broken pieces

struggling with increasing pain

feeling the weight of incompleteness

and mourning my lack of ability to do 

much of what I feel called to do

I poured out my heart

to the One Who already knows

opening my journal and picking up my pen, He replied

I need your broken pieces, don't apologize for them. 

I could have kept you whole but I Am rebuilding. 

Do not despise the days of waiting 

for My work to be completed

all in the waiting

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; 

wait without love

For love would be love of the wrong thing; 

there is yet faith

But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought. 

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness, the dancing.

T.S. Eliot

One year ago, it was not the Saturday of waiting

for the glory of Easter Sunday, no

that day of rejoicing had come

and gone, weeks before

last year today was a Friday

a different day of waiting

for what we knew would come

but could never prepare for

and by Saturday, she was

simply no longer here

grief is sticky, having 

it's way with me

there is no calendar

for mourning

no limit to tears

I wait for Sunday

in the stillness with Sandy

 

linger tarry ponder

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon 

the likes of which we have never seen before… .

What is possible is to not see it, 

to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. 

And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, 

like Moses in the cleft of the rock, 

watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. 

So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. 

Wait. Behold. Wonder. 

There will be time enough for running. 

For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. 

For now, stay. Wait. 

Something is on the horizon.

Jan L. Richardson in Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

silent and still with Sandy

 

Wait with expectation

Waiting patiently for God 

always includes joyful expectation.  

Without expectation 

our waiting can get bogged down in the present.  

When we wait in expectation 

our whole beings are open to be surprised by joy.

It is this joyful expectation of God's coming 

that offers vitality to our lives. 

The expectation of the fulfilment 

of God's promises to us 

is what allows us to pay full attention 

to the road on which we are walking.

Henri Nouwen

being still with Sandy

 

Waiting...

It is another day of waiting.
Waiting for words.
Waiting for rains to answer the pleading cry of our land.
Waiting for the unfurling of leaves as life reaches up into this new season.

Much is yet unseen...
but so close
taste almost touches the tongue

 

So for now...

There is a post rattling around in my spirit
it has been knocking there the past two or three days
but it seems unwilling to settle enough to give words to...

Perhaps it is trying, like I am
to find wings

waiting has never come easy to me

so for now
in that blind place called faith
I'll join Sandy in the stillness

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God,

this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.

It's our handle on what we can't see.

Hebrews 11:1 The Message

 

Stop here and breathe in the stillness with Sandy

 

Not quite Spring

It is again a time of waiting
Spring drifts in skittish
her fragrance lingers
only brief moments
before taking flight

taste and see
taste and see
sweet mingles spice
yet He Is good

rain chills the air
refusing to fall
new growth awaits
the water
and the warm

each page I turn
speaks of surrender
letting go
letting Him

while the April winds sing

patience is a lesson that takes a lifetime to learn...

Noticing Him everywhere with Jennifer




and Emily



 

End the waiting

I have never known many things you know
what its like to go to school
or hold a book in my hand
how it would feel
to not have constant hunger
gnawing away inside
or wonder if today is the day that I will die

I have spent all of my days in poverty.
But God loves His children
so He sent Compassion to a church near my home

There are so many benefits Compassion provides:

educational opportunities
health care and health-related instruction
good nutrition
and life-skills training
all this wrapped up in the love of Jesus
and the chance to hear the Good News of His Kingdom.

My parents took me to this church.
They asked lots of questions about me and my family, they even took my picture.
Then they told me I was officially registered.

That was an exciting day, not only would I get to receive all of these blessings
but they told me I would be connected to a special person
a sponsor from far away who has so much love in their heart
that they would want to share it with someone like me.

I was registered, but I had to wait for someone to sponsor me.

So I waited
and I waited
and I waited...
wondering if there is something wrong with me
no sponsor has chosen me yet
so I wait still...

When you see a heart in the lower left-hand corner of a sponsor child's picture, it means that particular child has been waiting for a sponsor for nearly six months - at least 180 days.

You can be the answer to the questions of worthiness that haunt a child like the one I wrote about above.



Compassion International offers you the opportunity to sponsor a child who has been waiting for six months or longer. 
Visit Compassion's website by clicking here to explore this chance to share your heart and your help.

Sponsor a child today and receive a free Compassion scrapbook. This scrapbook will be a great way to organize all the letters and photos you receive from your sponsored child. Just make your first payment today with your credit or debit card to receive this free gift. This offer is only available to citizens of the United States.

But the greatest gift is what you will receive in return, the joy of knowing the impact you have made in the life of a hurting and waiting child.


 

Divine exchange

In the quiet, in the waiting, I have been listening for what the Lord would share:

Even as a tiny baby I Was and Am big enough

to hold and carry all that concerns you.

This then is the magic of Christmas.

Your worry for My peace.

Your grief for My joy.

Your bondage for My freedom.

Your wrong for My right.

In all the unwrapping of gifts,

do not forget this divine exchange.

Now thanks be to God for His Gift, [precious] beyond telling [His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift]!  2 Corinthians 9:15 Amplified

 

Yearn for the waiting

It is a time of noise, static, rush
while hearts yearn
wanting without knowing
the season of waiting

My spirit, jealous for silence
turns to the Lord
asking for words
from His heart alone

Image via Wikipedia

Centre.  Focus.  Come to a place of stillness.  The rush of the world leaves no room to breathe, to be.

I, even I, had to go away to a quiet place, to be restored, to talk with My Father, to drink in life.

The world can twist and crush you with its needs and demands and yes, temptations. Come away to find Me. 

When you step inside, the expanse is vast, the air is rich.  It is here you will find all you truly need.

Praying you find that sweet spot, beneath the shadow of His wings, where you can rest your head upon His chest, inhale His fragrance and find the true meaning of the Advent season.


Unwrapping Jesus with Bonnie

Also sharing with Emily and the imperfect.