Vessel

 

Are you using

your time on this earth

to watch and wonder,

to wait for the next

miracle to occur

in your world?

Everyday,

you are surrounded

by the beauty and bounty in nature. 

Each day is an invitation

to give thankful praise

for God's creation.

You are a vessel  

waiting to be filled,

until it pours over with gratitude.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Shagbark Hickory - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michiga

2. Pink Lady Slipper - A Kent County Park - Michigan

3. Thistle - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Santa Catalina Mountains - SaddleBrooke, Arizona

Humble Beauty

 

Tender, but tenacious shoots

emerge from the soil.

Arise and expand

into magnificent plants,

reaching for the sun,

yearning for the light.

Flourishing

in humble beauty, like Hepatica,

or flowering with flamboyance 

like Peonies.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Enough

 

I'm perfectly content, at least satisfied,

to let the inexplicable mysteries of nature

remain mysterious, unresolved.

Not every thing, or process, or event

can be transcribed into language,

and understood using mere words.

To acknowledge beauty,

to cultivate awareness,

to believe in miracles.

That is enough for me.

The transformative power

of paying attention;

that is contentment,

that is enough.

To approach the divine

is more than enough.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Pacific Ocean - La Jolla, California

Quiet Poet

 

When I was a child,

a boy walking outdoors,

the meanings were faint,

but my eyes were large.

Then, as a young adult,

a man walking outdoors,

with focused awareness

and explicit intentions.

Now, an older man with a gentle spirit,

collecting images, gathering words,

sorting meaning into lines,

pursuing truth and beauty.

Working to fill the page.

Seeking fulfillment.

Giving gratitude. Sharing.

Revealing the heart of a quiet poet.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Inspired Souls

Artists seek and discover

epiphanies of beauty

and receptacles of mystery.

Poets follow paths of passion

pursuing relevant words

that translate their imaginations.

Both artists and poets

value the vision

that opens their senses,

and enables them to

capture on canvas

or in lines on a page,

what they seek

from within

their inspired souls.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

 

Bouquet of Praise

 

Does your heart sing

each time you step outside on these

summer mountain mornings?

Do you feel like

you're in the presence

of a benevolent source?

When you discover beauty

in the outdoor world,

do you reflect and share?

Are you ready

to paint with words

a bouquet of praise?

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Mary ~ Crested Butte, Colorado

2. & 3. West Elk Mountains ~ Colorado

4. Sarah ~ Mount McKinnon ~ Utah

Scarlet Fireworks

It's late August.

Towering above the 
deep green of summer
in the dense shade
along Bear Creek;

excessive beauty
expresses itself
in vertical explosions
of scarlet fireworks.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Cardinal Flower - Lobelia cardinalis

Photo Location: Bear Creek - Cannon Township - Kent County, Michigan 

Cardinal Flower

beauty in excess

an intensity of red

this queen of the shade

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve (Meijer) - Kent County, Michigan

Living Tapestry

The  embroidery of spring has begun.

These woods, exuberant
and swelling with vigorous life, 
cannot be stopped; are again 
painting with a palette of pastels.

Seen only during this 
turning of the season; 
seen only when you walk
through the open the door.

Why so extravagant, so intricate?
More than just order and function,
it also includes the grace of beauty.

Go now!
Witness this living tapestry.

The show has already begun;
traced by the Creator's hand,
new for you each day.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 6. Home Woods
3. Ada Township Park - Ada, Michigan
4. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan
5. Ada Township

Within

Deep within you, dear reader,
can you feel that holy place;
a small sacristy, a little temple
illuminated from within?

Have you entered there lately,
to feel the warmth of the light
waiting to give you the gift
of inspiration?

Will it help you answer the desire,
accept the honor
to create beauty
in your world...

and find a suitable way
to recognize it,
to celebrate it,
to share it?

Now, your invitation:
Open the gift,
receive the light,
and grow in the way of grace.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Golden Gate Park - San Francisco, California 

Light

"I am the light of the world, says the Lord; 
whoever follows me will have the light of life." John 8:12

"Live as children of light..." Eph. 5:8

"To love beauty is to see the light." ~ Victor Hugo

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan  

2. La Jolla, California 

3. Gallatin Range - Pray, Montana 

4. Santa Catalina Mountains - Tucson, Arizona 

embracing winter

embracing winter,

Queen Anne's Lace holds pure crystals

undisclosed beauty 

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Pope John Paul II

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II  TO ARTISTS -  1999

"To all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new "epiphanies"  of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world."

"Artists of the world, may your many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy.

"And may your art help to affirm that true beauty which, as a glimmer of the Spirit of God, will transfigure matter, opening the human soul to the sense of the eternal."

A special thanks to:

"Who Is My Neighbor? Conference & Art Exhibit" (Art - Faith - Community) (Neighbor)

Held at the Catholic Information Center (Catholic) - Grand Rapids, Michigan  April 25 - 26, 2014.


Photography by Richard Havenga.


Photo Locations:

1. Wasatch Mountains - Provo, Utah (Utah) 

2. Sunset Beach,  North Carolina  (North Carolina) 

3. Tin Cup, Colorado (Colorado)