Winter of the Soul

All my life I've waited

to grow out of sin,

divorce pain

cancel lonliness



I believed a day would really come

When it's all over.

In the winter of the soul,

I realize how much it's going to take

to make everything better.

There's a reason why we all die.

The final restoration is nothing short

of completely wiping out

and restarting over again.

We live in the not yet.

When this life is so good

I'm bursting to hold in my joy,

Sometimes I Forget what the winter was like.

But, in the winter of the soul

every moment is consumed

with memories of the summer.

What it was like to be happy

                      peaceful

                joyful

    sufficient

Life is longing for joy, peace, sufficiency.

Longing never reaches.

It is in itself a kind of pleasure.

To long for the pleasure of heavan is pleasure of itself.

As I long to get there,

      to get to heavan 

How I realize the getting there is half the journey.

Mountains look stunning from

low down here on earth.

When you're among them,

you can't see them so well.

You forget that you're in mountains.

In the winter of the soul

we are conscious only that we long

to reach heavan

In heavan,

Why should we think of anything else?

It's like being in the mountains.

A few times in this life-

    glimpses of heavan

moments of joypeacesufficiency.

And we forget, for a little while, the winter.

Joy to the World

There is always a place for joyful,

if sometimes solemn,

carols for me in this season.

I find myself exhausted from 

Coldplay, Lopez, and Sliversun. 

Carols are rest for me-

 rest from my boombox, rock and roll,

addicted lifestyle;

because, honestly, hip-hop takes

so much emotional energy!

 

I had a dream the other night that I was standing 

in a beautiful avenue between 

a row of buildings late

one night just before Christmas.

Snow was falling deep around me.

The trees along the avenue were decorated

with lights and an unseen choir was

singing this song:

It was so beautiful I wished I would never 

wake up. But, of course, that couldn't

be helped. Long after the beautiful lights and voices

had faded away, I still held onto the feeling

that buried deep in this season 

there is a gift, made especially for me 

before I could walk or talk, before I knew 

my own name, and long before 

I even existed. 

When I sing Christmas Carols I am most

conscious of that gift. They always

have the amazing ability to transport me 

all the way back to my very first Christmases

before I had yet opened that gift

and it lay there, wrapped in festive paper. 

I'm still opening that gift- the gift of a friendship

that will last me this whole life and beyond. 

This is my friendship with Christ Jesus.

The Simple Joys of Life.

A snake brings joy to my baby sister:)

Taters...ready to boil. 

Christmas Cheer!

Thankful

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Let the house of Aaron say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Let those who fear the LORD say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

the LORD answered me and set me free.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

Happy Birthday to Me!

18 random lesson from 2011:

1. There's a first for everything... like this blog.

2. You know how some people just wait for accident to happen? Well, accidents are just waiting for ME to happen.

3. Two wrongs don't make a right, but chocolate covers a multitude of sins.

4. According to the Ultimate Authority at Denver Motor Vehicle, one must STOP for three mississippi's at a stop sign before continuing.

5. It actually takes the minute hand longer to travel up the top of the hour then to fall down to the bottom. We scientifically tested this, people... in Trigonometry.

6. There is a direct relationship between the amount of peanut butter empty from my jug and the volume of sushine in my heart.

7. When given the choice between two ladies, a gentlman always chooses the one with a stick of gum.

8. The inverse of sine is NOT 1/sin. It just isn't people, not matter how hard you want it to be. The inverse of sine can only be sin^(-1).

9. I havn't changed one einsy meinsy bit.

10. Dr Pepper 10- not for women.

11. USFA has now descided that the bib is target area for a foil fencer. WHAT EVER!!!!

12. It takes two to giggle about absolutely nothing

13. Life goes by really fast. Blink and it's

gone.

14. Droids are the bomb... so is Skype:)

15. Don't worry, be happy.

16. Love what you've got. There's a reason why you have it.

17. I forgot this one.

18. When you lost everything there is to lose; when you're friends disown you and the only hook left to hang your hat on is trouble, it's nice to know that Wendy's still serves all natural beef patties.