in the bulb, a flower

It is the Spirit that gives life. John 6:63

Have you spoken to anyone lately who is a new Christian? Someone who for the first time in their life has had a light switched on, the light of Christ. Someone for the first time in their life feels like they have been struck by lightening and propelled into faith with a massive awakening?( Come Holy Spirit Come!)  I met such a person recently, an older man who had been an atheist all his life and now as he put it, 'at 80 I have found life.' Its just so wonderful to be around such people. Its so wonderful a 'faith' booster for us all when we see God's Spirit still working today. I read a poem and its opening lines said this: In a bulb there is a flower, in a seed an apple tree; in cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter, there's a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.( In the bulb there is a Flower. anon)

Catch me off guard Lord

The Lord bless you and keep you. Num. 6:24

How lovely are the spring flowers. Its like God opened a window in heaven and poured out a blessing. Joyce Rupp says: 'The loveliness of a single flower in radiant bloom can sing my drooping spirit into joy.'  How true. How very true. I can't look at an anticipating rose bud, or poppy capsule, or pending daffodil or tulip pod and not sense the blessing that is to come. I read this prayer by Frederick Buechner: Lord, catch me off guard today.Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain so that at least for the moment I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendour, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath,beyond, within this life I breathe.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne,servant of the Lord.

Book of life

In your book were written all the days that were formed for me. Psalm 139:16
A very elderly, very Spirit filled lady at the nursing home, the one who so sincerely says she has seen Jesus walking towards her so often,asked me if God has a book in which he writes down all our names. 'Could you imagine the size of that book.' I said. 'To hold all of the names of all who have been, all who are.' She thought a moment and said. ' 'Isn't it wonderful to think though, that your name and mine, my family and yours since time began are recorded in that book. We aren't just born,live and then die. But we will forever be remembered by God and that's because  loves us. Sunday school teaching has stayed with that lady for all her 90 years and brings her such moments of reflection and peace.Its a true blessing to pause awhile with her...and God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Thanks be to God

So faith comes from what is heard. Romans 10:17
I have among a special shelf of books a collection of treasures. A collection of faith journeys, a collection of helps in time of grief and loss, in times of such sadness during the war, a collection of joys and celebrations. These treasures are in the form of the Book of Common Prayer belonging to family members going back four generations. In the worn tissue thin pages of the bible that belonged to the grandfather I never knew who now lies in the soil of the Somme. There are snippets of newspaper cuttings marking births and marriages. So much imagery and story of what sustained them during the highs and lows of life, their solid, unsinkable faith and that I know has rubbed off on me as I handle and sometimes use their books of prayers and read from their bibles alongside my own. What a gift I have been left, the gift of example and way of life,Who has influenced your faith journey?  Give praise and thanks today and always for the wonderful inheritance that they have handed to you.The path to eternal life.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

displays of joy

For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling,that I may walk before God in the light of life. Psalm 56:13
Winter has that feel about it  like all is stationary, all has stopped,all has gone to sleep,all is lifeless,cold like the earth is wrapped in death. But then, and we are seeing it now, a bulb or two breaks through the hard soil and showers the dull with bright colours. There is a new, yet familiar perfume at the front door as the Daphne fills the air with incense and have you noticed the Prunus tree? Its buds of pink have burst into individual displays of joy and the brightness of the wattle adds to the spirit of awakening of all the senses.  This is healing. This is reminiscing. This is assurance. This is hope. We can take this image and use it in so many ways to see the hand of God, not just in nature, but in our lives. In our days of joy it gives more joy. In our days of struggling it gives great hope. Changing seasons in nature and in our lives are gifts from God that we can constantly unwrap.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

consider the wondrous work of God

Hear this, O Job: stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Job 37:14
This morning I want to say, stop and read all of chapter 37 of Job. If we think we might have  a problem in life, in ministry, in self then this chapter should ground us and bring us back to focus, then again if we have met the new day with joy and thanksgiving;have seen the day arrive, pushing the night away and filling it with light and beauty and a chorus of the voices of his creation, as early mornings tend to do, then we can be in awe of this chapter in Job.stop and consider the wondrous works of God..........do you know the balancing of the clouds......can you like him,spread out the skies?  We have a mighty God, far bigger than we can imagine, yet so personal its like he is there just for me yet I know he is there for everyone in the same way. A chorus comes to mind for those still uncertain of the mighty God we have, it goes like this: 'O taste and see that the Lord is good.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

the power of Jesus

Jesus power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of. Ephesians 3:20
Do you ever feel it? do you ever experience the power of Jesus working in you?
Caryll Houslander wrote: I was in an underground train, a crowded train in which  all sorts of people jostled together, going home at the end of the day. Quite suddenly I saw in my mind,but as vivid as a wonderful picture, Christ in them all.......living in them, dying in them, rejoicing in them, sorrowing in them. I came out into the street and walked a long time in the crowds. It was the same thing there, on every side, in every passerby---- Christ.
How do you experience Christ in the world?  For me, its in every face of the older people and its in the focused eyes of the Rosella only inches from my face, looking as intently at me as I him. Its like looking directly at God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

The Lord is good.

O taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8 
Sometimes there is nothing better in the moment than sharing 'how to love the Lord' with others who want to do likewise. Its like an electricity among us all.
I was at Wagga Wagga yesterday talking to a lovely group of pastoral carers on matters to do with spirituality and aging and it was a Christ filed day with the added 'showers of blessings' in the travel:Rich green paddocks dotted with mother sheep and lambs, paddocks chequered with bright yellow canola, naked trees filled with white sulpha crested cockatoos, wattle trees lining the roadside, hills standing proud and everything so fresh with the fallen rain. The biblical imagery was racing through my thoughts: I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep. Lift up your eyes unto the hills from whence comes your help. In pastures green he leadeth me. The hills and valleys clap their hands. And God created, and the seventh day he rested. Don't you love it. Don't you love to take the Lord with you when ever you go out. Don't you love to taste and see that the Lord is good?

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