Monday 30 January 2012

A Whole awful lot

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Dr Seuss, The Lorax

That day.

It was on that day.  My husband was at home, lying low, recovering from dental surgery, it was just a little thing.  He was poor in spirit, but confident this was for the best, it was. On that day, I left him, to go and help the poor in circumstance.  It was the first year that ‘my people’ were asked to help pass out food hampers to people who were in need, in need of a helping hand.  My people were there, willing to do what we could, to lend a hand.

This day.

I am reminded of that day because, on this day, in both studies I am doing, we are being encouraged to help the poor.  We are encouraged  to serve others, to be part of the ‘circle of love’ to ‘reach out and touch others in our path.’

In our path…

On that day, we were asked to fill the hamper boxes and also to help carry those hampers to the cars of those in need.  As I walked alongside the couple, her with a walker and he with a cane, I carried their packages.  Stealing a look at her, I said “ I know you...”  She looked at me and said that at one time she was a nurse at the Abbotsford Hospital.  Then, I knew her.  She had helped me at one of my hospital stays, one of my birthing days, and I remembered how she had cared for me and comforted me.  She told me what had happened, to her and her husband, that landed them in this spot.  This spot of collecting a food hamper and having me carry it for them.  I said to her “ What a blessing for me. A blessing, that I can repay the kindness you did for me then.”  Full circle.  I love that.  

The circle of love.  The circle of loving and giving and caring for the poor, the poor in spirit, poor in health, poor in circumstance.

Caring for the poor in circumstance, in spirit…but who exactly are the poor?  

Many days have come and gone since that day and the poor are still with us.  The word of God says "the poor will always be with us.”  But still…who exactly are the poor?

Quite possibly it is you and me.

You say  'I am rich, I have acquired wealth and I don't need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  Revelation 3:17

That day and this day, I am reminded that it is not wealth that makes me rich but it is my faith, my people, and caring for those who walk along the path with me.

Let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich...
let the blind say I can see, it's what the Lord has done for me.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Chairein...joy to you

Chairen
This is my new word, pronounced Ki-rain, it is a greek word, a greeting, it means joy to you
I love that...Chairein.

What follows is a letter of Grace.  These are not my words, they are random quotes and scriptures that I have collected and formed together...words of Grace...that have found their way into my heart and lingered there. Grace, it is an amazing act of God that gives me unending hope and joy and love and peace and gratefulness that overflows my soul…I want to show it more…I want to show more grace.  Grace.  

Chairein,
I've heard it asked "What is grace, this Grace that you desire?" 

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given.  There is no way to earn it or deserve it.  A good night sleep is grace and so are good dreams.  Most tears are grace…Somebody loving you is grace.  
Grace may be unnoticed.  But there are usually some who will notice…They will notice even it’s lightest touch and will hold it a precious and an incalcuble, valuable thing.     
Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth.  Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo.  Gratitude follows grace as thunder follows lightening.

Grace tells us that we are accepted just as we are.  We may not be the kind of people we want to be …we may have more failures than achievements…we may not even be happy, but we are none the less accepted by God, held in His hands.
Not that we deserve it, not that we can earn it, but that we know how precious and valuable a gift it is. That’s what makes grace so amazing.

The beauty of grace - our only permanent deliverance from guilt - is that it meets us where we are and gives us what we don’t deserve.             
God is looking for people who will come in simple dependence on His grace, and rest in simple faith upon His greatness.  At this very moment, He’s looking at you.
Look deep within yourself and recognize what brings life and grace into your heart.  It is this that can be shared with those around you.  You are loved by God.
The secret of life is that all we have and are is a gift of grace to be shared.

Grace abounds and walks around the edges of our everyday experience.
Grace is God drawing us to Himself.
From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.
We know that God gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.

To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything.  Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a gift of grace.
The air which our souls need also envelops all of us at all times and on all sides.  God is round about us in Christ on every hand, with many-sided and all-sufficient grace.  All we need to do is to open our hearts.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect…
I know, more surely than I know anything, that any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely from the grace of God.

The grace is God’s, the faith is mine.

Amazing grace…Chairein .

Monday 23 January 2012

Wherever you go there you are


I was at my grand daughters birthday party on Friday, it was so sweet, she is turning four, a very special princess.  Yes, a party for royalty, for in our presence were eleven little princesses dressed in their finest tulle and satin, amongst them, one very fine prince (who by the way was in a batman cape, his chest protected by a shield)…too much fun.

