in which we share the road

{via pinterest}

so when your hope's on fire

and you know your desire

don't hold a glass over the flame

don't let your heart grow cold

i will call you by name

i will share your road

:: mumford and sons

it's been a rocking chair morning, the kind where my little one won't stop fussing and wiggling and wants only to be held close to her momma. and so we spent our morning in the rocking chair, back and forth motions with coffee for breakfast. 

and these are the times when i ponder the beauty of community, ironically in the silence and solitude provided between breaths when the little one dreams curled against my shoulder. 

there's something essential about community, that moment where a hand finds another hand and skin on skin whispers i've been there; take heart.

there's a sweetness here, a precious air of understanding that comes from shared experience. it's that candle in the window, that tiny beacon that signals welcome to the wandering heart that hasn't found a place to settle yet. 

{via pinterest}

i've become passionate about encouragement, placing my flag on the mountaintop and reaching down a hand to those struggling in their coming after. this is why i stand and say to those sweet ones climbing hard behind, 

do you know just what you are to Him? 

do you know the world needs someone like you to make it better? 

and i'm still learning, a student at His feet, and we're making plans and laying foundation together. and it's going to be beautiful when it's all done, because it's His blueprints, after all. i'm just the follower who lays the brick and paints the wall with colour streaked in my hair and smudged on my cheek. 

so take heart and reach up, sister warrior, brother braveheart. He'll catch you, and we'll walk in light together. 

may you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

may today there be peace within.

may you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

may you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

may you be content knowing you are a child of God.

let this presence settle into your bones, and 

allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

it is there for each and every one of you.

:: St. Teresa of Avila ::

{joining with dear em today; join us?} 

thin places

spring brings me to the thin places. those places that the Celtic speak of in reverential whispers in the silence of the night when the stars are close enough to be touched and the moon has a face of love.

the place when the line between Heaven and earth is thinner than three feet, and everything seems wispy and sacredness seems to overwhelm.

these are the shoeless places, holy ground, where sandals fall from calloused feet and the grass slips between toes. that's a prayer, right there.

i feel like these places come out with the spring breezes and impending April showers. they bring me closer to the ground, all laid out with palms flat to the earth.

{via pinterest}

but it makes me feel fragile. as things get thinner, i feel that i get thinner too, easier to break. and that's a frightening reality sometimes, when things feel so close so shatter. but it's worth it when the world gets wispy and my fingers can slip between the veil.

what i need is the dandelion in the spring. the bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. 

the promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. 

that it can be good again.

::  the hunger games :: suzanne collins ::

i'm learning to love these thin places. these little gaps between light and dark, and open and shut. i like this barefoot season of scared and holy. 

it's the glass of ice water, Life Water, beneath the spreading branches from a thousand trees. it's the whisper in the wind that sings of courage and strength and rest. 

it's the thin places. 

big picture details

this is one of those days that i wished i painted.

because this day has been a canvas already flooded with too much colour for one heart to bear.

it took a distant voice down a telephone to soothe a frazzled soul like mine when batteries stop working and computers become electronic nightmares. when the sweet woman with the tender voice soothed the tears of this flustered pregnant woman, i felt a embrace from Heaven.

this entire day, these few hours that i have been awake from a sleep of strange dreams and tangled thoughts, i have had a reminder that it's okay to focus on the little lines instead of the bold strokes for a change.

because it's hard to see the forest for the trees and the trees for the leaves and the veins for all the big picture being pressing against our noses.

and sometimes we need to look past the image in the stained glass window and let the colours swirl over skin.

because it's not always about do.

:: it's about be :: 

and even He whispers of the simple things, like love and hope and grace and brave. do we forget that He knows, that He lived like us and stepped in our path? that He wrote the story and already has the ending etched on His palms?

most of all

let love be your guide

and so i'm not looking at my computer with the broken battery that i cannot unplug for lack of power. i'm looking at the pools of glory in the wood between my worlds of chaos and Light.

and more moments of barefoot wading, and sacred moments of colour and peace.

colour drops :: five minutes

{via pinterest}

five minutes

five minutes to write my heart without stopping, without editing, without over-analyzing every word. 

it's about being free here, about writing for love here, every Friday. 

******

half the time, i forget about colour. 

i focus on the black and white and loose the technicolor in the religious right and leave the relationship to fade from sight until we're back again to shades of grey.

it's the stand-up sit-down, learn the ABC of You and me and just forget the mystery that the Pharisees just couldn't grasp. 

but that night, it wasn't black and white, but RED with Life and GOLD with the broken heart of Soverign Father slashed across the sky in lightning slash. 

and those shades of grey died with Death in the space of three days when colour was risen from the ice-cold rock and Life burst forth into rainbow drops of GLORY and WHITE.

because it's important to pick up the crayons of childlike faith and streak the colour bold and wide from side to side and cover the page in infamy and reality of the truth that set us free in the space of three days with Red that turns us White again.

so we just have shut up, sit back, and let Him flip the mental switch to bright and drop the harshness and swallow down the mystery of the unseen and oh, glory be to the Painter of celebrates eternity. 

do we remember colour now? 

