Fallen trees in Montana’s Glacier National Park come together to form a cross. A pebble carries a prayer. The sun rises near Ten Sleep, Wyo., and God is beginning again in the middle of our lives.

All this and more fills the pages of “By the Heartful: Seasons of Hope in Word and Image,” a book the Rev. Holly Rudolf of St. Joseph self-published in March. The retired Methodist minister — who pastored Second Presbyterian Church in St. Joseph and worked before that as an English teacher, in business offices and more — compiled more than 30 years of her photography and writing in its pages. The book was something she never considered until last year, when she began the publication process at the suggestion of people who thought her work had something to offer others.

Because everything in the book was created independently — and always, in some way, from the Rev. Rudolf’s experiences and reflections — it wasn’t meant to follow a single theme. But looking back through each photograph and prayer-poem as she created the book, she was able to identify an idea that held everything together.

“The theme I could see running through it all was hope,” she says. “There’s a lot about second chances, starting over, healing from trauma — a lot of ‘I was in that situation, and I’m not anymore, because of the power of Jesus and the gospel.’”

What she wants, she adds, is for these words and images to be “little campfires of hope in a cold world.”

Some poems resulted from her seeing herself — as someone who went through an emotionally abusive first marriage and a divorce — in Biblical women such as Mary of Magdala. Some were written for World AIDS Day, an observance close to her heart, as she had a childhood friend who died of AIDS as an adult. Some were written to be read at the funerals of family members; one was written in the hospital after surgery.

But there also are prayers written for a graduation, for a wedding, for Christmas and for Easter. The only essay in the book tells a story of joy hidden in sorrow. And in all the writing — even in a seemingly simple eight-line poem — is more than what’s evident on the surface.

The fact that the Rev. Rudolf’s words often contain more than can be absorbed in one reading is what her husband, the retired Rev. Tom Russell, likes most about them.

“I’ve always thought her writing is simple and mysterious and thick,” he says. “Some writing is thin: Everything is right there for you. It’s the difference between a Beethoven symphony and country music.”

Despite this depth of her writing, what draws people in first is her photography, the Rev. Rudolf says. She’s been practicing it almost all her life — ever since her father passed his love for it on to her when she was a child — and most of her photos capture landscapes and buildings, animals and, occasionally, people. The favorite of many readers, she says, is one she took of her husband’s elderly, grinning aunt Mary Lou in Kentucky in 1994.

This photo is called “Family” and, perhaps appropriately, is paired with a poem titled “You Are Loved.” The Rev. Rudolf didn’t try to match her writings with photos that illustrated them — intending, rather, that they serve “mainly as sparks for each other” — but sometimes the pairs do seem to go together perfectly.

The Rev. Reith Gewin of St. Joseph, a retired Presbyterian pastor and a friend of the Rev. Rudolf and her husband, sees this most in a photo taken inside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The Rev. Rudolf called this photo “Pillar of Our Faith” and matched it with a poem of the same name that begins, “Pillar of our faith, / you lift the ceiling of despair / and create a space to live.”

“That heavy, heavy pillar gives to me a strong feeling of the strength of God,” the Rev. Gewin says. “What stands out to me throughout the book is that this is a person so skilled at capturing in an event something that’s absolutely outstanding.”

This is also evident to him in an image of sun hitting a tuft of grass in a river, in a photo of a gull taking flight, in a description of a dance with Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen. And the Rev. Gewin isn’t the only one with an appreciation for the book; the Rev. Rudolf has heard from one reader who said it’s good for anyone looking for soul in everyday life, from another who said it contains what she wished she could say but didn’t have words for — even from someone who described it as the best book she’d ever read.

This last reaction, especially, isn’t something the Rev. Rudolf expected. She’s still surprised and humbled, she says, that her work helps people — but she’s also very thankful it does.

“I hope that when people look at it and read it, they feel encouraged and feel the presence of God,” she says. “And that’s hope: when someone can see because of someone else that second chances are possible and healing happens.”

The Rev. Holly Rudolf’s book, “By the Heartful: Seasons of Hope in Word and Image,” is available for $14.99 plus tax at amazon.com and in St. Joseph at Borders, Pony Espresso and AZ’s Freshair Fare. The Rev. Rudolf also sells the book herself and can be reached at 232-5963.

In addition, presentations and book signings will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. July 8 at Rolling Hills Library, 1904 N. Belt Hwy., and at noon July 20 at First Christian Church, 927 Faraon St.

Lifestyles reporter Erin Wisdom can be reached at ewisdom@npgco.com.