My daughter-in-law was bent over the party table, preparing it for the party royalty, when I heard her say “How did I get here?”  I was just about to pardon her words when she straightened up and said again  ‘How did I get here?  It was only yesterday when it was me dressing up for parties, now here I am, making them for my own daughter…how did I get here?”   We all laughed…so true.

How did I get here?

Those words have been on my mind.  My question has been “where is here?”  People can see where I am but I don’t know where that is.  I read once  ‘wherever you go there you are’  but still, where is that?  And how far is it from here?   How do I get there from here?

Have you ever been lost?

I am remembering a time when my daughter, who may have been three, maybe four, got lost.  We were shopping in a big mall store, my little girl was playing hide and seek amongst the clothing racks…whose child hasn’t done that?  Somehow she got turned around and came out where I wasn’t.  I called for her and called and called.  Lost.  My little girl was lost!  Then, from way over there, I saw her little self walking towards me.  A small boy and his Dad, holding hands, were walking just behind her. As they came closer the Dad said to me “We found her, way over there, alone walking.  We just stuck with her until she led us around, back here to where she was supposed to be.”  They knew where she was, but she didn’t know where that was.  She thought she was lost.

That’s how it is for me right now, people know where I am but I don’t know where that is.

Lost.  It seems I am lost.

Ruth said  “Where you go I will go, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God."

My people.   My God.

It seems I am lost,
but, as long as my people and my God know where I am,
for now,
that’s where I am.

“I Am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, 
and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done 
what I have promised you." 
                                                       Genesis 28:15

Thursday 19 January 2012

One Thousand Gifts


One Thousand Gifts, I have just started to read this book.  I found out about it from my daughter, Devon, who heard the author, Anne Voskamp, speak at her bible study and it seemed to me that this book would be beautiful.  It is.  I have only begun to skim the surface of it but I can already see she writes like sumballo, collecting her thoughts like pearls on a string. Treasures pondered.  I love that.

Beautiful thoughts, struggling thoughts…pondering.

With these cold winter days I have had more than a few reading projects to ponder.  One I have just finished is “Memoir of a Geisha”, a friend at work told me to read it, she said it was beautiful. The reviews on the inside flap say the author has written  "..a beautiful but fragile tapestry to linger over..if life is a stream, this is a shimmering pebble that makes the water dance.”  Honestly, at first I was wondering about this beauty, the beauty of his words.  But, sometimes when a book is finished the message of it and the characters come back in a wave, it is then that you are washed in it’s beauty and you are left looking for more.  It was beautiful.  It ends with these words, “But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean.  Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.” 

Struggles and triumphs…suffering.

Suffering. I have also been reading through the Bible, Eugene Petersons the Message.  I came to the Book of Job, I wasn’t going to read it, I know that book, the story it tells.  But, I did.  It was a gift.  A beautiful gift of suffering, lamenting and overcoming.  In the midst of Job’s suffering, his friends come along side and for seven days they sit quietly beside him, feeling his pain.  But then comes the exchange of accusations and  defence.  I love the words in another book I read once  “ God, God, God, look down.”   These were the words on the mind of Job too and he says  “..even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me, blameless as I am, my defence makes me sound worse..”  God, God, God, look down.  But God, He comes back with this “ Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong?  Are you calling me a sinner, so you can be a saint…I’ll gladly step aside and hand things over to you..”   But God.  God does look down and Job is convinced  "You can do anything and everything."

Suffering, lamenting…overcoming.

Now finally I come to James, the start of James, The Book of James.  This is the topic of our new bible study, I already know it will be a gift too.  James, very probably the brother of Christ, surely he is.  James overcomes the doubt he has in believing that Jesus is the Christ.  He is. What a beautiful introduction Beth has given us, introducing us to a man who is a statesman, who offers a bridge joining Jews and gentiles, offering a blessing of peace, offering shalom.

Believing, bridging...offering peace.

Ahh, peace, just when I thought winter was going to pass us by, I’ll be here peacefully reading my moments away, for now it will be reading with Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.

And I know what’s coming, they are all around me…one thousand gifts.  More.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, 
coming down from the Father of heavenly lights”  
James 1:16

Thursday 12 January 2012

Turn the Page

I have taken down my old calendar.  It’s not time to put up the new one just yet.