{linking five minutes of my day with Lisa-Jo}

armour // nanowrimo

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this morning started at 5am. or rather, i wanted it to begin at this early hour.

however, i found myself dozing off instead of beginning my writing adventures.

so i suppose this morning started at 7:30am. i opened my laptop and stared at the blank Microsoft WORD document. then i started to type.

the document is no longer blank. now it is the home for 3,128 words and counting. it's the home for my dreams now.

i'm learning how to turn words into life. i've done this before, you know, but not like this. i've written a 50,000 word novel before. i've done NaNoWriMo twice before. but i'm doing this my way now.

i'm wearing armour this time. 

word armour, i suppose. 

i would rather my critics be paintbrushes that breathe. but i know they'll be cannons instead.

but i have to learn to let their bullets clang against my armour. i know they might dent a bit, might break my heart just a bit.

but it's my work. 

they can't do this for me.

this is one of those things that is between me and the Author of life and a keyboard of twenty-six letters.

these are my dreams in black and white dots and dashes.

i'm turning them into a dreadlocked girl dressed in purple with magic in her eyes.

this is just the start.

{because of NaNoWriMo, i am not going to do an elaborate giveaway winner announcement post. i do hope you will all forgive me. the winners, in order of items 1-4 are Quinn, Jess, Cassie, and Kimberly. congratulations, lovely ladies! please email me with your information with 48 hours to claim your items!} 

veil

hidden.

discretion tucked away behind yards of spiritual fabric.

so much silence found in place that should be flooded with joy

locked in the somberness of black and dark and 

walk this way

fit this mold

be this person

it's what He wants?

did we forget just as i am?

did we forget that this veil has been torn already

not by us from the bottom

 but by Him from the top?

no more cowering required. 

no more dark laces and segregation. 

this is freedom found

hair flowed loose, any colour allowed. silver jewels in ears and nose and lip. 

there is so much shouting here. so much colour here. so much life and love and freedom. 

there is no more condemnation. He sees all, forgives all, if only asked. 

did we forget where He looks? 

not out but in. 

so let this veil go. 

freedom is this song. 

{linking up with Jen and my loves at Soli Deo Gloria}

Reminders {41-50}

This has been one of those "Monday sort of Mondays."

Perhaps it is days like this that conjured up the idea that Mondays are indeed the bane of the weekday.  From my first moments of waking, I was overwhelmed with an onslaught of hurt.

So many dark clouds seemed to have crept over my beautiful ideals for this day, as if in an attempt to shut out any glimpses of joy.

I actually had no intention of even writing this post today. I simply poured out my heart in this post, and made no true plans to write anything of a joyful or blessed nature today.

I thought, maybe tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow, I will write my joys. I will be in better spirits, I'm sure, and then I will lose myself in beauty.

But my Lord had other plans for me this morning.

Write your joys, beloved one. 

I'm carrying you in this...is that not enough reason alone to sing? 

Be strong, dearheart. 

Courage. 

Write your joys.

And so, I will write my beauties...my joys...and my light. 

• 41. An hour and a half long phone call with Grace...discussions of yarn, knitting, paperback novels, and the comforting glory of God in the midst of our struggles.

• 42. The power of my rapidly growing church, and the majesty of the Mighty God who is backing us up through every single moment of growth...and through every moment of hardship. We are facing our giants, claiming this Promise. 

• 43. Dance rehearsals. Long, exhausting, beautiful dance rehearsals. I will never tire of seeing a group of disconnected, confused cast members suddenly click...suddenly understand....suddenly dancing in sync. There's a powerful beauty in this. 

• 44. Laughter. Oh, so much laughter. 

• 45. Being curled beneath my bedroom window, the cool wind and sweet half-summer-half-autumn aroma tickling my senses. I wish all days were like this. 

• 46. The comfort of my mother and sister, even across an entire ocean. There's something about my sister's fire of indignation and my mother's calm smile that wrap me in arms of indescribable sweetness. Two weeks until they are home again.

• 47. Knowing I am loved. Knowing that, no matter what happens, He loves me. That my treasured friends love me. That I am carried in arms of prayer and wings of mercy. 

• 48. Life. Breath. Salvation. Joys aplenty. Endless mercies. 

• 49. Grief. There is beauty found in tears, the release of weeping and pouring oneself out before the King. He cannot fix what is not broken. 

• 50. Watching Tangled for the literal ten thousandth time, curled on the couch with a five year old towhead angel of a boy as he touches my tear-streaked cheek and says, "don't cry, he comes back to life again. Promise!" 

I have found beauty in this darkness.

There is pink and blue and gold among this grey.

There is love here. 

...bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. ~Isaiah 61:3

(Don't forget to enter August's giveaway! It's almost half over...don't miss out!)