THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

The Greatest Commandment -

Mark 12. 28-34

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him,
Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. "

Before, above and beyond ANYTHING else Jesus asks of me, he asks me to LOVE.
This sounds so simple and in a way it is. Yet it calls us to cast aside all that is not in God's plan. It calls us to fill every movement, every intention, every breath with the spirit of his gentle, compassionate, encompassing, wondrous, beautiful love.
Even when it seems we cannot find one drop left within us to give, Jesus reminds us that HE is the source of our strength it is HE who will Love, Give and Work THROUGH us when we falter and fall in our fallibility.
When we are weak HE will be strong for us. All we need do is ask, surrender and accept the warm embrace of his LOVE. So that we may work his LOVE like a golden tapestry through our lives. A thread that holds every stitch in place, every broken seam, every fraying edge.

Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. "

The greatest commandment is LOVE therefore my greatest achievement is to LOVE. What is any success in this life worth if it was not done for HIM in HIS name in the spirit of HIS love. Everything is worthless without love. Nothing lasts but love.

"I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have the faith needed to move mountains-but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned-but if I have no love, this does me no good.
~1 Corinthians 13:1-13

So If all I ever do I do in love it is enough.
Furthermore, if all I ever do is LOVE, it is enough

The pursuit of ?

I have been meaning to write something on this subject for a while and have been finally inspired to actually do so by the wonderful articles on http://littlejennywren.blogspot.com/ and http://isabellainthe21stcentury.blogspot.com/ concerning the position of the family in modern life.

Taking my eldest daughter back to school yesterday made me feel so sad with resignation as I was once again reminded of the relentless pace of modern life. I truly believe that the constant rushing about, the endless commitments to this or that, the extra curricular activities, long working hours have all had a terribly erosive effect upon both family life, community life and the quality of life in general. Life, it seems has become a pressure cooker ready to boil over. So many people seem to be just hanging on to the frayed edges of their responsibilities, in a state of existence instead of living. Children and adults alike have no time at the perimeters of each day to just be themselves, just be with each other, JUST BE in general.

For many people, in order to pay for the basics either both parents have to work or one has to work incredibly long hours. Ten hour days are considered by many to be standard these days and that doesn't include the commute. I just feel so sad that we as a society and in more general terms, the world at large, is in an endless, relentless, unbridled pursuit of an "idealised" "perfect" life. It is in the blind pursuit that the important things, the truly wonderful things and the precious moments of life are lost, discounted and unrealised, discarded, neglected and left for a tomorrow that never comes.

Family life, relationships, simple interactions between people. Respect, kindness, compassion, trust, empathy and love are what create cohesive societies, communities and families. When family life is not prioritised as the root of a healthy society the society as a whole begins to breakdown and decay.

Everything seems back to front and upside down. We work so that we may enjoy our families however the structure of work in these modern times combined with our insatiable consumerism have collectively formed a highly restrictive design for our lives.

The only way to cope with the pressure is to find ways to spend the money we have worked so hard to earn on things that can numb and distract us from our exhaustive reality.

My daughter typed up and printed out a motto for our family during the holidays and I think it sums it all up.

"Always speak with a smile. Address other's with kindness from the heart.

Nothing is worth sacrificing patience, love and understanding for.

If you can't keep your cool doing what your doing stop doing it :0)

That's that!"

I love this simple, straightforward perspective. Put into the no nonsense wording that only a child could find to explain something so simple and true:0) And isn't it true? These should be the priorities of life. No matter what we achieve, what is it worth if it was done at the expense of, family, friendship, kindness, love.

The smallest acts of kindness and love are worth more than grand gestures that sacrifice these things in order to be realised.

If you haven't visited Jewel's blog at Eyes of Wonder ( check the sidebar for a link:0) I highly recommend it. The beautiful journalling of her families simple but incredibly loving and joyful life both illustrates and highlights that which is most precious of all. Simplicity, family, love, faith, joy and wonderment of the journey not just the destination :0)

Every moment is a gift, an allotment of time to which we are the tennants.

Making Rain

When my three year old yawns her eyes always tear up.

"Look Mummy," she says " I'm making rain with my eyes."

Making Gingerbread

My three year old held her baby sisters hands in hers the other day and as the baby's (now just 4 months) little fingers squirmed, wriggled and squeezed my little girls fingers I heard her gently ask " Are you making ginger bread with me "S"? Are we cutting out gingerbread together?"

What this means? I'm not quite sure, but it did make me smile :0)

Place on thy Heart

"Place on thy heart

one drop of the Precious

Blood of Jesus

and

fear

nothing"

words of

Pope Pius IX

The Story of Deepa... She gave out of her Poverty...

