WHAT DOES YOUR HEART SEE?

Whether you stand in the shade,

Or in the sun,

Is not the tree still beautiful?

By Martha L Shaw – ©2014

Handmade from twigs by M L SHAW

 

BULLET JOURNAL

http://heytherechelsie.com/start-bullet-journal/

 

New to me and the only weapon is a pen!

 

Love Is Like

The old quilt . . .

Its softness is enhanced

By age and use.

Its colors faded by the light of many days,

And its fibers show wear

Yet its beauty is all I see,

All I feel,

And all I know.

Its story is one of patience

And of time and effort.

It  contains both pain and pleasure.

The fabrics of many lives intertwined

To become one . . .

It is not one story,

But rather generations of stories

Shared by the fire,

Told over tea,

Revealed as fine thread

Wove scraps of many lives

Into something too beautiful not to share.

By Martha L Shaw – © 12-16-2013

This lovely quilt, subject of the symbolism in my poem, goes back multiple generations in my family and is approx 150 years old.  Oh, the stories it has to tell me are many!

 

 

 

 

 #faith#love#spirituality#God#peace#mountaintop#strength#FAMILYLIFE#GREATGIFT#GREATGIFTS#Advent#baby#Christianity #Christmas #faith #God #GREATGIFT #Jesus#manger#Motherhood #poetry, #Spirituality

DIVINELY CRAFTY

He takes our mistakes and weaves them into blessings!

JUST A CHAIR

It was just an old rocking chair

 sitting in my grandmother’s house

when my parents first got married.

It was black,

sat in the corner,

and nobody ever used it.

My mother was dusting there one day

and discovered layers

and layers of wax build up.

Mom cleaned the chair,

then dad noticed

that the seat was falling apart

and rebuilt the chair with a new seat.

They are gone now.

The chair is mine.

I recently added quilts,

pillows, and teddy bears

that I’ve made.

The chair is nothing special

but when I sit in it,

it’s a family reunion!

By Martha L Shaw ©2-8-2016

Photo Challenge TIME

HIS time and HIS love

Love Crucified – Art From My Rake

His Plan

Don’t be discouraged . . . people say that all the time and the Bible repeats it over and over and still I am temped to respond rudely when I hear it!  (and sometimes give in to the urge 😦

Today, He wanted me to finally sew for a special someone.  My response?  “But my bad shoulder and my tremors . . . ”  He persisted.  I am not so fast . . . He said it’s not a race.

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

*

Indeed He has a plan and it might sound impossible but He enables those He calls.  Today He assured me I could still sew.  Tomorrow?  I will find out when I get there.  He will speak softly to my heart and hold my hand.

Dedicated to Adam  . . . today’s special someone!  

. . . 

Marked As Christ’s Own

By Martha L Shaw – ©11-9-2013

The tough wooden cross in my hand was given to me by a man I’d never met before this past Thursday when by chance or design we prayed together then he shared testimony with me.  As my wounded spirit soared I shared mine with him as well.  Time and other responsibility flew as we were drawn together and when we parted he gave me a small wooden cross carved by hand from a bit of storm severed cypress and by a man I will never know.

This morning when the crisis of the moment which kept me from sleep last night find a way to steal my joy of the new morning, I retreated to my quiet place and gripped this cross in my tremor ravaged left hand.  I could not think or pray but only rest in my quiet place and grip it.  I came to feel the love and prayers of the one who carved it.  I realized my pain lessened as did my tremors.  Just now as I pondered this knowing it was not any  holistic healing power in the wood nor in the preserving oil, but in the significance it held, I looked at it and saw that nature had damaged the wood in a way that took my spirit higher still.  There are tiny cracks the eye, or mine anyway, needed to look closely to see.  Where do these cracks appear?   Just where Jesus hands and feet would have been if this had been the tree on which He gave His life for me.

Quote of the Day – Knitting?

If you’ve visited my other blogs, you might think this one is totally me, but you’d only be partly correct.  I hate knitting.  lol  That being said, when the destructive voices will not be quieted and I can’t hear with the ears of my heart over their lying rants, nothing settles me better than a hands on visual art project of some sort.  Aside from knitting, I love most forms I’ve discovered and am always seeking new ones!  Now for the quote:

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either – Elizabeth Zimmermann –