Hidden Art: More Birds, Roses, and Piper

Elizabeth guessed that the bird we saw in our backyard was a robin. After doing a little research, we discovered that she was right. We spotted a subspecies of the American Robin similar to the (F) illustration, with a slightly paler breast. Nice job, Elizabeth!



After realizing that I've been neglecting my roses, I took my shears and headed outside. I cut a few Belinda's Dream (pale pink), and my favorite, Yves Piaget (fuchsia). I noticed the Calla Lilies were blooming, so I cut one of those. I wandered around the yard and noticed purple verbena peeking out of the bougainvillea bush. It had slyly woven itself into and through the bush (perhaps creating its own Hidden Art?). I snipped a few of those as well and put all the blooms in a pitcher for our house. It's just a little happy bouquet. Baby steps. :-)

More thoughts from John Piper in The Pleasures of God:

"I have a confession to make. Ranger Rick is one of my favorite magazines. When it arrives in our house with the address, "Piper Boys," I am one of the first Piper boys to take it to the couch. The reason is simple: in spite of its utterly unwarranted and unnecessary evolutionary bias, it inspires more praise in me than most other journals. It is a monthly record of man's discovery of incredible phenomena in nature that up till recently have only been enjoyed by God for thousands of years. 

"For example, I read about the European water spider that lives at the bottom of a lake, but breathes air.** It comes to the top of the water, does a somersault on the surface and catches a bubble of air. Then it holds the bubble over the breathing holes in the middle of its body while it swims to the bottom of the lake and spins a silk web among the seaweed. It goes up and brings down bubble after bubble until a little balloon of air is formed under its silk web where it can live and eat and mate. When I read that, there was a moment of worship on our living room couch. Doesn't that make you want to shout, 'O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures' (Psalm 104:24)?

"I sit there with my mouth open and I think God smiles and says, 'Yes, John, and I have been enjoying that little piece of art since before the days of Abraham. And if you only knew how many millions of other wonders there are beyond your sight that I behold with gladness every day!"

For the Hidden Art book club, Cindy created a Pinterest board for us to add our bits of inspiration. I have resisted Pinterest up until now, thinking it would be a temptation for me to waste time. Heaven knows I have enough distractions. Yet Mrs. Schaeffer said in the first chapter: "Man was created that he might create. It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, because that's what man was made to be able to do." 

Well, alright then. I'm plunging in. I shall look at my Pinterest boards as a creative pursuit and not a waste of time.

**Ellen Holtzen, "Home is a Bubble," Ranger Rick, January 1987, 14-15

[The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club, hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris]

"For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!" Amos 4:13