Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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At Table

Lord, it is Christmas Eve morning. I and the rest of the western world are about ready to go into overdrive, all in the name of celebrating Your birth. Supposedly. You had such humble beginnings; all this must make You sad, right?

Revelry and festivity aren’t the issues. My first earthly miracle was to transform water into wine, good wine, the best vintage wine, at a wedding feast, remember? My feasting and association with those of lesser social and spiritual status deeply offended the Pharisees, remember? Don’t be a Pharisee in your thinking. Don’t honor asceticism for its own sake. What did I preach against and warn against most during My time on earth? Greed. Selfishness. Prejudice. Pride.

What did I applaud? Sharing with others, especially those less fortunate. Forgiving others, especially those that seemed to deserve it the least. Welcoming others, especially those rejected by the prideful and arrogant. Loving others, especially those outside your own circles of interest.

Of all the laws in place at the time, which did I say were most important? The Love Laws. Love God, Love Neighbor, and yes, Love Yourself. But notice the order. To love someone means to consider that person’s needs, wants, likes, and dislikes; to pay attention to what that person says and does; to spend time with that person. Love God First isn’t a command born out of Divine ego, as we have talked about before. I ask humanity to Love God first, because each of you was made for Love. Each of you was made for a relationship that is pure and empowering, that is free and fulfilling, in every way. That Love relationship is found first in Me, in connecting with Me. I ask you to Love Others second, because the natural outcome of loving is giving and sharing, and you need tangible, physical, human ways to do that. Once you are ignited by Love, by My Love, then that Love needs outlets for expression beyond the times of prayerful conversation we have. You hear Me, but in your heart and mind. You see My Loving Hand at work in your world and in your circumstances, but you cannot yet see Me face to face. You touch My world but your hands have not embraced Me yet. So you need outlets and expressions for this new capacity you have for Love, and that is where your families, your friends, your neighbors, and yes, the whole world of strangers, comes in. This is the arena of loving others.

I ask you to Love Yourself alongside Loving Neighbor, Loving Others. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself. I make those two equal. Ah, you never thought of that! You tend to rank them 1, 2, 3. No, it is really, A, and B/B. God, and Neighbor/Self. I phrased this way because so many reverse the order, putting themselves first, a select group of others second, and Me last — if at all. But cutting yourself off from Love’s source soon dries up the well. Soon you have no love to give and share. The result of that is not only a selfish life, but a bitter, withered, shriveled life, a life in which people also neglect themselves, neglect their health, their body, their emotional life, and their spirit.

So by all means feast! Be festive! Be merry! If you do your feasting and revelry in My Name, in My Spirit, and AS IF I were present (which of course I Am), you will never make a wrong choice, say the wrong thing, or have regrets on the day after the holiday.  Just set a place for Me at your Table, not just tonight, not just tomorrow, but every day of your life.

 

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Impact and Connection

Lord, are my days with wildlife numbered? Over?

Why would you say that? Or think that?

Because You said not to do natural history.

Whoa, wait, stop. I asked you to choose what kind of impact you want your work to have, and you chose the most spiritual impact. What makes you think wildlife isn’t a huge part of that?

It is? I mean, is it? Can it be?

Why not?

I don’t know, I thought I just needed these dreamy landscapes.

Serenity is important. Calm, quiet, peaceful is important. But not as ends in themselves, as a condition in which Connection happens.

Everyone else does wildlife primarily for natural history. For life-list bird sightings. For documenting behavior, nesting, feeding, breeding, whatever. You started there but you’ve moved beyond natural history. Natural history became a bridge, to the New Country.

You mean Eve’s Eden, the way I envision, the way I imagine? How can the images I make be different enough?

They already are. They already are because you say “please”—you say, “thank you”—you say, “I love you”, and you mean it. You’ve taught others this, but increasingly your work will have a sensitivity and connection others lack. You can’t help it; it is who you are and it is your destiny.

So…I am not wrong to long for impact?

Is a candle wrong for wanting to blaze, for wanting someone to come and light its wick? You were made to embrace the natural world, and bridge to Me.

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Calling on Angels

NOTE: This particular entry dates back to December 2015. I felt led to post it tonight upon hearing of a domestic shooting in another state. After the word “bombing” in my original opening sentence, I added the words “shooting” and “attack,” after praying about altering the original entry. I offer it tonight as my prayer and intention for peace.

Oh, God, another bombing (shooting/attack). Please, please, please, please, please. Please.

