day;

and you give light through him.

And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

St. Francis of Assisi – ‘Canticle of the Sun’
Sunrise over Wroxeter Roman City, Shropshire, September 2021

Grateful, Take the Good I Find…

I came across these lines recently by the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier:

“Grateful take the good I find

The best of now and here.”

It seemed such good advice – to make the most of what is already around us, what is already within our power to do.

Surrounded by nature in Shropshire, I am very grateful for the blessings of the natural world. Espexially for the beauty of sunrises and sunsets this time of year – the images that accompany this post are of The Wrekin, taken during at dawn in September 2021.

What do you have to be grateful for today?