new life in old twigs

i literally jumped for joy when i saw that the tree outside my window was starting to leaf and showing tiny signs of blossom!

i love this time of the year when things are ‘coming alive’ or ‘waking’ again. it’s wonderful… and nature’s parable re-enacted: that the cold barren days, the waiting in darkness, the dry brittle twigs weren’t really signs of all-is-lost, but of things waiting for their time (their ‘kairos’).

this is the kind of thing i meant before (over easter) when i wrote about death and resurrection - the experiences in the ‘here and now’ which feel like endings and loss, the cold/lonely/barren times that feel like wasted time, that are sometimes actually just the gateway to something new. not always what we expected, or what we think we’d want, but somehow blessings of new life.  

hold on for the light…

                                                              

“yes, I can see a light that is coming, for the heart that holds on,  

and there will be an end to these troubles, but until that day comes,

still i will praise you, still i will praise you…”

                                                            (Matt and Beth Redman) 

                                                   

comfort

sometimes all I can do is repeat this little hymn verse to myself! I can’t even remember where it’s from! (excuse the male pronouns - just how it’s authors wrote it):

 ”He knows, He loves, He cares,

nothing this truth can dim;

God gives the very best to those

who leave the choice with Him.”

 

 

 

legacy

                     

                                      

with thanks to people I don’t know, who used to live in my house, and had the kindness to plant bulbs in the garden that I now enjoy…

what a nice legacy they left  :0)

uniqueness - pebbles on the shore

                             

I was at the beach last Saturday morning - lovely walk. As always, I noticed some particularly special pebbles as I walked at the sea edge.

I always have to fight the temptation to collect pebbles and shells - I find so much beauty in them and enjoy to notice something special in them - the patterns, how the light falls on them, their shapes, colours…

I was thinking too - how if you look from a distance they’re just ‘pebbles’ - non-descript perhaps, uniform, nothing special. it’s the looking up close, and when they’re at their best - glistening with sea water and sunlight - that they begin to look extraordinary…

…I think that’s true for people too - maybe from a distance anyone can look ordinary, nothing special - but when we get a bit closer, take the trouble to get to know them, see them in their best moments as well as their worst, that we start to understand what’s special about them. We stop seeing ‘just pebbles’ or ‘just people’, and recognise the worth of each, and let them touch our lives with their uniqueness.

voice of hope - soak this in

I’ve rediscovered this song lately - I’ve downloaded it and am playing it rather a lot! and I’ve put the words up where i see them a lot at home…

As high as the heavens
Are above the earth
So high are your ways to mine
Ways so perfect they never fail me
I know you are good all the time

And through the storm
Yet I will praise you
Despite it all
Yet I will sing
Through good and bad
Yet I will worship
For you remain the same
King of kings 

You are the voice of hope
The anchor of my soul
Where there seems to be no way
You make it possible
You are the prince of peace
Amidst adversity
My lips will shout for joy
To you the most high 

You were the one
Before time began
There’s nothing beyond your controll
My confidence
My assurence rest in your unchanging world

And through the storm
Yet I will praise you
Despite it all
Yet I will sing
Through good and bad
Yet I will worship
For you remain the same
King of kings 

You are the voice of hope
The anchor of my soul
Where there seems to be no way
You make it possible
You are the prince of peace
Amidst adversity
My lips will shout for joy
To you the most high

- Lara Martin

Here’s a youtube link for it - have a listen yourself if you like… :0)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbk1TGe5k0Q

snow control

      

 

Yesterday’s weather was forecast: ‘light showers, grey’. Yesterday was sunny until mid-afternoon. Then it was a bit grey, but no rain.

Today was forecast ’snow’. Hmm. I took no notice. Imagine my surprise this morning!

I woke up my house guest and made her get up and look out of the window, just so I could see the look of surprise on her face!

       

                                     Snow reminds us of how little we are in control. 

                                Despite our various efforts to predict, decide, choose,

                         something as delicate, temporary, vulnerable as tiny snowflakes

                                      can stop traffic, make me put on an extra coat

                                              make adults give up work for the day

                    and play in the garden, building snow-people and throwing snowballs.

                                              Oh, the power of little snow flakes.

 

I’m glad the weather reports are sometimes wrong, sometimes right.

It reminds us of our place in the world.

walking together

                                        

blessed horribleness

I had to go to a horrible meeting this morning.

I got brave. (ready for this bravery?!)

I sent some texts and an email to friends who i know that if i asked, will pray - not the sort who only talk about it - people who will actually pray.

as i went in to the meeting, i felt so supported. and realised that although it was hard for me to ask (i hate to need to….), i realised too that this is what it’s all about - communion of saints, fellowship, support, family, body of Christ - look at it how you will - but it made all the difference today.

and the rest of the day - which could have been a bleak attempt at recovery - was almost overwhelming supportiveness of calls and texts and care.

how much i’d have missed if i’d stuck to my ‘i must be okay’, self-sufficient little ways.

perhaps i’m growing!

coming day

                                There will come a day

                      when even with unanswered questions

                                 and unsolved mysteries

                                         we will rest            

                                            content

              - not because tidy solutions have arisen

                                         but because

                                  we will learn to rest

                                          secure

                                         peaceful

                                    in who we are,

                                    in who God is.