Nature's Testament
Words and Pictures of a Journey with God
by Diane Hobelaid

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Rising rays pierce fir and cedar shadows, illuminating diamond-dewed webs strung like laundry from fragile twig to twig. … Rivulets of yellow rippling down the ever-greenèd slopes, and round each outcrop, burning bushes signal we’re on holy ground. Molten glass reflecting rock and slopes of autumn glory, silent, still, ‘til broken by a dipping paddle stroke. And we, gliding through reflected glory, learn that heaven may be paddling in the sky. Life is messy, filled with struggle as well as joy, yet we can see the fingerprints of a Creator everywhere if we have our senses and imaginations open to perceive them. God's presence is woven in and through the questions we all live with and in the moments in nature that take our breath away. The poems in Nature’s Testament celebrate this presence in everything from canoe trips to soul-searching enquiries into Biblical stories to the challenges and sometimes sheer silliness of daily 21st-century life. Illustrated throughout with full-colour photographs, it is a tribute to the sacred, to both serious and light-hearted searches for meaning, and life in all its messy, difficult splendour. Just a little jaunt across the lake, your sleeping form a reassuring presence in my stern. A peaceful respite— but suddenly the wind and waves whip death and loss to come. The clouds press in. My boat founders as I cry out to you to save me! Yet you are not afraid, Lord of the Universe. Your word brought forth the sea and all that dwells within, and peace for sailors, wet, while I wail in my soggy, sodden boots.

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Diane Hobelaid has been an artist in dance, word, music, and art all her life. An occupational therapist and dance/movement therapist, she received the 2012 Arts Therapy Award from the Wesley Institute, Sydney, Australia. In the associated thesis, she addressed the signs and symbols of the Gospel in Australian flora, fauna, and aboriginal culture, and incorporated photography, poetry, and prose. Nature’s Testament grew out of the author's experience of nature, friendships, and life, through the eyes of wonder and thankfulness, and through belief in a God who is present and alive to all who seek to know Him/Her. A contributor to Imagination & Interpretation: Christian Perspectives, (2005), Nature’s Testament is her first published collection of poetry. She has two adult children and lives with her beloved husband and a wonderful dog.

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Contributors

Author

Diane Hobelaid

Photographer

Pat Meyer

Photographer

Joyce Withrow