the first

{via pinterest}

i can hardly believe that today is the first of December.

each time a new month comes around, i sit back and ponder where i've come from, and where i'm going. december is the month that draws the most contemplation, the deepest inhales, the quietest dwellings.

it's my favourite, if i'm being the most honest.

because it's the start of the end, after all.

there's a freshness in realizing that we're so close to crossing our toes from one full year to a brand-new empty canvas.

this artist embraces that, swims in the paint that could become 2012, if i let it free.

december holds much. we start the anticipation today. children tug sleeves with knitted mittens and squeal

Christmas is coming

there is an innocence with december, a newness even though the year is crammed to brimming behind our backs. it's like the closet door that slowly swings closed on the year, cluttered or organized, because the door must close eventually. there are new ones to open, after all.

{via pinterest}

that's what awakens my soul in this twelfth month. the countdown to Christ's coming is made so much more real as we hang small figures or read pages from special books, lighting the candles and murmuring

come quickly, Lord Jesus. 

:: Advent Sundays become Advent everydays :: 

so cue the instrumental music that leaves room for the soul to sing its own words at the close. because that's the best we can do, the greatest gift we can give Him, is to let our souls compose His song.

i'm tossed in Light now. in soul now. i'm sitting with my King, legs dangling over the edge as we speak together in the silence.

we're choosing words, my Jesus and i. we're making our preparations with joy, counting down the moments until the start.

and so with anticipation, we begin the final measures of this two-thousand-and-eleventh symphony. the ending is the prelude, the expectation building toward Glory.

i'm elated to discover now. and forever.