It was a hot south Indian summer afternoon when Deepa's father came to visit his daughters. He looked terrible. In the weeks leading up to the visit, his health had gotten progressively worse. He would frequently be found passed out in the communal toilet in his slum, sometimes lying in his own diarrhea. The man was obviously in the final stages of the disease. I thought his two little girls were going to splinter his frail bones when they jumped up onto his lap that afternoon.

A couple days after his visit, Deepa's father committed suicide. The humiliation, the pain, and the decay of his body pushed him over the edge. He took his life to bring an end to his suffering. As you can imagine, his daughters were heartbroken. Phileena and I rushed to the home to find Deepa and Charu weeping. We held these little ones close, prayed with them, tried to encourage them with Scripture, and promised we'd be there for them when they needed us. Our hearts were broken.

In the sad series of goodbyes that our lives seem to offer us, it came time for Phileena and me to once again pack up and leave Chennai. We spent our last day with the children at the home. Deepa and Charu stayed close to us the entire day. When everyone had hugged and exchanged tearful goodbyes, we walked past the gates of the home, turned around one last time to wave, and noticed Deepa had run inside. Before we could close the gate, she came running out of the home with a single yellow rose bud in hand. Deepa stood there, her face soaked in her own tears, holding out the flower to Phileena.


After her father had died, they cleaned out his slum and discovered that his only possession was a dismal potted rose bush with a solitary bud. It was her inheritance, the last reminder of her deceased parents. How could we take it?

I take that flower with me everywhere, showing it as often as I can to illustrate this little, tender, revolutionary heart. It is pressed into the place in my Bible where Jesus is in the temple spying on the donors to the treasury. In the story, he calls his disciples over and lets them in on the scene that's unfolding. There are some wealthy folks making substantial offerings, when out of nowhere comes a poor widow who puts some change in the collection, probably some near-valueless reworked Hasmonean copper coins.

These guys are eager to figure out what Jesus has in mind, but what he tells them must have shocked them. Christ does not venerate the high rollers in the group but points out the widow and claims her as his own. "She's mine," he must have thought. "I choose her." He goes on to say, "All of these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:4). The story suddenly became not about what was given, but what was left over--nothing.


Extract from Simple Spirituality by Chris .L. Heuertz.

Deer Are Smart

A family in Bend, Oregon found this fawn on their front steps a few weeks ago and took this photo. The white spots on the steps are apple blossom petals. As you may know, deer hide their fawns and go away for awhile. The fawns have no odor yet, and naturally stay absolutely still. Isn't this an amazing photograph? A great job of natural camouflage! The fawn stayed there all morning, and the mama came to get it after 4-5 hours. Kudos to the people for leaving the fawn alone, knowing Mom would be back. THE MOM "HID" HER BABY ON THE BROWN STEPS WITH WHITE SPOTS.

My patchwork Quilt

The patchwork of my life, the colours, the patterns, the textures, the y a r n s, are all part of a beautiful set of materials that God has provided. My job is simply to put it together piece by piece, square by square, thread by thread.

Some parts of the patchwork quilt which make up my life create a simple pattern. They follow a set of steps which repeat themselves over and over again like a mantra, a meditation or a prayer.

The rhythm within these patterns underpin the rhythm of life itself.

These are the day to day routines the "small things" that need to be "done with great love."

The stitches that put these pieces together are not elaborate, impressive or particularly special at first glance, but they are the strongest stitches of all, they border the whole design, they hold it all together, stop it fraying at the seams and unraveling to the centre.

Some of the pieces of fabric have great intricate tapestries woven into them.

These pieces are the ones which tell the stories, create the theme, define the colours and patterns to which everything else must match. It takes time and patience to complete these pieces properly, carelessness and haste can easily spoil their precious beauty. However once they are put into place everything starts to make sense. The narritive of the design gains coherancy and all the disparate parts start to fit together easily the way they were always meant to.

No one part of the design is greater or more important than another. Each and every piece is cut perfectly to fit around the next.

I have to remember that it is not my design though, my life's design will always belong to God. It is only my job to realise it.

A note to my friends "outthere"

As a new term at uni is just about to commence, (my books arrived yesterday) and the children will be returning to school, dear husband to work. I shall only be making weekly posts from now on. I'll certainly continue to visit my favourite online haunts however:0) There are so many great writers out in blogland and I feel privallged to have "met" them and read their wonderful words:0)

A few of my Favourite Things

Here's a fun idea borrowed from Amy's fabulous retro blog http://petticoatlane.wordpress.com/

*

*
*
*
A few of my favourite things
*
*
*
mmm let’s see, ..ooooh I know...
*
*
An uninterupted cup of earl grey after a sunday morning lie in. ( if only :0) sigh...

*
A nice glass of red wine on a beautiful summer evening,

*
Flower print dresses,

*
Sunlight glinting through the branches of trees,

*
Handmade knitted cardigans on babies and children,

*
Autumn leaves,

*
The sound of the sea.

