Not Earned - Echinacea / Coneflower - Missoula, Montana

"Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action."

-—Dallas Willard (1935-2013), Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984, 1993, 1999), 194.

Neighbourhood Blooming Bright - Missoula, Montana

“My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness….”
-Mary Oliver (1935-2019) from “Messenger,” in her collection Thirst.)

Echinacea Honey - Missoula, Montana

"The careful insect 'midst his works I view, 

Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, 

With golden treasures load his little thighs, 

And steer his distant journey through the skies." - John Gay (1685-1732)

Me & My Shadow - Missoula, Montana

"Like the wallpaper sticks to the wall

Like the seashore clings to the sea

Like you'll never get rid of your shadow

Frank, you'll never get rid of me

Let all the others fight and fuss

Whatever happens, we've got us..." 

- Sammy Davis, Jr., & Frank Sinatra, performing

"Me & My Shadow" written by Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson

 

Watch these two legends in action here.

Yellow Petals - Missoula, Montana

"...each floweret, chilled by the night air, expands its pure petals; the gentle breeze shakes from the blades of grass the heavy dewdrops." - John James Audubon

Coneflower Center - Missoula, Montana

“Christianity is full of paradoxes and this is one of the strangest. When we are centered in God alone, we are able to relate to more of life and the world, and find more meaning in them. In some way a centered life becomes wider and fuller. To form one's life around this single perspective enables us to deal with more problems, not fewer, embrace more of life, not less of it. One reason is that we're not so divided, overwhelmed or bogged down by trivia and confusion.”

― Sue Monk Kidd, God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved