slip away a moment

' He went up to the mountain to pray.' Mark6:46

There is always a sense of 'coming aside' and relief or a 'breathing space' when we are in a situation that is 'full on' or intense, or we have had a day of 'giving out' and we step aside for a moment, out of the situation and into a place where there is just self and quiet.

Sometimes that can be taking our self off for a walk at the end of the day.

Sometimes it can be stepping out of the world and into the cathedral.

As I drive home from a day of ministry I often pull the car off the road and onto the dirt track and just sit. There before me, though I live in a city is the wide expanse of vineyards and mountains all emanating peace, stillness and respite.

I like this prayer:

Dear Lord, the noise and hurry of the day have broken their hold, and I have slipped away. For this moment in time I am free to melt into you. (Pat Robson)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Look and see......... and live.

'My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.' Psalm 42:2

The glory of the Lord is truly shining all around, almost in every place I look.

Yesterday in church a new lady amongst us was just 'aglow' with every aspect of her worship, engaging, enjoying and so touched. That was so encouraging to see and these past few nights, have you seen the moon? Magnificent, bright,and full. A presence of God.

It is so powerful that we can meet God in all things.

I recall on an out back holiday standing on a sandstone cliff face in the desert and looking God in the face with all I beheld before me.

I like this blessing of welcome: (Iona Community)

May you meet God, in every place,

in every person

and in the depths of your own heart.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne

Shine for Jesus

'Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light, like a little candle burning in the night........you in your small corner and I in mine. ' (Sunday school song)

As I typed those words, into my mind came everyone of you in your places of love and witness. All striving in Christian love and purpose to make a difference in the lives of others in the name of Jesus.

Sometimes we don't realise that the things we do for others, even though we perceive them at times to be small, make a huge difference.

A kind word.

A useful contact.

A helpful act of kindness.

A prayer.

Remember the parable of the little sparrow?

The horseman riding by on a chilly overcast day stopped at the sight of a sparrow lying on its back in the middle of the road, legs up in the air. He said to the sparrow. 'Why are you lying upside down like that?' He replied, " I heard the heavens are going to fall today.' The horseman laughed. 'And I suppose your spindly legs can hold up the heavens?'

One does what one can.' said the little sparrow.

'Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light, like a little candle burning in the night......'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

solid faith

' The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.' Psalm 18:2

I recall walking along the track I walked each day, through an early misty morning, shapes and sizes outlined, a bit 'spooky' yet the sense of presence was very real.

I knew I was on the right path even though I couldn't see it too clearly, I knew because I could feel the solid stone surface under my feet. I knew because even though visibility was just a few feet, God was there, walking this misty morning to, I knew it because I was heading to the east where the light of the day was filtering through striving to reach its morning glory.

I read this profound statement from an unknown person in China:

Faith is putting one's foot down in the mist, and finding a rock.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Power for the day

' You Lord God are strength for my task.' Celtic prayer

Just a look at the dawn breaking into a new day, tucking stars away and spreading a soft, quiet light caused me to just throw open my heart and invite Jesus in.

What a start to a day to meet Jesus full on before your feet even hit the ground and before your whole being is touched by the world.

I think of the opening lines of this Celtic prayer: 'Come my light, my Lord, my way. Come my lantern night and day.........' and am flooded with the love and protection of Jesus.

Sometimes our days and weeks are tough, this one for me saw the death of a baby, the death of a student from school, and a 91 year old diagnosed with cancer, all know, all I have shared some of life with and to top it off I had to refuse a couple marriage because one partner didn't want 'God' invited. Yet in all the 'doings' of daily life, there is God and I thank him for morning thoughts and morning protection for every day, what ever it brings.

Can we say that at the end of a day? We can and will if we finish the prayer.' Come my king enter my heart. Come Holy Presence. Never depart.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne

Morning prayers

'All is silent, in the still and soundless air, I fervently bow to my Almighty God.' (Bing Xin China)

Two things were in my mind when I came to meet this morning.

The words of that lovely hymn 'Glorious things of thee are spoken,' were my first spoken for the day I had two images going with them. An image of the beauty of Gods creation and the thought of a young disabled man who offered his own prayer of thanks and appreciation for the church group I run for people with disabilities....a beautiful prayer, a deeply touching prayer.

I thought these words from the Iona Community:

The turn of the leaf in the morning sun

and the catch in our throat

drives us to our knees

and into prayer.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

God is everywhere

' Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.' Psalm 139: 7-8.

I sat looking at the distant mountains with a vast spread of land in the foreground of valleys and paddocks and sheep and as I was taking it in and pondering on the things of God I thought, there is no place where God isn't.

Everywhere we see, everyone we see ,

all we touch and do,

every bright day

every difficult day

there is God.

Yesterday I visited an isolated, wheelchair bound lady who lives in a cluster of community homes with others like her. I went in to visit to see how we might manage to get her to the book club we run at church and it was looking more and more difficult until it seemed that God present, spoke. 'Bring a book club here, there are others' and before I knew it we had a small group of unknown, isolated, lonely people keen, eager and waiting for us to start.

Lucado says:

Our asking where is God is like a fish asking "Where is water "or a bird asking "Where is air."

God is everywhere.

We cant find a place where God isn't.

Lord God, whose blessed Son rose in triumph and set us free grant us the fullness of life he promised to us, that through the Holy Spirit our hearts may posses him whom our eyes cannot see, the same Jesus Christ our Lord. (Daily office Sunday Morning APBA)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

O the love of Jesus

' Do the work of telling the Good News.' 2 Timothy 4:5

I was chatting to an elderly lady after we had shared home communion together yesterday and she was showing me the teddy bears she knits to put in the Christmas boxes for the children overseas, dozens of them all knitted with love and prayers and sent in the name of Christ. She said, 'I have been told that the children who receive these bears, some 14 years old, run around with them hanging out of the back pocket of their shorts.'

What an inspiration. 91 years old and serving our Lord in this way......to the very end. No feet up attitude of having done my bit......but serving Christ to the very end with the gifts he has given her.

Lucado says:

'For every hero in the spotlight, there are dozens in the shadows. They don't get press, they don't draw crowds, they don't even write books.......behind a rock slide is a pebble.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

A fresh revelation

' In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him. 'John 1:1

Sometimes there is a delayed revelation, or a fresh revelation, of what we are reading despite the fact we read it frequently. These words from St John struck me afresh as I looked at what was before me.........across to the mountains with pockets of mist hovering in the valleys and over creation through to the sleeping vineyards and the horses grazing, frost covered coats on their backs, vapour rising from snorting nostrils.

It was quiet and still and there was a sense of presence as the dawn broke and the sun and moon were both in the sky at the same time...........wow!

'He was in the world and the world was made through him.'

Grace and Peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne