take all these good things, soften your heart

For whatever you need it to be.

Trees and Trust - Kye Kye

You chased my heart so I could see, (1Jo.4:19)
but I stood unacceptable. (Ro.1:21)
you called my name with infinite time (Eph.1:4)
and I lost sight so easily (Eph.4:18)

then oh, I stood in the silence, I lay in the night, a voice in the stillness(Ps.46:10)(1Kgs.19:12)
“oh my love, you’re my child, take all these good things, soften your heart”. (Phlm:6)

Lord help me, Help me remember  (Jon.14:26)
flesh is weak, my spirit’s strong,  (Mat.26:41)
dressed the trees you saw their splendor
more to you, love I am more.  (Mat.6:26-34)

You found me as an empty room,
walls with holes
so eagerly to say “oh love you own It all” (Gal.4:1) (Eph.1:3 & 2:6)
Inside of me, flows out of me. (Col.1:27)(2Cor.5:17)

then oh, I stood in the silence, I lay in the night, a voice in the stillness
“oh my love you’re my child, take all these good things, soften your heart”.

Walk with me, tell me the width and depth of the raging sea,
the deepest blue could never define you (Gal.1:11-12)(1Jo.2:27)

xo,

amanda

A wish for Wednesday.......

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise. 
- Rumi  
Translated by Coleman Barks

finding HOPE

"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all."

- EMILY DICKINSON

"You have escaped the cage.  Your wings are stretched out.  Now, fly."

-RUMI

For so long, I was praying for change.  I wanted to be somewhere else.  Be someONE else.  Instead, I kept finding feathers.  Everywhere.  I finally started picking them up.  It was just too obvious, after a while, that they were meant for me.  And my family.  They were everywhere we went.  Every session we photographed.  Every adventurous expedition we embarked on.  In the grass, up in the mountains, buried in the sand, and right at my feet.  Every time.  Before long, I had an entire collection.  Each one has a different story.  And they came just at the time when I needed them most.  There were more - but they were passed along, a reminder of HOPE, just as they had been for me.

As part of our intense search for SIMPLICITY last year, I began sorting and purging everything in our house - with a vengence.  The only things that remained were our treasures...  feathers, rocks, driftwood, dried flowers, photographs, and "husband-made" furniture.  Things that served no purpose - left first.  Things that reminded me of hurts, fears, and failures went next.  And just at those times when I was ready to give up - a feather would appear.

I never realized just how many there were - or how close I've kept it all.  A recent visitor who had never been to my home - helped me to see just what a miraculous answer to prayer I had been showered with, time after time after time.  I don't understand God's timing.  I don't understand why the learning and the growing and the moving forward have to be so very painful.  But I am thankful for the newfound capacity to do the work.  To train and prepare - for something new.  Something worth hoping for.

For here in this house - there are blessings abounding...

May your paths be showered with feathers this weekend.

xo,

amanda