Don’t worry and call it prayer. Don’t fear and call it wisdom. Don’t hate and call it justice.

Take a deep breath, and pray for My will, which is Peace, to be done.

Take another deep breath, and pray for My Kingdom, which is Love, to come.

Take yet one more deep breath, and pray for My Angels, who are heralds of Hope, to be once again seen, once again heard, once again felt, and once again followed.

Ssshhhh. You can cry; I Am crying too. What? You think I don’t weep with those who weep? I don’t ask you to do anything I Myself Am not already doing. Yes, I will wipe away all tears—but not today. Not as long as there is still grief and sorrow in your world. But bring those tears to Me. Don’t let what you see and hear make you bitter. This is hard work, to remain connected to Me as the Source of Love and Goodness when voices all around you begin to shout louder and louder in rage and revenge. That is what leads to war, you know—those voices. So cry if you must, but cry for peace.

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New Moon, New Year Wishes

It’s Winter. It’s New Moon. It’s Year End. Shouldn’t New Year wishes be in the realm of possibility? Otherwise isn’t it just wishful thinking?

First, “wishful thinking”—thinking full of positive wishes and longings—is how anything new gets done, how anything gets invented.

Oh! The shadow on the tree out back is an A-OK symbol! I haven’t seen that in months.

Second, wishes are precisely for things or circumstances that seem, either a little or a lot, impossible or improbable or so difficult as to be unachievable. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be wishes—they would be plans, or they would be goals.

The A –OK Symbol has what looks like an arrow up from the thumb, like flicking my forefinger, sending an arrow west. Lord, once upon a time I knew my fresh impact was west. Now? Flicking could also be sending it away, flicking something—a distraction—out of view, so I can concentrate.

That is what you have been doing, flicking your wishes out of the way. They keep resurfacing and you keep finding ways to say no, to ignore them, to deny their very existence.

Isn’t that what a Christian life is about? Denying yourself?

Not if what you are denying is what I’m trying to give you in the first place. Not if “denying yourself” means denying the Self I Am trying to bring forth in you and through your life.

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True Humility

Lord, people are going to think I am crazy, aren’t they?

You will always have some detractors, yes. But if you stay humble and gentle, you will have many, many more whose lives are touched and changed in a good way.

Humble doesn’t mean “Hide.” It doesn’t mean “self-effacing” either. Humble is a Third Way lifestyle: stay connected to Me, believe I Am indeed using you, and stay focused on My Heart to similarly speak to everyone. True humility is rooted in abundance. Of course you are special and unique—and so is your neighbor. And so is everyone in the entire world.

So humility does not say, “oh, I’m nothing special.” True humility says, “yes, I am special—and so are you.” True humility says, “yes, these are my gifts—let’s discover yours.”

Every person’s gift, every person’s path, is tailored to fit, perfectly sized, perfectly designed for maximum fulfillment, maximum joy for that person.

 

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Say Yes

Lord, I am willing to sit here, and hear. In real time. For anyone, everyone, who needs to also sit, and hear. Please, what would You say?

The first thing I would say is, for everything there is a time and a season. You think of Christmas as a time of waiting, as Advent, and it is. You also think of this as a time of giving and receiving, and it is. But it is also a time of revelation and revolution. The world was about ready to be turned upside down. The weak would be declared strong. The poor would be declared rich. The blind would see, the deaf would hear, the lame would walk. And what was the agent of this revolution? Power? No. Not in the traditional sense. Not weaponry, not strength, not war, not the force those imply. A force much, much greater than all of those was invading your world in a new and different way. The force of Love, made manifest.

And how did this triumphant, powerful Love arrive? Heralded not by kings but by angels and humble, bewildered shepherds, and a young, bewildered unmarried couple. What do angels, shepherds and this young couple have in common? Their faith to say yes. Angels to say yes to sing songs of celebration not to a sold-out crowd, but to a bunch of sheep-herders in an open field. Those shepherds to say yes to going to look for a baby, when they were supposed to be tending to the sheep, trusting the sheep would be looked after. The mother and father to say yes to a biological impossibility and a spiritual necessity.

So I would ask you, ask everyone you reach, what are you waiting to say yes to? What gift longs to be born through you? When is the last time you talked to Me about how your song, your shepherding and your mentoring heart can touch your world?

Lord, don’t I talk to you about this all the time?

