“My beloved spoke and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
come with me.
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.’”
Song of Solomon 2:10-14 (NLT)
It’s summer!
The flowers are popping,
the fruit is ripening,
the fountains are flowing,
the outside lights are hung in celebration.
Even the old, tired fence looks happy to see
the sun, the warm air and the pinks and purples of summer blooms.
And the shyest of our feathered friends peeked out from behind the leaves – even though I did have to shoot through the screen to capture her.
May your weekend be full of light and laughter,
time with family or friends,
and time to sit alone in the afternoon breeze.
God is good, all the time.
But somehow, on a fair summer’s day,
God seems even good-er than usual.
Joining up with Michelle, Sandy and Deidra for their invitations to celebrate
the weekends with a small space of quiet and color.
Even good-er. Yes, indeed! Thanks for these words of celebration from the Song of Solomon. I feel as if I’ve been invited to a party!
I think you must live in a little corner of the Garden of Eden … so much beauty.
That is a standing invite, friend. But this party was at my daughter Joy’s home, in Monrovia. That’s where all 16 of us – plus a family of 5 who are friends of Joy’s – celebrated the 4th of July and my mom’s 91st birthday. It was a lovely, lovely day with kids in the pool, food on the bbq and the sweet scent of summer all around.
Dropping in from Still Saturday and I feel refreshed having read your words and gazed at your lovely photos! Those verses from Song of Solomon sing, don’t they? Love them.
I love these verses! They are often used in weddings, but I think they fit all kinds of settings – especially when it’s time to get outside and sit with God and/or family and friends. Thanks for stopping by, Sherrey!
I almost used that same verse this weekend!
There’s something about the screened light and blur in that last photo that fascinates me. What kind of bird is that?
(One day maybe my posts will show up again.)
It’s actually been nice enough to sit outside. I can do summer when it’s not in the 100s.
I totally agree – HOT summer is no fun. But moderate summer – I love it. LOVE it.
Absolutely lovely photos. And a neat fit into the S/S. Neat thought process and the Word.
Thanks, Joanne – always nice to see you here.
Diane–SUCH beautiful photos. I will have to agree, when the sun is out and the weather is nice, it seems God is ‘good-er than usual.’ I often comment such when I’m out and about…nice days are so rare in the Seattle area that its always a topic of conversation. Rather than saying, to the cashier at Safeway, “Isn’t God good to give us such a beautiful day (because He IS good all the time), I thought about saying, “I’m so grateful to God for such a beautiful day.” Kind of changes the focus…
anyway–love your delightful stirrings.
Not sure what it is about sunshine that makes my heart sing – but I think it’s really as much about the creation of shadows, of contrast in my line of view, as it is about the warmth and brighter light. Grayness overwhelms with its sameness sometimes. Thanks for stopping by – always good to see you here.
Lost in this beautiful thought and place and don’t want to find our way out right now! Thank you Diana. 🙂
You’re so welcome, friends.
Beautiful photos and the perfect passage to accompany them! Summer finally found us here, too, and I’m loving the sunshine. We had 48 people here from our congregational for a BBQ last Saturday (when you were posting this), and guests off and on during the week. It’s been so nice to be able to sit on the deck and enjoy the warmth of friends and summertime.
Ackkk! That should be “congregation”. Pesky typo! 🙂
So glad you’re getting some summer! We’re heading up to Alberta and a bit of eastern BC in August and hope to see some of your beautiful country in the sunshine. And that must have been some BBQ – 48 folks is a lot of folks! Lucky guests to enjoy your hospitality!