Is the Ocean Calling You?

 Summertime is officially here!

I'm experiencing the call of the ocean

and my favorite place to be at the seashore,

Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Photo credit: kidsunplugged.org

CAMP MEETING WEEK

 

An hour and a world away

is a charming place we love to stay,

where time stands still a little while,

in fact, some call it, “God’s Square Mile.”

 

Our spiritual retreat vacation

at this gem within our nation

is where we find more than we seek,

at Ocean Grove, Camp Meeting Week.

 

The Great Auditorium’s surrounded

by quaint tent houses, abounded

by flower gardens, every hue;

coral, magenta, lavender blue.

 

Great preachers come from far and near,

expectant pilgrims come to hear

the preaching and angelic choir

as the great pipe organ sends its fire

 

of resounding music through the air,

inviting all who will to prayer.

All this takes place beside the sea

in a grove of sweet tranquility.

 

Stroll tented lanes in ocean breeze,

past tabernacle, B & Bs;

Victorian landmarks give a show

of “painted ladies” row on row.

 

Visit eateries, little stores

and take the garden trolley tour.

This Jersey shore town gives to each

respite, chapels, sandy beach,

 

a quiet boardwalk and pavilion,

where perhaps, more than a million

over the years have stopped and heard

Gospel concerts and God’s good Word.

 

So come, find more than you may seek

at Ocean Grove, Camp Meeting Week.

 

Maude Carolan Pych

 

 

Cross on Ocean Grove Beach

Photo by Maude

Would you like to read more poems?

"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online at Amazon & Barnes & Noble.

www.maudecarolanpych.net

Helping to Save Some Butterflies & Bees

 I've been watching the bees buzzing around our hydrangeas and am waiting for some butterflies to find our brand-new butterfly bush and for monarchs to discover the new milkweed plant. We're doing our bit right in our own backyard this summer to help save a few butterflies and bees...

Photo credit: wired.com

SKY DANCERS

 

There's something happy about butterflies.

They flit-flitter as they flutter by,

flying flowers against the azure sky.

 

They alight upon the milkweed, and then

they circle, soar, and alight again,

toe-dancing on pink petals in the glen.

 

Ever dwelling in hue and sweet fragrance,

in garden splendor, they flicker as they dance.

Pollination is purely happenstance.

 

I delight in their overflow of joy.

(They wouldn't even know how to be coy.)

A flame of mirth! A whirligig! A toy!

 

Do they recall they once were grubby worms,

remember well their dark and squiggly squirms?

Reborn, now grace and beauty each affirm!

 

This almost seems to be sheer fantasy,

sky dancers as enchanting as can be,

springing from blossoms right in front of me!

 

So, merrily a-nectaring they go,

reaping and sowing sweetness in day-glow…

Seems they have learned what all of us should know.

 

In contemplation of their simple ways,

I wish to add their ballet to my days,

to sky dance gracefully on wings of praise!

 

Maude Carolan Pych

Would you like to read more?

For information about ordering Maude's books,

Wonderhoods & Behold the Lamb...poetically!

visit her website at: www.maudecarolanpych.net.

It's Time for Butterflies

 My daughter Kristin gave me

a pretty butterfly necklace and earrings

for my birthday.

Her gift reminds me

that this is butterfly season...

Photo credit: martydavisphotos.com

METAMORPHOSIS

 

Once I was a caterpillar, dwelling upon the earth,

crawling along day by day, adept at feigning mirth.

I only knew the earthy life; I thought that that was it;

I took what terra firma gave, the pleasures and the grit.

There was no beauty in me.  No one ever looked here twice,

Few cared if I were evil; no one knew if I were nice.

I was only concerned with myself, what the earth could give,

yet, inside I was sensing a far better way to live.

Instinct led me to spin a thread and weave a neat cocoon;

I became a living mummy, wrapped tight within my tomb.

What was happening to me?  I tried to kick and shout,

“Help me!  Open up this thing!  I want to get right out!”

No one heard and I was powerless, so I went to sleep,

not knowing what was ahead of me, feeling something deep.

I don’t know how much time went by within my tiny tomb,

but sensed that I was being changed, as one inside a womb.

Finally, instinct worked in me.  There was a sudden urge

to break out of my chrysalis and from the dark emerge.

Somehow, I then received the strength to burst my being free;

Alas, the golden Light broke through and there was a new me!

I took some time to understand, some time to wonder why,

then I just shook myself a bit and I began to fly!

And `lo, I was so beautiful, and `lo, I saw the sun...

Oh, after living on the earth, soaring was great fun!

A wretched worm was I no more; I knew that fact was true,

I was reborn and I became a creation wholly new!

A butterfly!  A butterfly!  I received my wings,

glorious splendors of the Heavens, all the higher things.

All old things have passed away; they’ll never come again;

I’ve set my mind on things above, on these I will attend.

Now, even when I swoop to earth and walk upon the ground,

I’ll never be a worm again...I’m Butterfly...glory bound!

Praise God for metamorphosis, it’s by His loving grace

that I’m a new creation now, and I shall see His Face.

 

Maude Carolan

"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online

at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

www.maudecarolanpych.net

At the Mount of Beatitudes

 

Photo credit: Youtube.com

BLESSED AT THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES

Israel Pilgrimage—1986

 

At the Mount of Beatitudes

Wayne[1] suggests we each find

a quiet spot to spend

time alone with God

 

so I stroll along a pathway

surrounding the church

built in the name of

the Lord’s great message

to the multitudes

 

In a few moments, I hear baa baaing

and follow the sound to the top of a hill

with sheep and a shepherd in view below

 

I sit on a low wall

to watch and carefully listen

for the voice of my Shepherd

amid plaintive bleating

I, too, am one of His sheep

I, too, have things to tell him

and don’t want to miss

anything He might have to say

 

This is communion—

a lamb with her Shepherd

 

I bask awhile in sweet serenity

aware of a holy presence

as the sheep graze

and the shepherd, like Jesus

carefully tends his flock

 

Afterward, we pilgrims come together—

No one else heard the sheep

No one else saw the shepherd

 

The interlude was for me alone

a gift from my God—

a simple blessing

to one little lamb He loves

 

Maude Carolan Pych

---

[1] Wayne Monbleau—Pilgrimage leader and host of “Let’s Talk About Jesus” radio program.

Mt. Beatitudes

Photo credit: holyland-pilgrimage.org

Want to read more poems?

"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

by Maude Carolan Pych

is available online

at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

www.maudecarolanpych.net