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Moments in Time
I am a collector of moments ✻ an adorer of simplicity ✻ and a most ardent enjoyer of the beauty of ordinary life
Mary Catherine Meirink
Photography by Mary Meirink
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Come away and rest a while (2015)
This guy paid a visit while I was on our deck 🦉 July 22, 2023

Psalm 65:8 You make the sunrise and the sunset sing for joy. (Lake of the Ozarks with Jack)

An early morning walk while on retreat.

Lewis and Clark Trail with Jack

I have to say, this photo is probably my number one favorite. There is nothing quite like the silence that settles in with the snow. Faust Park in Chesterfield, MO 2019

Another amazing moment! Autumn 2021 looking into the courtyard of The Conservatory on Main Street

The morning fog swirled in the breeze and offered this magical moment. 🍁 September 30, 2022 Weldon Spring, MO
This lovely creature was nestled in the branches at Faust Park. November 7, 2023

Old Town St. Charles, MO.

A view from my deck door

One of my all time favorites. I call it Autumn Whispers. I took it on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

A pleasant memory on a bitter cold day. Snowflakes decorated my car like artwork at a gallery. ❄️ photo taken on January 24, 2025

A quiet moment while I was surrounded by crowds and polka music in Hermann, MO
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Christmas on Main Street

The bird sang for me 🎶 Weldon Spring

Augusta, MO
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Walkway leading to the St. Louis Planetarium in Forest Park.
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Cali

The Chapel at Selah (Autumn Retreat 2019)

Before the sun cleared the fog. It was every bit as lovely as the sunshine. Just different 🌥Branson, MO

My Lilacs 🤗 I'm pretty sure this is what Heaven smells like.

Morning walk in the fog at Prayer Mountain of the Ozarks

These yellow berries had something' to say! I still laugh when I remember this "ordinary" tree bursting with yellow berries at Faust Park on an early December day. I was joyfully startled when I saw them hanging out at the park. It's like they were waiting for someone to stop and notice them. Well... notice them I did! Ha!

Calabasas, CA

A not so ordinary roof of an outdoor chapel on retreat ✞

And he walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, no other could ever know 🎶
quiet.simple.beauty

Another favorite. The old Ursaline Academy in Arcadia, MO.

"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring." Bernard Williams
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Sweeeet! Look who showed up while I was resting on a church bench.

A moonlit view from my front yard 2021
a snowy view from home sweet home February 16, 2024
Misty Morning Reflections October 2022

The grounds of Daniel Boone's home in Defiance, MO

Arcadia, MO

That's not glitter. It's the dew of Heaven. Summer 2021

One more Cali sunset

Same rock ✨ Different view / We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the greatness of the power might be of God and not of ourselves
Day's End ✍︎ Faith and Writing Workshop
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Quiet reflection before the Women's Retreat at Todd Hall Retreat Center
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Early bloomer 🌹My Garden 2021

Good Morning! Old Town St. Peters, MO
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Old Town St. Charles
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Sunset on the ocean... California
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Manhattan Beach

And yet one more. How incredible to watch the moon rise above the trees. I am so glad I got my camera.

Old Town St. Peters, Missouri
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Reflection....
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Reflections of a rainy day. My bird bath at Home Sweet Home

Time in California with my daughter before our Retreat
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Autumn in the Heartland
Guardian of the Nest💙Bluebirds returned to nest more babies! Guardian perches nearby ready to swoop anyone who approaches. Don't even mess with Mama!
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Hannibal, Missouri
Concordia or Hobbits? 🤷🏻♀️😀 July 2023

Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii / sculpture by Randolph Rogers / photo taken at the St. Louis Art Museum
winter wonderland outside our deck door. February 16, 2024

The Lord's mercies are new every morning (Faust Park 2020)

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) owned these books and glasses! Hannibal, MO

Ah! Now this is how you retreat! The dining room of the home we stayed in.
![FLOURISH, verb intransitive flur'ish. [Latin floresco, from floreo. The primary sense is to open, expand, enlarge, or to shoot out, as in glory, Latin ploro.] from Websters 1828 Dictionary](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61166393aedbb80dd0199938/ef7a7676-78e5-44cb-89e0-d53658adbf98/A4A8C27A-23D9-402F-BBB0-63CCAA2159C3_1_201_a.jpeg)
FLOURISH, verb intransitive flur'ish. [Latin floresco, from floreo. The primary sense is to open, expand, enlarge, or to shoot out, as in glory, Latin ploro.] from Websters 1828 Dictionary
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Same tree 🌿 Different View (Weldon Spring, MO)

a Bear and a Bunny 🙂

October 2024. I left earlier than normal for work and was surprised by the morning's hello. Let's just say I was Not early for work as planned. I stayed here and drank in the moment. Sometimes... work needs to be work. This day... the moment needed to be the moment.

An Autumn Day in Weldon Spring
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My Jack ❤️

An outdoor pulpit on an Fall day stirred distant memories of forgotten dreams now lying at my feet 🍁Behold the Dream Giver ✝︎ Behold New Life ❀ Autumn Retreat 2022

From my desk to yours 🌼

A heart remains where a branch was broken ♡
a farm in Arkansas. October 2024

Photo bombed 🙂

Augusta, Missouri

California! Some beach. Ha. I'm not sure which one. There were many

Sunset in San Clemente February 2023

Todd Hall Retreat Center in Columbia, IL
Before the rain March 31, 2023

Adorned with praise 🪴Soul Shepherding Retreat
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Zia's On The Hill

Good morning ☀️
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Lewis and Clark Trail

Early morning fog in Branson, MO

A rainy Spring day at Concordia Seminary St. Louis, MO 2019 a seminar with our CPE Chaplains

Dried flowers ♡
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Weldon Spring, MO
Rising Dawn & Setting Moon (San Clemente)
"I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys." Solomon 2:1
"If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write." Martin Luther + Faith and Writing Workshop 2023
Colors & shadows!
Memories in dried flowers and wicker baskets

San Clemente March 2023

Selah Retreat Center in Arcadia, MO. This is the entrance to the first Women's Retreat that I had the honor of hosting. We had 20 ladies from 12 Christ centered churches. I am so deeply grateful.

Ah! Faust Park in Chesterfield, MO. This would have been easy to pass by had I not been looking for beauty

God is amazing!
Forest Park, November 2023
At His Feet Women's Retreat, 2023
When is the last time you gazed at the clouds and just imagined? (Sunrise view from my deck. July 12, 2024)

What was life like for those who worked in this old barn located at Faust Park... I gazed through this window and imagined

Spring 2019 Concordia Seminary in St Louis, MO at a seminar with my fellow chaplains

Outside Daniel Boone's House in Defiance, MO
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St. Charles, MO
Faith & Writing Workshop ✝︎ Concordia Seminary St. Louis, MO

Faust Park in Chesterfield, MO during Covid. The flowers obviously did not know the park was closed 🙂
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Weldon Spring
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Mercy Retreat Center in St, Louis, MO. It is yet another retreat with my CPE Chaplain group. It snowed the next day!
OWLiver July 2023
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All creation radiates the beauty of the Lord

Waze led me down a wrong gravel road. It sure was pretty though 😊
beautiful... this reminds me of a peacock spreading her feathers 😁
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Joy! St. Charles, Missouri
Misty morning prayer time before ladies arrived for our Autumn Retreat 2024.