Thursday 28 January 2016

letting go




.....and here we have the breaking.......



words and images © copyright melody armstrong 2015

Saturday 23 January 2016

:: quiet moments ::


a few quiet days lately

(between spurts of high-energy
spring cleaning projects in january
such as pantry reorganizing, fridge cleaning, 
closet sorting, purging and donating, 
and basement painting ) 

to breathe
to be alone 
to be still enough 
to recognize the yearnings
of my heart
and willfully choose
to let my days 
be shaped by them

and so...long walks in the woods
luxuriously long soaks in the bath
immersed in favourite words
peaceful hours of creating.... 
a journal cover
 a few pages of random thoughts 
plastered in mixed media

unmeasured moments 
of thought and 
contemplation and prayer
sitting in my dreamy bedroom 
letting my eyes be washed 
by the soft light of these grey winter skies

i am seeing clearer

and what do I have to show
for this solitude
but a 
few pretty pages

for
the fullness of my heart 
can neither be measured
nor displayed.








words and images © copyright Melody Armstrong 2016





Friday 1 January 2016

fresh starts...happy 2016


My favourite moments of the Christmas season are those I spend alone or with loved ones, reflecting on God's gifts in my life.  The most immeasurable, indescribable, invaluable of all being God's gift of Himself to me -- to all of us. 

He is the gift of fresh, new beginnings; the gift of forgiven mistakes, forgotten pasts, and clean slates.  He is the gift of freedom for our souls.  


A couple thousand years ago, at just the perfect moment -planned before the beginning of time-
God did the impossible.  He became small.

The creator and mastermind behind all that we might wrap our wildest imaginations around, willingly inserted Himself into time and history, in the form of a helpless baby, born to a peasant girl who was engaged to a carpenter.  And His birth was announced to the shepherds, of course.  God lit up the heavens with stars and angel-choirs singing -- a show for the lowly and lonely and overlooked.  

This is what God always does.  He comes to those of us that want and need him most.  

He becomes small enough to be born in us,  if we choose to make any room at all for Him in our own soul's manger -- right there in the mess of it all.  

And then the Miracle grows in us.  God fills us and spills out of us.  We get to be transformed daily, if we choose, because the Creator is lovingly at work within us.

And just like Mary, who said "yes" to being a vessel wherein Christ could dwell, we have the same choice to make.  Are we willing to say yes, even the tiniest yes, to having God dwell in us?  Are we willing, even when we don't know what it means, when we're afraid, when we doubt, when we're confused and lost in our messy lives, to say yes?  

If we are, if we're willing to make any room at all for God in us, I can't help but believe that we might finally experience a widening of our imaginations and catch a glimpse of Christmas' true meaning.   


May 2016 be a year for fresh starts and saying "yes" to the best Gift of all.


Love and Hugs,

Melody


H A P P Y    N E W    Y E A R   T O   A L L    O F     Y O U!!!!     FROM ALL OF US!! 




all words and images © copyright Melody Armstrong 2016