Ah, yes. Yes, you do. And what do you say? You say, but. You say, maybe one day when. You say, how can. All of these seem like wise, thoughtful, preparatory questions. But they really are just disguised ways of saying No. Of saying, Not Yet. Of saying, Not Me.

So I would ask you. This Christmas, are you ready to say Yes? If you can lay aside but, and maybe when, and not yet, you will have the full support of all of heaven’s resources, so that you can carry out all you truly long to do, all you were truly born to do, in this world, for this time. So now it is My turn. Please, what would you say?

I pause, stop typing, bow my head. I know this is not only for me, but for many of us. Maybe all of us. So for my part, Lord, what else can I say? You’re right, of course You are. I have had reasons and doubts and questions. But tonight, suspending my own disbelief, that You would choose me, someone like me, I take a deep breath and say the only thing I can think of to say. Yes.

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Calm

Lord, the theme or challenge lately seems (again) to be health. I need to remember to be gentle with myself in my thinking. I need energy. We both do—some va-voom.

Your secret today really isn’t Power. You think it is—you think you have to rev your engine, “power through.” That will actually make you feel worse physically, and that will make you feel worse emotionally. Your secret today is to coast. Drift. Soak. This is a gentle day; start by being gentle with yourself. Eat gentle-to-digest foods. Treat yourself gently and easily. Sit a lot. Catch your breath. Your calm is what attracts most people to you. You have an opportunity to model that calm today.

Okay, thank You, Lord. I do feel better when calm.

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When The Tide Turns

Lord, it’s as if I have been hearing You say, “When the tide turns.” There’s a moment, right? When it changes? And it might not seem obvious at first but soon, very soon, you can tell it has turned? Are You saying this is it?

I AM saying the tide has turned. You are now in the phase where you are beginning to notice, to see the evidence of the shift. You were thinking just of the challenges of this year, the challenges of a couple years back. I’m saying, this has been a much longer period, financially, emotionally, spiritually. This period of difficulty really began six years, six long years ago, with Patrick moving in that December, with Pete’s fatigue not yet correctly diagnosed, with all that happened in 2011, with having to relocate Yellowhouse, with Pete’s other health challenges.

Here is what I saw, what I know, what I want you to know: in all of that, your heart stayed true and strong, and pure. Did you worry? Yes. Did you fret and fear? Yes. Did you mourn and cry? Oh, yes. Did you turn from Me, or Pete? Did you turn from Patrick? Did you turn from anyone who really needed you? Never. Not once. In fact, your light shone even brighter. Did you have some occasional grumpy days? Yes, but your overall nature stayed sunny and sweet. You did it! You came through the worst drought and low tide period you’ve been through since your early 20’s. Yes, there were blessings, which you received because you were determined to stay in gratitude and be as alert as possible for them.

So if you could receive all those gifts in drought–Meditation and Freddi’s kits, and Moonrise, and Currituck, and your sales increases, and trips west and to Florida and to Maine and to Connecticut, imagine what awaits you on a flood tide!! Think about everything you have received, everything, on an ebb tide. As the tide was going out, flowing away, look at what you received: Pete’s miracle. You reunited with family you thought lost to you. So look for amazing bonds and connectedness on the flood.

Part of flood for you will be the publishing piece. for now, create the body of work. Just create it. Write the stories, lay out the books. The music will flow in this era too.

 

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Advent Preparations

I found an old entry, years old, which said something that relates directly to what is going on right now. You brought that back around, God. Thank You.

You see, nothing is ever wasted. No true opportunity from Me is ever really lost. Sometimes I show you glimpses early to help prepare you for the fullness meant for later. Sometimes you turn away, or turn back, out of a feeling of unreadiness. Sometimes I need to reveal your unreadiness, not to discourage you but to help you grow into your opportunities. Part of living “right place, right time, right person” is trusting Me when you see doors closing when you are—as now—in a state of pause, of waiting.

Advent is a state of pause. It seems the opposite, with all the rushing to be ready, all the preparations, all the extra tasks, but Advent was intended as a more quiet expectation, quiet only so you could feel the anticipation and experience even more joy at its fulfillment. Now on the day after Christmas, the most dominant feelings for adults are relief and exhaustion.

Advent was not meant for lethargy but for a more gentle, deliberate and mindful pace of preparation. Decorating and cooking and gift selection and giving, the gathering of loved ones—all of these were meant to have counterparts in your soul. People often take time to clean out closets, releasing what they no longer need to make room for new. You can see the correlation to your spirit’s housekeeping. It’s good to take some deliberate time to examine the corners of your attitudes and your core values and make sure what you wear everyday—your words and actions—are a true fit.

