Painting with Fire!

 

 You know, most times I think God paints with pastel colours because they are calming, peaceful and harmonious tones. Having lived almost 25 years in Wales, both north and south, and dabbled a little in painting and photography I have developed a real love of the variety of colour in the everyday scenes that I come across. How many shades of green are there in the Artist's pallette? Drive around the hills in south-west Wales through the year and try counting them!

But God is a God of surprises and sometimes he paints with a more vivid pallette of colours - This morning he was painting with fire as I wandered alongside the canal with the dog, and it was wonderful to see the dark waters of the canal start to sparkle with the reflected fire of the rising sun!

In the fading of the summer sun,
the shortening of days, cooling breeze,
swallows' flight and moonlight rays
we see the creator's hand

 

In the browning of leaves once green,
morning mists, autumn chill,
fruit that falls, frost's first kiss
we see the creator's hand

Creator God, forgive our moments of ingratitude,
the spiritual blindness that prevents us
from appreciating the wonder that is this world,
the endless cycle of nature,
of life and death and rebirth.
Forgive us for taking without giving
reaping without sowing.
Open our eyes to see
our lips to praise
our hands to share
and may our feet tread lightly on the path we travel.