Tuesday 29 October 2013

first snow...the morning after


first snow...the morning after

it is stillness dazzling white...
it is a lone leaf whispering goodbye
to it's bare branch
and floating down to sleep on
blankets of fluffy jewels
glittering in sunbeams...
it is coolness welcomed in
through windows cracked open
and a crisp-air kiss
on a warm cheek turning rosy...
it is playful rhythms of
frosty melt
drip, drip, dripping off eaves
and flying free....
it is water blue
glanced through naked trees
and tiny teasing icicles
wanting to play at the liquid surface...
it is black and white magpie
hopping happy in the empty yard
finally king on his own
frosty bird-feeder throne...
it is pillowy white clouds
thrown onto sky-blue duvet
and painted jet-stream stripes
that disappear...
it is everything wrapped 
in stillness dazzling white.

words and images © copyright Melody Armstrong 2013




Monday 28 October 2013

first snow

thank you Ali for capturing pure joy!!


first snow...

it is
jitters and giggles growing
in a bubbly frenzy
til finally kids can
burst outside
in boots and mitts and snow pants
too big and too small
pulled from the hidden recesses
of closets and bins
still in summer hibernation

it is 
 hollars from the garage of 
"where's my .....[everything]"
and the two of us behind them
following happy chatter 
and frosty footsteps
tracked all the way up the street
to the new best hill behind the neighbour's house

it is 
doorbells ringing and 
more crazy kids 
smothered in scarves and outgrown jackets
peeling and reeling
 into the wonderful
chilly white world
of 
first snow.



Words © copyright Melody Armstrong 2013
photo credit:  friend Ali  M.






Friday 25 October 2013

in the shadows

The weight of pain sits heavy in the shadows.  

My heart aches for so many of you, dear friends.  If only words were enough.  If only I could hug you all the way to wholeness.  If only....... anything to lessen your pain and make this journey easier.  

This poem is for you.....



 feeling lost again
journeying in the shadows
dark halting my steps
half-seeing
heart-frenzied 
by the deafening sound 
of fear 
pulsing silent...


  this heaviness 
stretches places 
already shadow-thin
within
and how to mend a 
thread-bare soul
with strands of light 
so frail?
oh Savior, save!
rescue me with courage
set for me
a path anew
flooded 
in the light of You
where my foot is sure
and my heart hears
only
the love in
your whisper.


Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid."




words and images © copyright Melody Armstrong 2013



Monday 14 October 2013

Canadian Thanksgiving and monumental joy....

It's Thanksgiving Day and after a weekend filled with hockey and church and family parties, bountiful in food and fellowship, I've snuck upstairs and slid into a warm bath.  The window is open, a cinnamon candle is burning, I have a book in my hand and a cold glass of water beside me.  I can hear the football game playing on the television downstairs and the front door opening and closing with various children piling in and tumbling out again.



It's a day of monumental joy.  Truly! It's a day to revel in the beautiful simplicity of my life.  It's a day I WANT TO BE AWAKE TO.  It's a day to say THANK YOU, GOD......
for a heart that knows where home is...for the sounds of contentment in bouncing, giggling girls out on the trampoline...for the drone of the lawn mower and a husband who's left his half-time football game to go out and cut the grass for what might be the last time before next spring...for colors half-summer, half-fall that glow golden in sunshine...for breaths of fall air, all earthy and full, pouring in the window where I soak...for cinnamon candles and warm baths...for trains and whistles and reflections on water...for two sons who are finding their own way around a lazy (finally!!) day...for a man who I love and who loves me....and for mercy and grace, unmerited, and freely given by a Savior who knows intimately every soul's unspoken whispers.




SO.........THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, GOD for simple, monumental JOY.


Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!  If any of you would like to share some of the simple moments in your life that you are thankful for today, I would be honoured to read them.  


words and images © copyright Melody Armstrong 2013







Thursday 10 October 2013

a million thanks


a lush heart
ripe
with a million thanks
simple repeating lines 
of wonder
written into me
 i shiver
with the knowing
that I could miss
 the gifts
i could pass right by
 the riches
the love He gives

in stones and skies

in leaves and letters and laughter
in waves and water 
and windsong
and black and white and color

in friendships and touches 
and scars
yes
even in pain
he sustains
and covers me with
reasons to believe
again

to sing and dance and laugh
again 
at beauty from ashes
a lush heart
ripe
with a million thanks





words and images © copyright melody armstrong 2013