You decorate your houses and make festive preparations; how do you decorate your soul: With what do you embellish your spirit: With joy. With praise. With gratitude. With a new song. There are songs you hear only at this time of year. It is a time to reflect back and look ahead, too. Some of the embellishments you can add in Advent are your prayerful dreams and goals and visions for the year ahead.

As Advent concludes and Christmas comes, you both give and receive. Give yourself once again to Me; receive once again in your lived-experience expressions of My particular love for you. Children anticipate Santa will bring them good gifts, wished-for gifts. Are My Gifts less wonderful than the gifts they ask for?

What about gifts we don’t get, you ask. My dear child, just as no opportunity is wasted, no true gift is ever withheld. Human lives intersect and overlap and the is not yet the perfect world I created it to be. Remember, your eartly sorrow at losing someone you love is the underside of the tapestry—from the topside, from their perspective, all is glory, all is joy, all is magnificence. And the pattern revealed there is a beautiful weaving.

That is humanity’s true Advent, lived every day, every hour, of human lifetimes—the leading up to the greatest Gift of all.

You mean heaven.

Yes, full union with Myself and with all creation. For “it is not my will that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance.” And My Will shall be done, My Kingdom shall come. What a day that will be—for Me as well as for humanity. Cicero had it correct: the last day does not bring extinction, but change of place.

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Angels

Lord, I’m here at the page to hear. Nothing really to say. Time is flowing and I’m just here. I have been working in the house, sorting clothes for Kings Daughters, and that sort of task, tackling a messy closet, always discourages me for some reason. I make progress but never quite finish, and every job done just spotlights how much remains. I told someone recently, I need fresh. There is something in my personality that likes fresh. Is that ok?

How is it you are asking again after all these weeks and months and years if your personality is ok? No, it is not ok. It is magnificent! You laugh—but I mean it. Fresh is My Great Idea. Fresh Manna. “Behold I will do a new thing.” “Behold, I make all things new.” It’s the Imaginer in you. Every poem, every song, every story is an attempt to say something fresh, or say something familiar in a fresh way. The opposite of that trait in you is not contentment as you suppose. It is lethargy. It is a sign, not of laziness, but of not feeling well, a sign of fatigue.

Ok, I can see that actually. Gosh, I am just remembering an old scripture, Record the vision, write it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. I always thought that was for me the writer, but I didn’t know what the vision was.

Peace for Pangaea is the vision. Connection is the Vision. Effervescent Bubbles, that’s the vision. My Sweet Life—that’s the vision. All of these—paintings, photographs, songs—are fresh ways to express My Great Idea: God With You. And what that means. Not, God-Far Who needs to be Invoked, or Pleased, or Appeased. God-Near Who Loves You.

I look up and out into the most glorious light! Dark slate blue western sky and the sun must have found a hole, a path, and the entire backyard was awash for a few seconds with that light I associate with angels, with angels singing. Are they co-creators with You too? Like You’ve called us to be?

Everything I have created is creative. My Nature is within all I have made and am making. Absolutely angels are creative. You never thought of this before? Ah, a fresh idea! See? You’ve thought of angels like yourself, as a messenger, as a secretary taking dictation. I don’t need to read an exact copy of My Words. I Am more like a teacher Who is giving out prompts. Writing prompts, loving prompts, prompts to go here or there, to come and see. I Am the One always asking, What If? How About?

Lord, what do angels create, then? I mean, I can look around at nature, say, and see You. I can look at art or listen to music or read something, say, and see the outflow of people’s creativity or my own, even, and sometimes, when it is so beautiful, I can see the partnership, You and the artist. What do angels do, or make?

Angels make connections. Angels bring Point A to meet Point 7. Angels help engineer what you call coincidence. And angels sing. There are frequencies your ears don’t hear that angels sing. There are colors your eyes can’t see—like infrared and way beyond—that angels use to enhance your world. It’s what you feel when you step into a special place; you feel the beauty underlying and overglazing that My angels have put there, in My Name and for My purpose.

Gosh, I never thought of that.

There is a lot you never thought of, dear heart. A lot I have to reveal to you. Why you? Because you will share. Gently, gently, these magnificent ideas will leak and seep into your world.