Food for thought................

I read this today........

"How do we welcome home our lost brothers and sisters? By running out to them, embracing them, and kissing them. By clothing them with the best clothes we have and making them our honored guests. By offering them the best food and inviting friends and family for a party. And, most important of all, by not asking for excuses or explanations, only showing our immense joy that they are with us again. (See Luke 15:20-24).

That is being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. It is forgiving from the heart without a trace of self-righteousness, recrimination, or even curiosity. The past is wiped out. What counts is the here and now, where all that fills our hearts is gratitude for the homecoming of our brothers and sisters."

Made me think............

All for Jesus......

Jesus - all for Jesus. All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.
Jesus - all for Jesus. All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans - I surrender these into your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans - I surrender these into your hands.

For it's only in your will that I am free.
For it's only in your will that I am free.

Jesus - all for Jesus.
All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.

One of the many fundamental questions that we must ask ourselves if we claim to follow Jesus is 'do I really trust Jesus or not?' We say we trust Jesus for our salvation and all that brings - but do we really trust him with our life right here, right now - or do we think we know better?

Do I take the risk of trusting him totally - being prepared to abandon my 'ambitions, hopes and plans'? Will I seek his voice, his lead, his his way - even if it doesn't fit my wants, my desires, my 'rights'?

The irony is that when I think I know what is best for me - when I seek to create my life in my way but then creep to him and ask for a blessing on what I have created - it doesn't bring peace at all - quite the opposite........

The beauty is that when I am brave enough to surrender all into his hands, however reluctantly, painfully or costly - then I get a taste of the 'peace beyond all understanding' which I crave..............

" ......in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " Philippians 4 (New International Version)

Every year at YFC we pray this prayer -
maybe once a year isn't enough though -
maybe it's an every day thing..................

I am no longer my own - but yours.
Put me to what you will - rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing - put me to suffering,
Let me be employed for you - or laid aside for you.
Exalted to you - or laid low for you.
Let me be full - let me be empty
Let me have all things - let me have nothing
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal
And now - glorious and blessed God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit
You are mine, and I am yours,
So be it.
And the covenant made here on earth,
may it be ratified in heaven
Amen

Dirty Fingernails

"God looked over everything
He had made;
it was so good, so very good"
Genesis 1:31

I have spent today transforming my garden. After weeks of procrastination an impromptu visit to the garden centre was all it took for inspiration to strike, and now what was once a dull square has become a riot of colour. I am tired, grubby and have very dirty nails, but the garden now makes me smile every time I look at it.

If I get this much pleasure from creating a tiny garden - how broad was the smile of God as He created the universe and everything in it?

Sneak Preview............

I read something this week that made me realise that I’d never really thought about how big the place that we call the ‘garden of Eden’ must have been.

“God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.' Then God said, 'Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.'”

God gives Adam and Eve the run of the whole earth – not a small confined space that restricted their lives – an amazing choice of food and surroundings. Even the special garden that God plants and asks Adam to look after must have been huge as it contained many trees to choose from and a river flowed from it, there’s no indication it was small!

“Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit........ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 1 The Bible

God gave Adam and Eve loads of trees to choose from – an ‘eat all you like buffet’ of amazing variety and choice. Only one thing was off the menu. You’d have though that with all that choice it wouldn’t have been a problem. The forbidden tree should have been quickly forgotten as Adam & Eve indulged in all the other amazing things on offer. But no – even with all those other options that God had provided for their good – Adam and Eve ended up wanting only the one thing they couldn’t have.

How often are we like that? Even though we know God has provided so much for us, we would rather mess with things that we know He doesn’t want for us. How often do we go after what is ‘off the menu’, rather than enjoy all that God provides for our good?

Why do we always want what we shouldn’t have?

Sometimes it’s obvious - too much drink, sex outside marriage, drugs, pornography or other people’s things. But other things are more subtle – we’re jealous of what other people have, their responsibility, their partner, their respect, their life.........

Instead of enjoying and exploring the unique life we have been given – our ‘garden of Eden’- we trade it for envying what other people have.

We may not go as far as eating from the forbidden tree – but we’d actually really like to and spend too much time thinking about it, plotting to get it or being angry that we don’t have it...........

God has given you your own unique ‘life-garden’ to explore, enjoy and live out

What is it for you that destroys your delight in what you have, by tempting you to seek after what is not yours to take?

ps - why 'sneak preview'? Because you got to see it before it appears here!

Caught in a trap.............

"We can't go on together
with suspicious minds.
And we can't build our dreams
on suspicious minds"

Suspicious Minds
Written by Mark James sung by Elvis Presley

Sometimes I get quite suspicious of God...............
I hope you're not too shocked by that - because actually I think we all do. Although we hear God speak of his amazing love for each one of us in the bible, we often struggle to accept it for ourselves.

Although I know God has provided for me in the past, I too often worry about the future.
I say God is my joy, but too often I struggle to believe he will make me happy in the future - so I look to myself and others to make me happy.
I believe God is the great healer, but sometimes I feel my present hurt is too big - even for him.
I call to him about specific things, and then get suspicious when he answers and provides........

