"reach into the waiting"

I'm shivering and smiling under extra blankets because I've swung wide the door to winter.  I do it because I want to drink in as much of this view as I can.  

 

While the fire blazes hot beside me, a cool mountain wind is an unexpected but invited guest.  It has echoed along the valley past tunnel mountain and blown itself right through my door and up into the sloping rafters of my room. 

 I don't mind this guest. I just furrow in a little deeper, listen to the fire's breathy crescendos and decrescendos and watch flame-shadows dance pink across my page.

All is music

All is symphony

All is praise to the Holy One - Jesus

for Whom I wait

from whose mouth come

the cool winds and warm flames

that blow across my life.

I can be cold and warm...content with the change and uncertainty.  I can trust Him with the seasons of me that don't make sense.  I can "reach into the waiting," LETTING MY SOUL TRAVEL THE DISTANCE TO STILLNESS, where I bow before my everlasting King and offer Him my humble gift of everything.

(a special thanks to Judy McVean whose phrase "reach into the waiting" has not left me since I read it.

For a thoughtful reflection on this most precious advent season, please follow this link to Judy McVean's honest and revealing blog SeeingSacred. http://seeingsacred.blogspot.ca/2012/12/small-things.html  )

(photos and text © 2012 Melody Armstrong except where otherwise cited.)