God and Nature 2026 #2
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By Cheryl Grey Bostrom
If blades of timothy and rye
Were made of flesh and bone
And orchard grass and clover green
Were my own form, full grown.
Would I dare cheer the mower sharp
As round the field it came
To drop me groundward at my knees
My willfulness to tame?
And would I welcome ted and rake
To cure me in the heat
Before the baler packed me tight
And bound me, winter’s feed.
Or would I resist sacrifice
And bend past hungry, poor,
To dance in autumn’s windy chill
And shrink to soil’s store?
If blades of timothy and rye
Were made of flesh and bone
And orchard grass and clover green
Were my own form, full grown.
Would I dare cheer the mower sharp
As round the field it came
To drop me groundward at my knees
My willfulness to tame?
And would I welcome ted and rake
To cure me in the heat
Before the baler packed me tight
And bound me, winter’s feed.
Or would I resist sacrifice
And bend past hungry, poor,
To dance in autumn’s windy chill
And shrink to soil’s store?
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone--
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
—Psalm 103:13-17
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone--
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
—Psalm 103:13-17
Pacific Northwest naturalist and photographer Cheryl Grey Bostrom is the author of five books, including the multiple-award-winning novels SUGAR BIRDS, LEANING ON AIR, and her 2025 release WHAT THE RIVER KEEPS, in which a reclusive biologist returns to her childhood home on the Elwha River and untangles her mysterious past. Cheryl lives with her veterinarian husband in rural Washington State.