The joy!

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans  14:17
Its a joy that causes a warm feeling to flow up from within when I see the blue wrens 'jumping, dancing ' down the garden path, ever so busy about family, food gathering and fun,some stop by in the tree outside my study window and look in on me with curiosity. Such happy little things. Then there is the wood ducks on the pond, proud parents with  a trail of three baby ducks follow in their wake down the water way, in and out of the reeds and teaching each one to go down head first and tails up.  I have said it before as first heard from Mary Oliver: 'God, once he is in your heart, is everywhere.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

This is love

O the deep, deep love of Jesus.   TIS 232
As I walked along the beach yesterday morning and looked at the rising sun I could not get a song out of my head and it still sings its words and tune in my mind and heart this morning. You will know it too....'Wide wide as the ocean,high as the heavens above, deep ,deep as the deepest sea is my Saviour's love.' It wasn't  just the view of the massive expanse of the ocean before me that drew that song to the surface  it was the deep, deep realisation of the Saviour's love  for me, for you, for all of us. Christ was present on that beach shining his light in  a fresh way on the new day and a fresh way on my heart. What a lovely thing to bring home, a real treasure from the sea.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Humble dwelling

Love divine , all love excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us they humble dwelling...enter every trembling heart. (TIS 217)
I was imagining what it might be like if God didn't 'fix in us, his humble dwelling? I suspect we would live in darkness and brokenness for there would be no light of Christ within us. Then I thought back over my life to when I first experienced the light of Christ? Was I living in darkness? Did the light come out of brokenness? When did it actually come down and 'fix in me his humble dwelling?' When did you first know that 'Christ had made is dwelling within you?' Some time ago I heard a radio announcer comment after a particular song had been playing. She made a profound statement saying,' There is a crack in everything.....that's how the light gets in!'
Give thanks to Jesus for being the light in your world, for coming through the cracks and making his dwelling within your life.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

God at the pond

Withdraw to deserted places and pray. Luke 5:16

I love the solitude as I stroll down to the pond after a busy day,a hymn or song humming in my head   and I liken the feel to some words of a poem by Mary Oliver.'In the afternoons, in the almost empty fields I hum a hymn I use to sing.'   The pond is beautiful in the quietness with the water mirror clear, the reeds and weeds mixing together as one and there is a lesson in that I feel, almost a parable. The wood ducks are often tails up, heads down looking for their evening meal and the swallows gather more and more mud for nests before the sun goes down and its final rays of colour sweep across the sky and fields. Two Crimson Rosella are on the ground totally comfortable with  my presence and they allow me to watch closely as they stand on one leg and hold a full blown seed pod in a curled, hand like claw, quietly, contently eating. I love the solitude of the pond in the evening after work and as I reflect I again hear those words from Mary Oliver's poem, ' ......and sometimes the wind has touched my cheek like a spirit (and) God, once he is in your heart, is everywhere'
Where is the secret place you like to hang out with God?
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

He lives

I know that my Redeemer lives. Job 19:25
This would have to be one of the most 'eye' opening experiences in our Christian journey when we come to realise the utter reality of  these words, and like Job the reality will often come out of the dark hole of life's trauma or, it could come out of an experience that radiates God's love so much that the blinding reality is these words....'I know that my Redeemer lives.' There is an elderly lady at the nursing home who's face just radiates the love of God. She has a peace both in her appearance, her speech  and  especially in her eyes. If I didn't know her I would assume she had spent a life in  the deep spiritual presence of Christ but no, she has come from the traumas of life but, as she holds my hand and looks into my face she says with a deep humility, 'I have seen Jesus. He is so real. I had a vision which has never left me, not a dream but a vision and in that Jesus was walking towards me, arms outstretched in embrace, white robes flowing, face so tender, smile so wide.' That vision of many years ago has never left this lady and when she tells me of it I have this great sense that I just want to remain in her presence and not hurry away. She know, she knows, that her Redeemer lives.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Breathtaking God

See the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love. (TIS 446)

I stopped the car in awe of the beauty of the tree lined pathway to walk among the autumn leaves. Glorious in shifting colours, dressed for autumn were the trees as they prepared themselves for a winter rest. They were so colourful that they took my breath away, every leaf seemed to emanate

the handy work of God and I was left with a song in my heart:    'Glorious things of you are spoken.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

There I am

Jesus said.'When two or three are gathered together in my name there I am.' Matthew 18:20
Some cant look upon the frail, skeletal framed elderly, or the disabled child, those scarred and disfigured or the smelly old man, unwashed and unshaven who lies on the park bench. Somehow its all too much for them yet are these not the ones we pass and we walk among day by day. The ones that God loves ?
I remember the Rabbinical saying:
.Where you see another, there I (God) am.
Be a blessing today. Pause with the unloved, be welcoming.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

The great adventure

Follow me (and I will make you fish for people.)Matthew 4:19
We experience many adventures in life and I can say my life has been full of adventures. I recall at a very young age looking for platypus in the town resivour and being chased by wild pigs. Going down disused mind shafts looking for gold.Starting school,training as a nurse, going overseas for the first time. Going outback nursing packed full of adventures and danger in the opal fields of Coober Pedy and among the Pitjantjatjara people of the Western Desert. As a wife and mother I took on another great adventure and then as a mature age student on the back of having been a poor student at school, I took on the Bachelor of Theology and ventured into ordained ministry. Wow, there are so many adventures within adventures  here, all memorable, enjoyable and life giving BUT in all of that I have to say the greatest adventure of all is the adventure that comes from when we respond to the 'call of Christ to follow him.' Then and only then does the greatest adventure of all begin.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Adventure in the Wadi Rum Desert Jordan