my favourite things/ Spring morning awakening

Your
Life Golden
breathes upon
this morning earth
Your forest life
awakens

colour melts
the night's adieu
and quickens song
in bird
and my heart
praises


my eyes behold
my heart does see
this glory You have gifted me
You revive life
throughout this earth
this Grace
Your gift
so free

releases
me

this Gold You spread
across the land
this Light that wakes with Dawn
this Warmth that captures
all my breath
and quickens me
from death's
strong
grasp

and speaks
the Words
stand fast
spread wings
and live each breath
set free from sin's dark clasp

You hold the reason
for each breath
I take

You hold the vision
for this life
You make

Your Life Golden
wakes the earth
prepares the soil
scatters seed

and when I grow
I pray

let it be

beside
Thee

---------------------

Spring morning awakening

my favourite things

my favourite things/ I stand wrapped in You

I stand
wrapped
in You
in colours
of a Northern Spring

the setting sun
aflame with vibrant glow
bathing treetops gold
settling coral fire and
flaming pinks 
to wake my soul
and make it cry
Oh take me Lord

God's paintbrush swished
in softest blues
behind this fire
of sky and soul

awake O sleeping one

please
Shining Light
my Saviour dear
reveal in me
Your presence bright
burn all dross
refine my
very
being
until I shine
like this Spring night
Your Spirit
resting
on
my
soul

until Your love
alone
in me
does
glow

paint the blue
splash the coral fire
and flames in pink
touch my branches high
as Spring's new life
does wake each bough
and clothe in verdant greens
to be Your servant here
to shelter those
along this path
You bring
to find
Your
Peace

I stand
wrapped
in You
O Lord
in colours
of a Northern Spring

my favourite things

my favourite things / a garment of praise

standing there
gazing up

I saw the tree for the first time

not that I have never seen it before

I walk by it each day
perhaps
a dozen times

I watch the woodpecker family
dance and flit between its maze

the juncos
hummers
robins
chickadees
all find refuge



I pick up its fallen branches
after a storm

I plant a garden
beneath
its boughs

I see laughing children
collecting buckets of rocks
and making daisy chains
in the cool shade

I see its reflection
in the summer puddles

I collect its fallen leaves
come Autumn

I gaze upon it with the first snows
and against clear blue skies
throughout each season

I can still see a young boy
high in its limbs
while I wrestle joyously
with dog Sunshine
below in the big tree's shade
I marvel how a boy
can be so fearless
so high
he hangs upside down
and swings
he tells us a story
and laughs
he rests like a cat on a limb
or a bird perched
I think I can catch him
if he falls
but
he wriggles down
easy as a squirrel

It is the same tree
Opa said blocked his view
of the Northern sky
so...clad still in ski boots
and the young lad to hold the ladder
he climbed high
with chain saw
to delimb the tree
also removing Jedaiah's stepping stones
for future climbing

we don't always understand
the consequence of our actions

this young boy
now skydives
he needs no limbs

still the Old Cottonwood stands

and at twilight
I really see it for the first time

bursting forth with spring buds
ripened but still sealed
sap running through its veins
after winter's rest
bringing elasticity to
its many boughs
reaching
curving graceful
ever upwards

I also raise my arms
to the One worthy
my limbs and heart
raised high
to the true and
Exalted One

we stand together
in worship
to the Holy One
a tree
and little me
twilight
silhouetting us
in a soft
and sleepy sky

I learn each bend in her banches
how they grow strong from the trunk
and stretch elastic
and alway to the sun
always to the Son
my heart longing to be so beautiful
as this ancient tree before me
scars healed over
life flowing to all corners
nourishment replenished
new growth
graceful
His grace flowing

the twilight lets me see its frame
I can't take my eyes away


one star Eduardo sees

I glance
at the one lone star
gracing the evening sky
then return
to this tree

I think I have never seen it before
so lovely

It is praising God
Arms lifted
my heart
lifted

we are dressed
in a garment of praise

my favourite things

my favourite things / this awesome God

this awesome God

He stooped
to pick me up
out of miry clay

my feet stand firm
because of Him

He once took clay
and shaped me

as man Adam

and woman Eve

He made me
in His image

And it was good

Now He stoops
to the pit
where we all made our home
and draws us out
wipes clay from our eyes
unstops our ears
tills the soil in our hearts

by His touch
we come to Life

now I see the Son

His brightness
gives breath
and
release
from drudgery

Now Peace
wraps each day
each moment

a song
lights my heart
and His Joy
bubbles
and makes
me
   dance...