I love new calendars, they are beautiful, there is something special about them.  The paper they are printed on, the weight of them, the spiral, the fold…the font of the lettering and of the numbers…the boxes that contain these numbers, these units of time.  The cover and it‘s pages of pictures, tells the story of it, they set the mood, they leave hints of what is to come, what we can look forward to.  Seasons, the reminders of a past life, ideas of what can be, glimpses of the world, photos of sweet grandchildren…all of these offering hope for a new day...a new day of hope.

I love that, a new day, new hope.

I have just finished transposing all the important dates from my old calendar on to my new one; birthdates, anniversaries, special events, events that need to be remembered in the new year on that date.  It’s kind of a ritual for me, it‘s so personal. Taking down the old calendar is to remember, to remember moments in time, moments that have come and gone.  Moments that have passed by in just the blink of an eye…gone…but remembered.

As I went through my old calendar I became aware of these units of time, time passed; little squares of  days filled with life happening.  Units of time, glimpses of moments in a day, memories stacked in squares on a page.  Sometimes the squares are stacked with the same event or repercussions of it…when will this ever stop.  Some of the squares are filled with moments of joy, yes, let’s do it again!

Units of time; a day, a week, a month.  Turn the page.

Units of time; moments of sadness, hurt and moments of joy.  Turn the page.

Some moments last a day, some a day here and a day there.  Some moments are more than that, they fill up a week of squares maybe two.  More.  Turn the page.

Turning the pages, one thing I know for sure, another year has passed by and a new one has begun. This New Year is filled with days too…squares and pages of days and I am looking forward to the hope they are sure to be filled with.  2012, I am turning the page, so, out with the old and in with the new...new hope.

Ahh, my new calendar, it goes right here...I love that.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
That sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
                                                                                            Emily Dickinson


Saturday 7 January 2012

A Sweet Sweet Sound


“Take joy my Lord, in what you hear, may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.”

Last Sunday morning we heard some thoughts from a few people in our midst, thoughts that spoke to our hearts, stories of encouragement, confirmation and confession.

We heard confession from a young man, though he didn’t confess all to us, we certainly got the impression of it.  He had already confessed to God, confessed to his wife and to his group of friends.  Confessed to men, who no doubt knew the struggles that can take place in the hearts and minds of those who have known their own suffering, felt the consequences and shared confession.  This young father had confessed to God, to those he loved and to those in his midst.  It was a powerful message to those of us listening and watching his heart be released from the chains that held it.  A fellow prisoner, freed.  I love that!

Amazing grace how sweet the sound.

Not that long ago we did a bible study called “To Live is Christ” We talked about two prisoners, Peter and Paul.  When Paul was miraculously freed from his chains, he cried out to the others who were there, to those who were held captive with him and to those who held him captive. He told them not to be afraid and he went on to tell them how they could know the same salvation he had, the same hope, the same grace…and they listened.

When Peter was freed in the same miraculous way, he did not hang around to share any messages, either to confess or to minister.  He was simply freed from his bondage.  Peter was freed to go.

One was freed to stay and share, the other was simply freed to go.

Amazing grace.

Sometimes it is the same for us.   Sometimes we are meant to share and sometimes we are told “to go and tell no one” or “to go and sin no more”  Sometimes confessing to Him is enough.  Sometimes He says that is enough…go and sin no more…it is finished.

God knows how many times He has freed me, sometimes freed to share, to confess and sometimes, He has freed me to simply go and sin no more.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound to save a wretch like me...I love that.

Monday 2 January 2012

Mercy Triumphs



"Bible scholars compare James to the prophet Amos. In other ways James more closely resembles the Book of Proverbs than any New Testament book. Come along with Beth Moore on a journey to get to know both the man and the Book of James. You will never be the same again.
Topics in this study include: joy, hardship, faith, reversal of fortunes for rich and poor, wisdom, gifts from above, single-mindedness, the dangers of the tongue, humility, and prayer. Plus, Beth introduces a 5-tiered study approach that she has never done before."
Join us at Arnold Community Church on Tuesday mornings at 9:30am or in the evening at 7:30.  There will be 8 weeks of video, homework, study and discussion... starting on  January 10th.
I am really looking forward to see what Beth has in store for us this time...pick a time and be part of this journey.  
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows it's true color."                       James 1:2 (the Msg)  
See you there for the challenge!  


PS...You can also join us 'Prime Time'ers  for coffee,  we will be meeting at the Wired Monk Coffee shop near Whatcom Road on Thursday,  January 12th  at 1:00