Category Archives: Life Experiences

Short story writing collection relating to lifestyle themes.

When We Cannot See

when we cannot see

Photograph courtesy of Lisa Richter

When we cannot see with our eyes, it is time to see with our hearts…

“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.”  Henry Ward Beecher

I often wonder what goes on around us unseen and unspoken. My thoughts have taken me to some unfamiliar places lately – sometimes it is as though the Lord has removed a veil that I had not been able to peer beyond before.  What He has shown me are things that were always there… I am just understanding them in a whole new light.

The photograph taken by my dear friend Lisa at Presque Isle State Park in our home town, inspired this poem. In a way, I believe the photograph depicts more of what my heart wants to say than my words do…

When We Cannot See

When we cannot see with our eyes,

What God is doing behind the scenes,

We can feel that something is happening,

But only in His timing will it be revealed.

When we cannot see

When days are murky like a rain-threatened sky;

Our vision is clouded by our daily affairs,

But when the skies brighten by the promise of the sun’s light,

Then we see with a clarity and joy…nothing is hidden and all is out in the open.

When we cannot see

We must be still and listen, taking in all that is around us.

Sometimes we observe more than what we’ve wanted;

And other times it is as though we are completely blind.

Rest assured, when we seek what God has placed before us,

We will see not with our eyes, but with our hearts…

And we will be filled.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  1 Corinthians 2:9

Peace and love,

Felecia

 

 

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Roads Yet to Travel

roads

Photograph courtesy of Martin Watson

Roads Yet to Travel – My future awaits me – the pages are being filled day by day…

“I’ve been longing to travel lately; to just get away and experience something new, something I’ve never gotten the chance to do before.  Life is an open book, and there are so many pages in mine that have yet to be written…”  Felecia R. Weber, OntheWingofaDove.com

Roads Yet to Travel

I don’t want to go back,

I only want to move forward.

Let the past be the past;

It has already been lived.

My future awaits me,

The pages are being filled day by day.

I have many roads yet to travel,

Some are winding, some are straight.

There have been times when  my steps haven’t led me where I’ve wanted to go.

But I press on, for I am determined to reach my destination.

Each turn, each path that beckons me, I’ll test to prove whether it be true.

Know this, whatever happens between now an the end of my journey…

Will be the best it’s ever been.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will direct your paths.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

May the roads that you have yet to travel lead you to the fullness of life that you seek…and as you seek it, may you discover that your fullness comes from the Lord.

Peace and love,

Felecia

 

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His Blood Shed at Gethsemane

His blood shed

“By His Blood” (Detail), colored pencil drawing by Felecia R. Weber, OntheWingofaDove.com

His blood shed at Gethsemane – such a heavy weight Christ carried in knowing what was to be…

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”  Luke 22:44

His Blood Shed at Gethsemane

His blood shed at Gethsemane

What it demonstrated to me,

Not the loneliness wrought by betrayal,

Nor the tortuous suffering at Calvary.

His blood shed at Gethsemane

It revealed something much deeper than that,

For there is no greater suffering, no other loss that can compare.

Yet, because of God’s deep love for us, His only Son’s life He did not spare.

His blood shed at Gethsemane

Such a heavy weight Christ carried in knowing what was to be;

The agony that stood before Him; the decision that He alone did make.

I praise Him and eternally thank Him, for the gift of salvation He made possible for you and me.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me.’…”  Matthew 26:36-46

It always touches my heart intently when I think of the grief and agony that Jesus suffered that night in the garden called Gethsemane.  Can you imagine it?  He not only had to deal with the fact that He had already been so wrongly betrayed, but He also knew that those followers of whom He had lead and loved so intimately and for so long, appeared only to have a vague understanding of what this incredible night was to hold for them in the immediate future.  His love for them and the entire undeserving world was so great, yet He knew that what He must do would be more than He, at least in His humanness, seemingly could bear.

But wait, there is more…the thing that caused His greatest anguish is something that we cannot even comprehend.  For Jesus knew that in order to make that deep love for all of us who have ever lived, and those who will come after us, be real and to free us in a way that nothing else could do…He had to make a decision that would lead Him to a place where only He could go.