this awesome God

my favourite things

my favourite things / a full heart

a full heart
a heart overflowing
though there be trials
and heartaches
the overflowing is bigger
and lifts up
over the walls of pain
that would hold one in

how do you love a little girl for three years
or four
and let her go

our Keshia girl
she has found some help
and maybe this little one will find her home
with her
already their hearts are wrapped
in love and trust
and fun
and laughter
a waking
and a sleeping
to see each other...

hope
almost flew away

but today...

hope
came back

with this my heart is full
and hope overflowing

believing God for good things

a full heart
my favourite things

my favourite things/ Lord I run to you again and again

I wait
for the evening to fall
for everyone to sleep
then I venture out
one last time

It is easier before supper
in the brightness of the afternoon glow
the air still warm from the Spring sun
the snow soft underfoot
the day still sparkling
in all its splendor

but I wait
and in my last bit of weariness
before I can resist sleep no longer
I head out

seven huge pails of water
one of soaked beet pulp and dairy ration
stretched on the long toboggan
and because it is Spring's slipperiness
I dangle myself at the back
holding fast
pulled down by the steep and icy hill
steering with my feet
like a rudder
behind me

I've watched all 6'8" of Jedaiah do this
winter after winter
it works well

no crashes at high speed into frozen snow banks
no spilling of domino buckets
except maybe two or three times a season
by me

I'm not as clever as my son
who jumps off at just the right time
but even that I am mastering

This is my entrance into

The Holy of holies

there are no distractions
as I commune here

as His heavens declare His majesty
I am filled with awe
and laid empty before
my Maker
My Abba Father
I find Him easiest here
though always
everywhere
'He Is"

It has been three nights
since this outburst of glory
this game we play

I keep wanting to share it

too much glory to hold in

The sky had a hint of deep red
as I slid down the hill to my chores
no crashing
a perfect landing
a look around to see His majesty enthroned
a Heaven astounding in its brilliance
dark but star studded... again

how I love His presence

even in the darkness of the night
He has taught me to trust Him here
my old fears allayed
my heart thrust open
believing
my eyes lifted
my breath deep and free
total peace
and rest
in Him

I am no longer tired

my swing was busy this night

as I again sat swaying in the loft

hay and water all given
grain devoured

I swing
watching the goat herd
fat with young
about to burst forth
the dogs doing their night watch
the feathered ones quiet
the horses' munching of hay
steady in the night air
a soft rumble against the coyote
howls of the night
distant
like the
train
wails
long
and
soft

echoeing

The sky is simple in its brilliance this night
if all this beauty can ever be said to be simple

I spotted no falling stars
like the night before
the red was deep and mixed
with darkness

all the creatures tucked in for the night
I was almost home

all the way I had searched
for Aurora Borealis
but the sky was silent of its dancing colours
it lay sleeping and calm

I was half way up my hill
the toboggan of empty buckets
scraping the silence away

I know my Redeemer liveth
and this is a game we often play together
in the small hours of the night
when others do sleep and dream
as I near home

when He asks me...

I turn around

knowing all had been only star studded darkness
but knowing that in this game
God only asks me to trust Him...

I turned...
expectantly

His gift was there for me

Green streaks stretched high and wide in the sky
Brilliance and Busyness !
the horizon dancing with this glory
where a moment earlier
it lay sleeping

and I laughed
from a deep spot in my heart
that believes God...
that wonders at how
He can play this game
over and over with me
and like a young child
I am always delighted
clasping my hands
and rejoicing


it is in the knowing...
that...
it would be there

This is our game

for this
I wait
for the night



for this I turn
when I near home
believing


after all the glory
of this game we endlessly play

I know nothing is impossible

with Him

we talk and laugh and shout together with joy
I lay silent before Him
then we shout joyously together again
the night a chorus before us
the colours sing out like a song
He hears "all" of my heart
and I feel I understand His
I stand humbled before Him
amazed
at His faithfulness
His tender mercies
this lavished grace
this miracle time of refreshment
my praises lifted
and thanksgiving
my burdens laid down
my beloveds lifted
the hard things given up

