Beauty – Jenny Grace's Poetry and Creative Writing Techniques

Ladybug on a Leaf

This is a photograph of a ladybug that I saw resting on a leaf. I took this photo a few years ago. Just yesterday while I was planting flowers in my garden I saw a ladybug resting on the stem of flower. Resting. Resting beneath the lush petals of a flower.

Resting.

Like the ladybug, we all need to take time to just rest and enjoy the beauty that God has freely given us. God has surrounded us with an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful world.

This week, take some time to just rest and enjoy the beauty that God has so abundantly blessed us all with.

Have a blessed week.

Beautiful World

I was just over at a fellow WordPress blogger Stoner on a Rollercoaster’s site and I saw where she shared a beautiful photo of leaves.

It got me thinking about just how beautiful this world is if we just take the time to open our eyes and receive all the beauty that we are surrounded with.

So, I am sharing a beautiful photo I took a few years back at the local arboretum. It is of a monarch butterfly enjoying its day atop a lantana flower.

Rather than dwell on all the bad news in the world, please turn off your cell phones, I-phones, or whatever social media device that you spend way too much time with. Go out in the beautiful, warm sunshine and really, really observe this amazing world.

Share your photos of nature on WordPress. Just looking at nature can have a calming affect.

Also, I would like to encourage you to drop by Stoner on a Rollercoaster’s WordPress. I truly enjoy her writing. I think you might also, as well.

I hope you enjoyed my photo of the beautiful butterfly and flower.

I hope it gives you joy.

God’s world is indeed beautiful.

Go outside tomorrow and enjoy it.

Have a blessed week.

Mary in My Garden: Morning Calm

There is a statue in my rose garden. It is of Mother Mary. I put the statue in my garden last year during the height of the world wide lockdown. I was afraid of the unknown. I felt as if the world was coming to an end. Anxiety, depression, and a whole host of negative, fear-filled emotions drenched me, and nearly paralyzed me.

Then, I saw this statue of Mother Mary in the garden section of a store. I knelt in front of the statue and felt my heart calm to a slower pace. I ran my fingertips along the grainy texture. I know that the statue is not Mother Mary; but, rather a reminder of her instruction to trust her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

I struggled to place the statue in my cart, but I did.

Now, each morning, I walk in my garden and stop, kneel and pray that Mother Mary remembers me, remembers to pray for me and the whole world now and and at the hour of our deaths.

There has been a relentless reporting of death and destruction in the media. Anger, division, et cetera and et cetera.

Truth is, if we firmly believe in what God promises-that He will be our shelter in the storms, that He will be on the other side of the veil for those who love Him, that this life isn’t all there is, then we should not fear death, nor anything that can harm us in this life.

God alone is in control. There is nothing mortal man can do to us, God’s children. God is on His throne now and forever more.

In the evening after my day at work, I return to the garden and sit quietly and find peace in knowing that Mother Mary prays for me. I find peace in knowing that death will never, ever separate me from God and His love for me.

One day, I will go home to Heaven.

Of that I am certain.

I have lived my life to serve God. God is my eternal father and I lay my fears at His feet.

This is a drawing I did of Mother Mary. I thought of her as wearing blue.

God’s blessings to everyone who reads my blog.

Escaping to Paradise: A Dream

To say this year has gotten off to a very rocky start is an understatement of epic proportions.

As if 2020 wasn’t horrible enough, well. . . .it appears that this year isn’t heading in a very promising direction.

I am an optimist by nature and I firmly trust in my Lord Jesus Christ for protection. He tells us not to fear and to trust in Him. I absolutely trust in Him.

However, as of late I have been envisioning myself sailing away to a tropical island somewhere where there is absolutely no internet connection, where there is nothing except a beautiful sandy beach and glorious sunrise to greet me each morning and a glorious sunset to relax me in the evening.

God has given us ungrateful humans a fascinatingly beautiful world, yet we create ways to destroy it. We obsessively fixate on the glass being half empty rather than filled to the brim with overflowing joy, bountifulness and awe-inspiring beauty.

I don’t want to be a person who gives into the fear-mongering. I don’t want to be a person who surrenders to this joy depleting agenda that has taken hold of this world.

I want to escape to a more gentler place. I want to unplug. I want to spend my hours filled with joy and not spend my hours being afraid of illness, terror, and death.

To be honest, I truly want to escape this modern life that has become a fiasco of epic proportions.

I want to actually see peoples’ faces again so that I can see their smiles.

I miss seeing smiles.

I want to speak truthfully what is on my mind without fear of censorship.

I want to be the free soul that God created me to be.

In this current state of the world I do not believe that this is possible.

Yes, I want to escape and unplug.

I want to be Free. Free. Free.

The art work here is the ship in my imagination that I would use to just sail away.

It is my original artwork.

I could spend endless hours in my imagined paradise painting and writing.

An island paradise. . . .

This is what I would like to find. . . .

Just sail away into a beautiful sunset.

And into freedom.

Beauty of an Evening

I took this photo in spring 2017 while I strolled along my town’s riverfront. I remember the songbirds high in the branches of the oak trees behind me. The beauty of their songs filled that late evening moment just before nightfall.

Beauty of a moment.

Peacefulness.

Looking back at this photo, I feel happiness deep in my soul.

I would rather spend my time strolling along the riverfront, listening to birdsongs, and marveling at the beauty of this life than waste my life’s precious moments glued to a computer screen and worrying about what else could possibly go wrong in this world.

Sure, social media has its advantages in that it does connect people and it does give us the opportunity be more aware of the world around us.

But.

But, I never want to take for granted and miss the beauty of an evening stroll along the riverfront.

Lately, I have seen an increased in people staring into the screens of their I-phones while walking along without any concern about the beauty of nature around them.

Lately, I have seen people in groups, not talking, but staring into the screens of their I-phones while sitting together.

What is this about?

I say put the I-phones away for at least a few hours and actually look at the beauty of nature that surrounds you.

I say actually talk to those around you, rather than stare into a computer screen.

Stop and look at the beauty of a sunset.

And be thankful that you have been blessed with this beautiful, beautiful world.

Beauty of Flowers

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There is an arboretum a few blocks from my house. It is a peaceful refuge. I enjoy taking my camera with me there and photographing flowers. I find that the single kindest act I can do for myself is to switch off the negative news, go out into the sunshine and walk among flowers.

All too often, we get caught up in the rush to the next minute rather than stopping to enjoy the beauty right in front of us.

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So, stop and smell the roses!

So, stop and enjoy the timeless beauty of a garden.

Enjoy this life rather than complain about its imperfections.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever be as perfect as the petals of a flower!

Have a beautifully blessed day!

Beauty in Color

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I painted this a few years back with watercolor. I love the rich use of color.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.