I imagine we’ve all experienced, to some degree, the destitution of feeling completely alone.  With nowhere , or no one to turn to.  A place where no light shines and where all hope seems to have slipped through our fingers.  Where when we cry out for help, all we hear is silence, or worse yet, only the echo of our own tear-strained voice.  A place that is void of all that is good, and the vibrancy of life and joy.  Now try to fathom that feeling to be a million times greater and real.  Even then we cannot come close to where Jesus was to go.  For He would be completely separated from God the Father and God would turn His back on His beloved Son.  There would be no response from God to Jesus’ cries to Him.  His desperate tears would fall silently and God would not hear.

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:39

For me, His blood shed at Gethsemane symbolizes the level of intensity of how much Jesus’ love is for us.  That, although He pleaded with God the Father to take that utterly bitter cup from Him, He chose to take it on, for our sake. Indeed, there is no greater love than that.

May you take the time today, Maundy Thursday, to ponder the decision that Jesus made on that agonizing night He spent in the garden called Gethsemane, and may it move you to take a step of faith and place your trust, your life in Him, who is the Light and the Life.

Peace and love,

Felecia

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On Healing

On Healing

healingA Quote to Carry You

March 7, 2016

“If Nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is full, and you can give things out of that.” Frances Hodgson Burnett

On healing – Although we’ve had a very mild winter this year, it seems like cold and flu season is in full force right now.  So many people in my circle have been suffering from the sniffles, coughs, and the general “blahs” that go along with it.  When I think of all the medications that promise fast relief, it makes me think of how, if given the opportunity, the human body is well equipped to bring about physical healing on its own.  To take that marvelous ability even deeper, I can’t help but think of how amazing God has provided for healing of the heart…and the way it, in turn illuminates our very souls.

Thankfully, I have not succumbed to the cold germs floating around in the air, but I’ve become well acquainted with ailments of the heart, and I’ve discovered that the remedy for those types of maladies cannot be bought.  For me, that kind of healing begins, not when I take something to remove the discomfort of pain, rather, it happens when I give something…then I receive the healing I need.

It is so easy to get caught up with ourselves, trying to filler fix the areas of our lives that are empty or hurting.  Like taking medications for fast relief of our physical discomforts, we so often try desperately to satisfy what it is that we lack deep down inside.  It is not an easy task…and how we go about gratifying ourselves sometimes has the opposite effect.  It seems to me that the solution is more fully attained when we forget about what we lack and focus on what we have.  For it is then that we realize that what is missing from our lives doesn’t matter as much as what we have to offer to others.  Then we find that we do not lack anything at all…but we have everything…to give.

The healing power of giving has certainly been demonstrated in my own life.  It is true; when I concern myself with giving what I have to others, and there are so many ways that I have been blessed to do so, not only has healing happened at my heart level…it spills over into every aspect of my world.  For is there really anything that we possess that is worth having if we don’t share it with those around us?

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

Peace and love,

Felecia

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All I Ever Wanted

all I ever wanted

Photograph courtesy of Martin Watson

All I ever wanted – how can I describe it with words…

“Sometimes life fills you with the thing that you’ve longed for the most…when you finally have it, how is it that you ever lived without it?”  Felecia R. Weber

All I Ever Wanted

All I ever wanted;

How can I describe it with words?

You can’t capture the beautiful simplicity of a clear blue sky, and trap it inside a bottle…for it is too vast to be harnessed, it is the essence of freedom.

All I ever wanted;

What is it about finally having it that makes your life seem like someone suddenly unveiled the most exquisite painting…the kind that invites you to step right into its beckoning magnificence.

All I ever wanted;

It is an amazing thing that happens when what your heart craves is not simply a fleeting desire, not just a moment in time…rather, it is something that is so essential it becomes a part of you.

Felecia R. Weber 2016, OntheWingofaDove.com

When you receive the thing that you’ve longed for, when it unfolds before your very eyes…it shakes your world like a violent storm.  Yet the calmness, the peace, the wholeness that follows, is like the freshness of a dew soaked meadow…it waters your soul, continuously.