*
Country cottages with roses round the door,

*
The sound of children’s laughter,

*
Stain glass windows in old churchs,

*
A smile from a stranger in the street,

*
Old fashioned dressing tables,

*
Handsewn quilts,

*
The sky reflected in muddy puddles,

*
Candlelight and hot chocolate in the wintertime,

*
Gingham picnic blankets, dappled grass and lemonade in the Summertime.

*

*

*
So what are your favourite things???

Strawberry Fields Forever

In my Brokeness

FRAZZLED

Frazzled.

Sometimes one simple word just absolutely, wonderfully encapsulates a feeling in both it's descriptive imagery and it's sound.

The texture of the word frazzled just tingles the edges of my mouth. It's definitely a mental form of pins and needles. And yes, as you may have guessed, today I am feeling a little tired ;)

There was a time, when I had all the time in the world.
Melancholy lingered like a stale fragrance through many of those days. Why? I was free wasn't I? Free of responsibility, free to do whatever I pleased, so why did my freedom feel so much like shackles rubbing against my skin? Why now when my life is a mirage of ceaseless activity does my mind (however frazzled) exhale into a gentle peace at the end of each day.

Jesus has been there for me during times when I half ignored him. Even when I was hardly aware of him he recognised the lost child behind the vacant stare. He followed me along dark roads and held my hand even when I didn't notice it. He walked with me even when I did not walk with him. He reached for me beneath the debris of many broken days and from the shattered shards of my past he created a beautiful picture as a design for my future and invited me to step into it and make it real.

I so badly want to become worthy of the blessings he has bestowed upon me.

So no matter how "frazzled" I may sometimes feel, I know that every spare inch of my life is used for the purpose it was designed for. Because the experiences I go through by leaning on his understanding instead of my own are the ones that will bring me closer to to HIM.
IN MY BROKENNESS

So often it seems I am given such joy if I am able to give praise through both the ups and downs.

I remember a time in the past when when I was carrying our second daughter and we were desperately trying to find a house. Many, trials came to test us, during that time and I kept praying, through my tears for God to offer solutions. To magic away all our struggles, like a magician with a wand.

These were all the wrong prayers. We needed to go through that time. We needed to face these problems with God.

And it is true that God often only shows us the reason's for our experiences after the fact.

That time in our lives taught me to hold true, endure and keep faith no matter what. There is a greater plan at work that we cannot always be aware of.

If we had not been in such difficult circumstances we would never have met one of the most special people in our lives. This was someone who simply saw another in need of a temporary shelter and took them in without question. The message of the gospels acted out and lived. This person has now become an adopted grandparent to my girls and an adopted mother to us. A truly wonderful person, we are so lucky to know and love.

God's grace is not always about incredible ecstatic experiences. The holy spirit's fire does not always set our hearts aflame and sometimes our experiences and day to day issues seem far removed from what we assume is holy but every small challenge, however ordinary, presents an opportunity for growth.

Sometimes the spirit moves inside us with just a gently glowing candle.

Sometimes we are called out into the desert, where difficulties seem almost to much to bear and God seems just to far out of reach. This desert experience is referred to within many religions not just Christianity. Yet it is in the wilderness that we learn to seek God first. Sometimes we have to go through desolate times in order to allow God's presence to increase in our lives and allow our sense of self to decrease. In the aboriginal culture, one of the rights of passage for young men is to go out into the bush on a "walkabout" They are sent out into the desert where they must survive, alone, until they are able to find their own way back home.

Sometimes we are called to endure things on God's grace alone. But there are many oasis in the desert that he has provided for us to drink from on our journey and in the end, we are often lead to a better place than the one we had left behind.

I heard a wonderful quote many years ago: "Suffering is the womb of truth" And it continues to echo in my heart to today. Suffering is where we grow in understanding of the truth, the truth about ourselves and the truth about God.

It seems that God often asks for us to come forward first.

Believing opens our eyes to seeing just as giving opens our heart to receiving.

Showing patience when the last thing you feel is patient brings with it the reward of patience.

Being grateful for every last blessing through the haze, of days, of ups and downs, through struggles and joys alike brings with it the reward of contentment.

Forgiving ~truly~ forgiving brings the reward of peace.

And Loving brings the greatest reward of all ~LOVE~


So I praise you Lord in my brokenness.


I praise you on my knees,


I come to you as a little child




I give you my tears


'Till they evaporate into your light.

To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Isaiah lxi. 3.

Love in the Home

Love in the Home

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness--not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials. Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.

As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.

