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I would like to be God's little wildflower
Dancing in the wind
The one that can grow wherever
He chooses me to send
Sprouting in poor soil
Budding where a bloom is needed
Bringing joy to a downcast world
And being little heeded.

This post is for all the other soon-to-be ex-Picnikers out there. Google has decided to shut down the online photo editor, Picnik, in order to drag us kicking and screaming into using Google+ for all our social networking, photo-editing, sitting-perpetually-in-front-of-a-screen-rather-than-talking-to-the-person-next-to-you needs. I've been using Picnik for a few years and am quite disappointed this service will soon be unavailable. Through a lot of experiementation, I've found the effects and editing techniques that really work for me on Picnik...so now I have to start all over again on something else.

I've been looking around and the best thing I've found so far is Pixlr Express, which is specifically recommended for users of Picnik. About a year ago, a friend very kindly gave me a version of Photoshop she was no longer using...but it was just too complex...or too technical for me, and I never got the hang of it. I liked the 'one-stop editing' and 'push-button effects' Picnik offered. Pixlr Express is the closest thing to this. Of course it takes time & experimentation to find what works for you and what works for each individual composition, but I'm happy with the results so far. Although it doesn't offer the same 'amenities' as Picnik, it has lots of great tools of its own. This rose was textured with Pixlr's tie-dye effect. I love it!

Check out Pixlr Express at pixlr.com/express/

How softly do you reach for me,
The sounding silence of your voice
Betrays your gentle grasp
Upon the shoulder of the wanderer.
Here I am, we say
You and I,
Both at once are speaking
Listening, I receive
The Spirit that you breathe;
I know You, not as a stranger
But from the deep within
I know You, because you are inside of me.
I live with You, not as a stranger
But from the deep within
I live with You, because you dwell inside of me,
There in the deep within.
You know me, not from afar
But from the deep within
You know me, because my home is
Deep within Your heart.
Living, breathing,
Mutual indwelling
Your design so sweetly traced
Its circuit through creation
Mutely, infusing and imparting
This one consoling knowledge
No need for fear in the midst
Of an Unknown which is Love.
The same Being is
The end to which I live
The Horizon towards which I turn
The miles of my short steps.

Inspired by some words a friend passed on to me, on this feast of the conversion of St. Paul:
'Yo te conozco, porque estás dentro de mí'

The Man of Sorrows
A carpenter from Nazareth
Sandal-shod wanderer
The one Alone
At night and on dark mountains
He has worked miracles
Redemption, Revelation
Flowing through Him
Is the River of Life
The Eternal Spirit
Fountain of Love
In Whom is all Being
Creation is His face.

Picture taken at Hill of Crosses, Lithuania