Me: I can't do this.....
God: I know - let me.
Me: Help me.....
God: Yes.
Me: I can't.... will you do it?
God: It's done.
Me: Oh you've done it - but have you really done it? Am I just imagining it? Is there a catch? I should really have done it....

Which is of course all nonsense!
I'm in good company though - an entire generation of Israelites missed their chance in the promised land because of their grumbling and lack of trust. They became suspicious towards God and the end result was more wandering.
Totally trusting God is often a daily decision rather than something that comes 'naturally'. Each day we need to refuse to listen to the thoughts or emotions that cause us to doubt God’s heart of love towards us and instead commit ourselves to resting in his care.

God loves me - he shows me every day how much he loves me. All I have to do is turn again to the crucified, risen Jesus - heaped with my sin, my shame, my mess to regain my sense of perspective. Transformation is done one day at a time - and one battle of trust at a time.

Knowing God proclaims “Not Guilty!” over me and my messy life is the thing that holds my trust together. It's already done, it can't be undone, changed or withdrawn. God won't get tired of me - he knows and understands where, when, how and why my trust wobbles........

So instead of giving in to our suspicious minds, why don't we decide every day to hang on in there - let's just get on with living out the lives of infinite possibility God has prepared for each one of us!

Bumpity Bump..............

I do a lot of driving in my job - which gives me time and space to listen & think. Driving can inspire, soothe & speak to me in all kinds of ways.

Cars provide a 'safe space' - my own little bubble of being................ usually................

Today I was rudely reminded that the 'bubble' of my car isn't as protective as I would like to think it is, and that it is possible to connect with the world outside in an unexpected and very unwelcome way....... That I'm not so totally safe............. because I had an accident on the way home. A timely reminder that sometimes our 'safe spaces' aren't always as safe as we would like to think they are.............

We create 'safe spaces' in all kinds of ways - some of them good and helpful - where they provide rest, restoration and the opportunity to reconnect with God and others. But we can also create 'bubbles' that are not so good - C.S Lewis puts it well

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

Bubbles that we retreat into to protect ourselves feel safe. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes: silence, withdrawal, lack of commitment, inconsistency, 'self-destruct', independence, - we all have our individual ways of putting barriers up. But these bubbles of safety are just illusions - all they really do is disconnect us from God and others. Safe - but dying inside...........

Today I was jolted out of my safe feeling in a car. Too often I need to be pulled away from my desire to hide, protect and run away from the people and things in my life that might hurt me. Every day I need to be reminded to lay down my self-protective habits and learn more from the Master about the sacrificial, unconditional love that leaves me very vulnerable - but truly alive...........

Stop the world..............

...........I want to get off!

Sometimes life is very complicated..............
Perplexing, painful, confusing or just plain busy.
At times like this we need to retreat to that deep inner place
from which it is possible to say 'everything is all right' - even when it's 'all wrong'.
That inner place where God dwells one-on-one.
The place he invites me to often, but I am careless with my attendance.
The place I lose my way back to, but know I will find again.
The place only he and I know.
The place of Mary not Martha, where I can sleep in the storm.
The place created by him with love - just for me.

“.....every time there are losses there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper”
Henri Nouwen

25 Lesser known things..............

I have been tagged with this in several different ways - eventually I surrender! Have combined different versions -
so to stop the nonsense - here goes..................

1. I love 'kids' sweets, but have never understood the attraction of sherbet
2. The sound-track of my life would be 'Blue Monday' by New Order
3. I remember the first time I trod barefoot on a slug
4. I have always wanted to be Lorelei from 'Gilmore Girls'
5. I rarely get enough sleep - I'm a night bird who never wants the day to end. I can be irritatingly chirpy or the grumpiest grump in the morning
6. I love opera & classical music. I wish I knew more about them
7. I am fussy about coffee, tea and chocolate - a good Chai Latte is my current soul soother of choice
8. I can explain the offside rule - I learned it to impress a boy.....
9. I wish I had learned to read music - I can play the violin, trombone and sing - but only by ear
10. I believe life is too short for bad wine, cheap chocolate, boring conversation and wasted moments
11. I hate things like this so I'm not telling you anything else
12. There are many other interesting things about me, but I'd rather you discovered them by getting to know me better..............

Birthdays.............

are beautiful things, and this year I have been particularly spoiled by people who love me - for whom I am very grateful...........

Dirty..................

"Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume." Luke 7

This woman broke all the rules. She wasn't perfect, she didn't fall in with convention, and she hadn't been invited. She braved the disapproval of those who made and monitored the rules. The ones who thought they knew what was right, who you can almost hear tutting in the background. She cries because she is broken and bleeding. She knows she is in a mess, but in Jesus she knows that she has found the one who will accept her at her very worst even though she has broken all the rules.

Sometimes how we feel breaks all the rules. We don't feel what we 'should', or we feel what we 'shouldn't'. Sometimes rather than admitting what we really feel, we decide to make ourselves fell differently, or if we can't - we decide to feel nothing at all.

Sometimes we need to be like this woman, and trust that 'keeping the rules' matters less to Jesus than pouring out perfume and tears at his feet, ignoring the tutting and the disapproval of the rule makers. Sometimes we need to simply come and let Jesus deal with our mess............

Sometimes we need to tut less and love more.............