- Author Unknown

The Remedy

The Remedy for frustration

Peter 1:5,6
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
Let the Lord do it through you --- in His way and in His time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

The Remedy for stress"

Come to me, Ye who are weary and over burdened. I will give you rest

Matthew 11:2

*

The remdy for discontent

"I have learned in whatever state (circumstances) I am, to be content." (

Philippians 4:11)

*

The Remedy for anger

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Proverbs

The Remedy for anxiety

And why are you anxious about what to wear? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29

The Remedy for defeat

With men it is impossible; but to God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

The Remedy for weariness

Who refreshes others will be refreshed.

Proverbs 11:25

The Remedy for uncertainty

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. -

Proverbs 3:5,6

*

The Remedy for fear

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.
John 4. 18.

Child of our times

In modern society the media has an incredible level of influence over us. We are saturated in images of all kinds and bombarded with advertising, often subliminally, without our conscious realization.

Children are so very vulnerable to dominant ideologies present within all types of media. Children spend much less time in adult company than ever they did before and as a result their identities are primarily moulded by the shape of the outside world (their peer group, and the stylised reality created by film, television, video games and the music industry) The dynamics of family relationships within the context of the home have changed so dramatically over the last 60 years or so. The concepts of respect, coop oration and personal responsibility are not nurtured within a loving, secure and safe environment under the gentle guidance of adults as they used to be. This has created a generation of children that are simultaneously both intellectually advanced, worldly, sophisticated yet emotionally underdeveloped and often not mature enough to cope with the onslaught of information presented to them. The countless choices available to us these days has in many ways become restrictive we become paralysed by indecision. Equally children have become, sadly it seems, quite desensitised to the pure simple joys of life. Their brains work at the speed of scene changes in a movie sequence. Life has become so super fast and super charged. There is no space for kids to just be. Their is no millimetre left between for creativity to seep, for dreams to grow, for contentment to meander through in search of simple carefree joy. And shouldn't that be what childhood is all about. Simplicity, security, joy?

According to popular representations within the media, girls have to use their sexuality to succeed, to be popular, to be admired, to find somebody to love them. It seems to be unquestionably assumed that the way a person looks both reflects and determines their level of success in life. Equally, the amount of money one earns equates with their level of influence and importance in the world. Boys have to be tough and unemotional, life should never get to serious, feelings should never run to deep, honesty doesn't apply unless used as a power tool to intimidate, dominate and control others. Judging those less intelligent, powerful and fortunate than ourselves has become a national past time. And we wonder why everyone is so defensive, anxious and unsatisfied?!?!?

I have four little girls and I certainly restrict much of their exposure to all types of media. I want them to learn compassion, I want them to grow into their personalities naturally instead of superimposing them from a montage of characters on a television show. I want them to hold true to their beliefs and not feel they have to compromise them to fit in. I don't want them to think that they have to have the coolest clothes and the newest toys to be popular with their friends.

I want them to stay children within the safe realm of childhood for as long as they need to. It is such a precious time. It is the foundation on which the rest of a life is built. It should be cherished. It should be sacred.

Sharing a few of our Summertime Activities

You are not alone

Sometimes all we need to do is be still and acknowledge that God is right there with us. Standing beside us through it all.

My Wedding Day

My wedding day was a simple affair. We were married in a beautiful old Catholic church,

Although we were married in the morning, the church seemed to be draped in a soft candlelit veil and dewy sunlight, scattered fragmented shards of stain glass across the carved wooden pews and polished floors.

Pachabel's Canon, accompanied me up the aisle. My little girl dressed like a little satin rosebud exchanged my footsteps for petals.

A sudden silence seemed to fall around us as we said our vows.

Ripples of light, echoed words that made an eternal promise. To one another and God.

It was early March and, before we left the hotel where we were staying, we could see from our window that the rain had already spattered the pavements. Polishing the concrete up to a good shine.

I had to run from the car to the church doorway to avoid getting wet.

Yet, after the ceremony, as we came out onto the street, rain simply stopped. Almost to the second. Such a strange thing, I don't believe I 've ever experienced it before or since.

Through the city's steel sky the sunlight glinted like a jewel set in silver.

Before the day, I knew our wedding would not be "The Perfect" wedding on the outside we hadn't the money and Tani's family could not afford to attend. I had wondered queitly too,of our lack of planning and preparation, our lack of money. What about gifts for our guests? A cake ?... the list went on...

But where we lacked, God provided.

Our day was magical.

It wasn't about "the perfect princess dress", or the triple tiered cake, it wasn't about what kind of champagne we served, the reception entertainment, the seating arrangements or an elaborate gift list.

It was only about us.

My husband, I and God.

And it was perfect. Because marriage is simply that, stripped down to the essentials of our relationship with eachother and our relationship with God.
Our wedding day set our foot upon the path of our life together. No planning, just living, working, loving and being moment to moment together through it all, rain clouds and sunshine.... and the rainbows inbetween!

TO LOVE

tO LOVE iS tO tOUCH tHE wINGS oFGOD