What comes between me and God? "Notes to self"

What comes between me and the kingdom of God? Is it fear, doubt, possessions, work, distracting pleasures, societies rules, shyness, my need to control outcomes, lukewarmness, weariness. my ideas of "perfection"? To understand I have to pause. I have to turn off all background noise. However important or worthy that noise seems, however relentlessly it pursues, I must put God first in my heart. Uncluttered, uncompromising. True, clear. I have to put aside all that hinders, all that rises between myself and the voice at the center of my soul which whispers soft and true above the storm, "Peace be Still". God is a loving Father, and however many times I fall, fail and flail, He is there to fold me beneath His wing as soon as I turn toward Him. "Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone." Psalm 33:22 There is no place deep, distant or dark enough to keep me from this Love unfailing. When all around seems in disarray I may turn toward His face. See Him, not the struggle. He will turn the struggle into a victory with my surrender a hundred times faster than with my striving. He works all things out for good and I can trust in Him like a child. The safe and steady hands of a carpenter shaping life and form and beauty from brittle wood. "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1 I can fill the open page of days I'm given with a story of His love, with eternal words that spin beauty and love into this fragile world. "Nothing is important except that which is eternal." "If thou walk inwardly, thou shalt not weigh flying words....Let not thy peace be in the mouths of men." End quotes taken from "If" and "Rose from Brier" by Amy Carmichael

What lasts?

"Childhood Faith"
Charlotte Herczfeld

"You may build great cathedrals large or small, you can build skyscrapers grand and tall, but only what you do for Christ will last…. You may seek earthly power and fame, the world might be impressed by your great name, soon the glories of this life will all be past, but only what you do for Christ will last. Remember only what You do for Christ will last. Only what you do for Him will be counted at the end; only what you do for Christ will last."

Quoted from this article, linked from here.

Let us Listen...

"Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest."


~ from morning prayers

Thankful for Grace

Slowly, quietly I come. Along this path again. my feet tread, my heart trembles. Like a bird inside my chest. The weeds can look like flowers too you know? Pretty, useful, important. Stuff. Entangles, distracts, turns the soil of my heart to parched clay. I stumble over briers I had not even noticed, I fall and feel, the barren ground of my soul. I need to stop. Turn. Gaze. And let the silence wash over me like a wave of clear, cool, water. These things, this stuff, worthless as dead idols. And I sacrifice to them time and time again, thinking that it's important to pay attention. Plan, organise, structure. Control. And the vine I planted is dying, the fruit is drying on the branch. And all the while I'm watering the weeds and leaving my garden to ruin. But the fragrance, the fragrance of the blossoms he left me all those years ago, Somehow still lingers on the breeze. Reminding me, waking me bleary eyed and sober. So I stand to walk again, along the waters beside the green, green pastures. A little gentler, a little smaller, a little softer, thankful. Always. Thankful for grace. "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." Photo by Emmy

Remembering what truly matters... "Post it " notes to myself...

Being right with Jesus before I try to be right with anyone else.

Taking off the shackles of the mind. Sinking down into the still waters dwelling in the heart.

Remembering that peace increases with trust, whatever the outside circumstances

Taking life without the frills. Eating simple. Mind, body and soul.

Reaching out to touch the truth in the kind of beauty which comes unadorned.

Not forgeting that it's the the inside of the cup that needs the most attention.

Welcoming the outsider into my heart. The one who opposes me. The one who threatens me. The one who other's reject. See how the reflection in another's eyes is deep within a part of my own self.

Embrace. Love.

pHOTO : My hand after spending a morning planting, painting and play doughing with the girls.
Real, true, unpretty, but touched with the fabric of the everyday life I love and embrace.
Better than a french manicure.

Precious Moments

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath."

May every moment inhale life deeply.

Take the time to stop and stare and watch clouds fray the edges of the horizon.

Over spill with the wonder

and beauty of each single, stilled, second.

Silenced by the fragile, bare branches of winter trees engraving, the distant evening sky.

Painting patterns over the tidy white spaces,

Turning the prose of life into poetry.

Hearing a song in the silence.

Dancing beneath the falling leaves.

The way my little ones hair curls around her ear.

The imperfect stitches of a homemade gift.

The warmth of a coat on a cold winter day.

Bubblebath footprints whispering sofly on the carpet.

A child to small to speak holding her hands in prayer.

The curled pages of a well loved book.

A baby smiling in her sleep :0)

Let me remember to unwrap every moment like the precious gift it is

Ecclesiatstes

Ecclesiastes

*

“Cast your bread upon the waters,
For after many days you will find it again.”

Lord, May I give of myself abundantly, freely, recklessly, joyfully.

*

“So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body.”

Lord, may I look to your kingdom first. Help me take the shackles from my hands and feet that keep me bound to the fears rooted in the soil of this world.

*

“He seldom reflects on the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”

Lord, let me see your reflection in each moment. Set my sight upon you alone.
Till I hardly notice the passing of time. Only the distance between YOU and I.

*

“The sleep of a labourer is sweet, whether he eats little or much
But the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.”

Lord, help me to find a path of service. Let me find a way to kneel at your feet each day in the things you call me to do.

*

“ God gives a man wealth, possessions and honour so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them.”

Lord, I know that all want beyond my portion is unsatiable. Make me long for nothing but YOU.

*

“That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil, this is a gift from God.”

Lord, may I live a life of simplicity. May I find Joy in the ordinary and the Sacred in the everyday.
Lord help me to do all I am given to do with grace. Lord, help me to recieve anything at all I am given in the spirit of your grace.

*

“ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one Shepard.
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the mind.”

Lord, remind me not to become distracted. Keep my feet upon the small straight path toward the narrow gate. All I need is your word to guide me. All I need is your grace to feed me.

*


“The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round it goes ever returning on it’s course. All streams flow into the sea yet the sea is never full.”

Lord, I know nothing can be satisfied in stillness, silence and solitude without you. Even the sun, the wind and the waters are restless to reach YOU Lord.
All effort is pointless if not done for YOUR sake.
All my life is meaningless if not given unto YOU Lord.

*

*

*

Beauty

beauty is often found between brokeness..