Tonight, I’m just tying up some loose ends and sharing some little blessings. Hope that doesn’t disappoint.

For any who may have lost touch, I just wanted to mention that I have now resumed the discussion of Orthodox Prayer Life by Matthew the Poor at Here to Pray. Of course, if you are the e-mail list for that blog, you will already know this. However, I am mentioning it here because, when I took the break, I didn’t fully appreciate what a critical point we were approaching in the book – we were just about to discuss “Union with God”.

Of course, intellectually, I knew it. But I was too distracted at the time for that to make any difference in my ability to do other than what I did. Forgive me if my distraction became your distraction. I hope that you may join back in, now or in the future. My plan is to keep reading and posting, even if I see no activity in the page views. Fr. Matta has been helping me grow and I do not want to stop the process. Here is the link to the current post: Union with God.

While making myself blog-crazy, I am also reviving my much-neglected blog, O Holy Earth. (This is the “Small Blessings” part.) Having received many small blessings recently while spending a couple of days at the hermitage, I wish to share them with you, my beloved readers.

As camera and I walked through the familiar forest and field, I spoke to the plants and animals and insects about our loving Father and how we must give praise to Him. They do this much better than me, I explained, for I am one of a fallen race. I need them to teach me.

In explaining how their beauty gives glory to God, I asked them if I could receive their images to share with others who might not be able to come there to see them as I am so privileged to do. Many shared generously of their images and thus it is now my responsibility to give to  you what they shared with me.

I will be posting one or two images a day at O Holy Earth until I run out. Here is a link to the first post, though I admit that I didn’t tell these creatures that they were beautiful when I first met them! Hermitage (#1).