I take a deep breath
I hold it

and then it is gone
the night sleeps on

but His joy rests within me

I slide beside my beloved
covers pulled up around us
his soft sleeping breaths comfort about me
I close my eyes
and  know
there is One who watches over us

He cares for us

He always is

Even in the morning
when the night glory has been lifted
when a deep blue reaches out to the heavens
All that glory is still there
though I can't see it dancing the same
He still is
all around me

I just know He is
His dance in my heart
and His song
still with me

whether it be bright daylight
or overcast night

Lord
I will always run to You
again and again

my favourite things

my favourite things / it's her freckles

It's her freckles I remember the most
soft in colour
blended almost as one
and some so small and close
they seem like the Milky Way at night

tonight was one of those nights
I remembered her

always
with the freckles
come the smiles
and for some reason I see her
with her first husband
standing each
one foot on
one foot off
on their tandom bicycle
in the sand
at the beach
in the sun
a turban on his head
and a smile
so big
I should know him
but I wasn't even born when
he died so quickly
it made my mom bitter
against God
and sometimes
everyone

my mom
a beauty
dark auburn red curls
long and bouncy to her shoulders
her eyes wide like a movie star she loved
her body gently volumnous
and strong in her
old hockey player fashion
and still such
a lady

she married my dad
after my real mom died

the one who adopted me
and loved having a little girl
and her big brother
and poured out all her heart on us

these freckles were new
and came with her laughter
the rest I forgave her for
because I know she hurt
and couldn't get rid of the pain

how does a girl of eight know this

it has been so many years
and now tonight
with the Milky Way
so thick against the black sky
I smile remembering her freckles
how the sun would catch them
and juggle them across her arms
on a summer's day
and like the sparkle
of the falling star in the east
brilliant in its last flame
her soft eyes would sparkle fun
and all would be well with the world

on the good days

I forgive her
for the others

like the falling stars
glimmering across the horizon
then gone
I miss her
all of her
the "just call me"
M.O.T.H.E.R.
when she was brand new to us
and how a summer later
I shouted "MOM"!
and almost swallowed my tongue
at the surprise
and that it actually felt good

to say Mom
again

the stars were so many tonight
the Big Dipper sat balanced
above the Christmas tree at the horses
the tall one we tied a sack around
so that the horses wouldn't get pitchy
and then it died 
the string too tight
so it stands tall like my little
Christmas trees in March
the needles gone
but the memory still strong

the light from the goat stall
illuminates the frill of tiny icicles
along the eaves
white against the night sky
created all in just one day
this sculpted beauty

I turn out the light
and again
all I see are her freckles
and a smile
the stars so wide
against the night sky

we sit
reading books together silently
in the stream of sunshine
in the afternoon
before supper
I sit
watching her play solitare
I watch her
paint and polish her nails
I watch as she
reads the paper
and works her crossword
puzzle

tonight
the sky is full of words
like a crossword puzzle
and the emotions they bring
and the beauty they can hold
should we choose

it is always a choice
this lavishing of love
on those around us

My moms always had their special days
those are the ones I will remember

family puzzles at Christmastime
Twister... all of us tangled in love
on a piece of dotted plastic
tangled in wonderful laughter
mom taking these two young kids
to a Beatle's concert
some things can never be forgotten
I still see Ringo Starr
hammering out on those drums
the people screeching
adreneline flowing free
everywhere
old mothers
screaming
kids fascinated
at how the old ones
leap up and down and grow hoarse
full of screaming
us smiling
and remembering
"I love you ya ya ya"
the lights blinking
like the stars tonight

summer creek crawling
and picnics
so much family
it must have gone
way back to Adam...
watermelons
salmon
whipped creme play fights
frisbees and balls
grass
water
sunshine
forgiveness
pure joy

I stopped at the house and put out the lights
went back out to see the night
one last time
one last mom hug
and dad hug
and see you soon hug
a thank you Jesus hug
lifted prayers and hugs for my beloveds
then a turn back into the house

home fires going
cat waiting to curl up
and purr
as I remember
Milky Ways
freckles
and smiles

my favourite things