Peace and love,

Felecia

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On Wholeness

On Wholeness

wholenessA Quote to Carry You

February 22, 2016

“…Once a heart is shattered, it can never be the same.  One thing though, it can become better than it was before – it can become whole.”  Felecia R. Weber

On wholeness – The feeling of completion, to have accomplished whatever it is you’ve set out to do can be a most elating feeling.  What’s more is when you focus more on embarking on the journey rather than reaching your destination, what a marvelous adventure you have to enjoy.  Indeed, I believe wholeness, being full, lacking nothing, having all the parts…is a sort of a passage, a path which draws us from our emptiness to becoming complete.

I remember a few years ago, planning my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary trip to Italy for my late husband and me.  I’d never booked my own airline tickets prior to that, let alone plan an entire trip abroad.  Although the planning was painstaking at times, for I didn’t want any detail to be overlooked, our time away was flawlessly exquisite…we could not have asked for anything better, and we’d not want anything to have been different.  Now, my memories of our final trip together are more precious to me as the time between then and now grows.  They somehow become real when I need them to be…and I experience a sense of the wholeness we shared instead of the hollowness that I was left with when he passed.

That example only touches the surface of what wholeness truly is…but for me, it describes the principle of how one can travel from emptiness to wholeness…and how we go through that process determines the degree of completeness we attain.  For, once a heart is shattered, it can never be the same.  One thing though, it can become better than it was before – it can become whole.

“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:4

Peace and love,

Felecia

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Between the Darkness and the Light

the darkness and the light

Photograph courtesy of Becky McMann Muehl

Between the darkness and the light – there is a vast difference between the two…

“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.”  Henry Ward Beecher

Between the Darkness and the Light

Between the darkness and the light, there is a vast difference between the two…

Darkness cannot exist in the light, but somehow, darkness always comes.

In the darkness, it’s hard to distinguish between what is good and what is bad;

Like in the shadows, in the crevices, nothing really seems to be what it really is.

In the light, nothing is hidden, all is revealed, no matter how ugly it may seem to be.

It’s reality at its finest…raw, naked, exposed.

Between the darkness and the light, the lines are drawn, we must choose.

Darkness covers what we want to hide…light reveals the truth, no matter what.

Darkness is cold, barren; life cannot survive there for long.

Light inspires a vitality that flows like a river…it never fades away.

Between the darkness and the light…we exist but we do not thrive…

We dwell in one or the other…where do you reside?

Felecia R. Weber 23026, OntheWingofaDove.com

“This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whosoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  John 3:19-21

Ponder this…

Peace and love,

Felecia

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On Greatness

On Greatness

greatnessA Quote to Carry You

February 15, 2016

“People do not become great by doing great things; they do great things because they are great.”  George Bernard Shaw

On greatness…There is something about this quote that begged me to dig deeper.  On the surface, it didn’t really mean much to me.  In fact, I rather didn’t agree with it at first glance.  For greatness, described as something extremely large or notably big, sounds to me to be awkward and cumbersome.  There is however, an aspect of it that captivates me…that of being remarkable, outstanding, eminent, distinguished.  Certainly those qualities imply greatness, but what is more interesting to me is how does one achieve it.

I suppose, like beauty, greatness is in the eye of the beholder.  A parent has the greatest influence on a child in his early years.  As he grows, that sphere of influence expands…the individual begins to be molded into a person, full of strengths and weaknesses, positive and negative traits, all that combine to define who he is.  I believe that a person’s greatness stems from this.

For me, greatness doesn’t necessarily have to involve some heroic, life-saving act, that draws attention to the person because of the dynamic nature of the act performed.  Indeed, such acts are great and should be recognized and honored, of course.  I do, however, believe that greatness is carried out in a more profound way, in ordinary, daily life.  When a wife or a husband tenderly cares for their spouse as a disease ravages their spouse’s body to the point that the life is drained right out of them.  When one friend sits and listens quietly for hours as the other pours out the depths of his soul in his darkest hour, because otherwise he may not find the strength to go on.  When a person in a position of authority risks bending the rules in order to allow for the greatest good to be achieved.  Greatness…happens when we reveal love for others that goes beyond ourselves.

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”  Matthew 22:37-39

Peace and love,

Felecia

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