BLESSED are those who die for GOD
And earn the Martyr’s crown of light;
Yet he who lives for GOD may be
A greater Conqueror in His sight.
A.Proctor, The Cloud of Witness
Happiest 2nd Day of Christmas 🎄 ~ Monday Ponderings {December 26th}
Category: Prayer
Merriest and Happiness Christmas! ♥️❄️♥️❄️♥️
Peace isn’t a place – it’s a Person. Peace isn’t a place to arrive at, but a Person to abide in. “I myself am your peace,” says Jesus. ♥️
Ann Voskamp, The Broken Way
Advent Ramblings & Rumination ♥️🎄♥️
I confess that I’ve had to internally fight to keep my heart calm ♥️ and in the moment this Advent season. This past year has been a good struggle for me. This coming to the end of my strength, coming to the end of self, I find of course, Jesus calmly standing beside me, loving me. ♥️♥️♥️ I picked the words “anticipation & expectation” for 2022 and wow 😯 that didn’t play out how I thought it would. 😎😂 But slowly reflecting in this Advent season, I’m seeing what a gift this year has been. I didn’t realize that what I was anticipating and expecting was something very different than what needed working, kneading in, and cutting away from my heart. 🥹♥️ God is SO faithful.
How are you? How are you holding up? What are some things you’ve been thinking on, learning from 2022? ♥️ I still not perfectly clear on what I’m to pull away from my struggles this year, but some things have bubbled to the surface and I’m slowly working on acknowledging them, trying to reorder affections that are wonky, and really focus on what is important in my life. I’m praying about my words for 2023 and what things I need to focus on through good habits, focused attention, and quiet listening. Listening to the still, small voice of Jesus and deep, attentive listening to the people in my life. And listening to the whisper of words on the wind, wrangling them into inky encouragement on paper.
My personality and lifestyle needs a healthy balance of habits & structure with a good dose of freedom and openness. It makes for an uniquely delicate dance, keeping a rhythm flowing, yet being open to being human, room for life, creativity, and laughter. Do you struggle finding the right pace for the journey of life, too? Praying for clarity and for faithfulness as we cross over into the new year.
May you have a blessed last few Advent moments and a wonderful Christmastime! 🎄 May God give you fresh vision as you look to the new year! Happiest Christmas! ♥️♥️♥️ Love, Amy
Monday Ponderings {December 5th}
…Our bartered, busy lives burn dim,
too tired to care, too numb to feel.
Come, shine upon our shadowed world:
Your radiance bathes with power to heal.
excerpt from “O Radiant Christ” by Ruth Duck, from Biola Advent Project
Advent ♥️ Beginnings
“The desire to give”: poem & Ansel Adams intertwine…
“Beauty Glut” by A.M.Pine
Beauty glut, beauty bright
maybe I’ll crack open
and my seams
will spill out
a little light
cause I can’t
hold this all
sieve myself
rend myself
funnel
channel
squeeze myself
fill up
spill out
faucet
spigot
shower
keep the beauty
flowing
conduit
current
carry
receiving
repackage & repurpose
from me to you
from you to me
from Him to us
from us to Him
blood & beauty spilled
nail holes & hoarding hurts
beauty & blood spurts
gasping
glut groaning gifts
growing gains
beauty born
give & it shall be given
“Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is the recreation on another plane the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the interrelations of these.”
Ansel Adams, p.37 Ansel Adams: An Autobiography, emphasis mine
Monday Ponderings {November 7th}
Gather my broken fragments to a whole,
As these four quarters make a shining day.
Into thy basket, for my golden bowl,
Take up the things that I have cast away
In vice or indolence or unwise play.
Let mine be a merry, all-receiving heart,
But make it a whole, with light in every part.
George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul
||on hot water therapy ||
||filtered light through shower curtain, drips trickle off silver-y, soap-scummed faucet…Irish Spring Soap scent, sniffing out a 32 year old memory of Grandma Fritz, her chunky, pink bubble-shaped bubble bath bottle, her chain plug, while all the dregs drain down…salty tears mixed with mineral-laden water in need of salt to soften. Hey, I’m a cheap water softener, if only my tears could be useful in that way…stretch marks, stretched-taut strength, silent screams through the warm rain. Hair plastered close, veil washed over my racing thoughts…sore nose bridge, loose glasses, may I be able to see pass this all? Purple, frayed, musty towel waiting, dirty feet bottoms planted in the swirling soap suds. Rubber duckies, colorful boat, army man with one leg, Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo, please bring me an olive branch of peace and hope. Hot water sears eczema, coconut oil slathering ahead, healing really does hurt. Worry-disease drained away for the moment, deep breath, steam in, selfishness and stress out. Water pounding massage, life paused in curtained, watery world away from the “on-ness” of it all, soul’s dirty roots deeply watered for another day. Size 12, barely buttoned, unzipped heart, out of chest, maybe hot water therapy will help this heavy-heart, too? Scrub this heart anew.
Joy Journal: November 3rd🍂
📖Dear Friends,📖
What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!
🍂I’m grateful today for…🍂
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness 🕯, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 🪔
2 Corinthians
|| searching for cemeteries || diluted sunlight, cool breezes|| another daughter enjoying Black Beauty || learning about Stalin, fascinating discussions || nature journaling paraphernalia spread out || wild flower weed bouquets || candle-lit chili suppers ||cardamon cinnamon, those words AND the new tea || new notebooks || orange-y, brown, green, and purple-y pens ||the wonderful words: russet • plum • golden • scarlet• || roar of wind through remaining leaves ||
|| chasing words || trees at local arboretum, so many varieties in one delicious spot || Joni Mitchell’s songs, art, and dipping a little into her biography || #380 of the Creative Pep Talk Podcast || Vincent’s letters to Theo || acorn tops in bottom of tote bag || box of raspberries || piece of paper birch bark || zoo ticket memories repurposed as bookmark || kitty sleeping on me, all stretched out, so warm || watching “You’ve Got Mail” with hubby, an autumn tradition || golden hue of this time of year || thrifted moccasins ||
|| perusing earrings and rings while thrifting || little animal vignettes in surprising places about home || Tombrow pens 🖊 || stickers of trees and acorns ||my little one falling asleep on me while reading the Tailor of Gloucester || every morning, his soft squishy Ezra Jack Keats poem and snuggling moment with me || Old Farmer’s Almanac tidbits || mums and fat squat pumpkins all in a row || cardigans swinging from back of all the chairs -|| new pencils, crayons, and composition notebooks ||bells ringing on church ||
What are you noticing today? I’m so grateful for the little gifts all around me! 🥹♥️
Monday Ponderings {October 24th}
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic.
Oswald Chambers
Monday Ponderings {October 17th}
Unity is strength and happiness; separateness is weakness and misery.
Charlotte Mason, Scale How Meditations
Monday Ponderings {October 3rd}
…He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps…
Book of Psalms
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 