And God turns up!

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
I hear so many  of the older people saying that in the isolation and quiet their 'awareness' is  becoming so acute. There are birds in the garden, tiny birds, that they don't recall hearing  sing in such beautiful harmony and unison with one another as they are now. There is a beautiful rose bush outside their window that only weeks ago was stripped in the destructive hail storms now blooming with mass and colour that they don't recall having seen so beautiful before. And I wonder in this time of quiet and stillness in and around our homes, how God's Glory is impacting on you? Can you see it? Can you feel it? and what is God saying to you?
  I read this quote from  Clement of Alexandria  (c150-c215)Wonder at  things that are before thee, making this the first step to further knowledge.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Beauty from brokeness

There's a bear in there

Comfort, O comfort my people,says your God. Isaiah 40:1
There  is a quote I like from Mother Teresa which says 'we can do no great things only small things with great love.'  What an opportunity lies before us in how we can not only do things with love but in doing, bring God's comfort to others and all from our homes. its a great opportunity for God to open our eyes so we can see the ways we can be more useful. Even in isolation I go out once a day  for a lovely walk in fresh air and sunshine. As I was walking yesterday I saw someone had put a teddy bear in their front window and I later discovered that others were doing this also and it is there for the children so when they go for a walk they can go on a bear hunt and see how many bears they can find in peoples windows.I also heard of a person who had put a hand written note in every letterbox in her street which said. 'I am here, I am well and I am able to shop for you, run errands etc  here is my name and  phone number.. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. I like this Celtic Prayer: As the rain hides the stars,as the autumn mist hides the hills, as the clouds veil the blue of the sky, so the dark happenings of my lot hide the shining of your face on me yet if I hold your hand in the darkness it is enough since I know that though I may stumble in my going you do not fall.
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne Servant of the Lord.

We can do no great things only small things with great love.

Changing life

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Psalm 22:11
Difficulty and hardship is among us. We have been shut of from our worship places and gatherings. Life is different but we are not shut of from God. There is no need to shout at him across the spaces between you and the church. He is not locked inside the church buildings but is nearer than you think and he knows your thoughts. May our isolated homes become our house of prayer and may we unite  in timely prayers, separated yet  as one.
And don't forget or overlook the little bird sounds coming from the hedge for God  will be found in all places and in all ways.
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

There is a darkness hanging over our world.

Peace under my feet.

God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:5
We are in anxious times and our world is shifting and changing and we don't know how long this will be for.  Anxiety and panic has raised its head in community  yet I can sit outside on this glorious sunny day without a cloud in the sky and its calm and its peaceful and its still.I see the rose bushes recently stripped bare by a viscous destructive hail storm now with full growth and beautiful roses. I see in our burnt out forests new growth springing out of hundreds of  chard  tree trunks from the recent catastrophic fires and the green farm lands rising from a parched drought stricken earth.I see God is  with us. Recovering and restoring brokenness. Recently reread and sitting in my mind are the words (adapted) from the prayer of St Patrick. Peace before me. Peace behind me. Peace under my feet. Peace above me. Peace within me. Let all around me be peace.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Peace like  a river.

Peace in heavenly music.

My security is in his promise to be near me always and in the knowledge that he will never let me go. Portion of Ps 23 from Psalms Now. (Leslie F Brandt)
The beautiful song of the magpie filled the otherwise silent morning  with its glorious singing. Just one, just solo, right outside my window as if singing just for me. Sometimes it can be hard to find God's joy in a year that has gone so terribly wrong for us with a long drought, catastrophic  bush fires,unprecedented damaging  hail storm  and now our whole world as we know it is changing due to the corona virus. Perhaps isolation may come for many of us and I would see  a down time as special times with God. To be still, to be quiet and to listen to the bird songs. Heavenly music carries with it a reassuring peace and presence. I love this little prayer(anon) If you have heard the sound of birdsong in the morning air then you will know that heaven's music is everywhere.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Dressed in his black and white tuxedo.

Sir, give me this water.

The woman said to him. " Sir, the well is deep and you do not have a bucket. Where do you get that living water." John 4:11
As a child I recall going with my parents to visit a lady who lived alone in her home on the top of a hill. When she first went there as a young woman she had all she needed except access to water in the creek below her home. The hill was too steep to go down and carry back a bucket of water let alone do that several times in a day. To pipe it to the house was not manageable yet she knew she could not live without water. She asked for help, for someone to show her how she could access this water so vital to life. A small group of men from church, strangers to her, organised a system of poles,wires and pullies that ran from her home to the creek with a bucket attached and she could operate the pullies to pull the bucket of fresh,water back to her home. All her life, until she passed away at 86 she was able to access the water. We all need water to live  but how much more we need the 'living water' that Jesus offers us. It is accessible, it is life giving, it is free, it is forever. All we need do is ask Jesus to show us how to access the living water.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Show me the living water.

Deep in our heart.

For as the scriptures said: Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water John 7:38
Imagine a heart so filled with God's love that it flows out rivers. Not streams, not puddles not a stagnant body of water sitting in the heart, but water that flows from the heart like a river, watering and drenching all that flows from it, all coming from a heart full of the knowledge and love of God.
Deep in our heart sits the most precious thing, a space  filled with out deep and sacred love of God. Its like God lives there.
I was reading a parable from the Upanishads which says: In the body there is a small shrine. In that shrine there is a lotus. In that lotus there is a little space. What is it that lives in that little space? The whole universe is in that little space because the creator, the source of it all is in the heart of each one of us.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord

not a lotus but a beautiful tulip opening out like an opening heart.

Sing, sing,sing!

O come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Psalm 95:1
Today is a day to sing to the Lord. The sky's are grey, not red and black and they are weeping volumes of wet soaking rain. The air is clear and crisp, not smoke filled and blowing a strange wind.. The dry parched and  burnt land is turning green and the farmers dams are full and creeks are flowing. You can almost hear the dehydrated trees clapping their hands for joy and the little birds are singing a new song from their tiny beaks. There are sounds not heard for so long like the kookaburra laughing and  the chorus of crickets singing in the evening. Praise God and let us make  a joyful noise unto the Lord.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne,servant of the Lord

And the darling blackbirds are taking a bath.

God's creatures - God's creation

Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run  with perseverance,the race that is set before us looking to Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:1
Life is a pilgrimage as we look here and look there for God.  One pilgrim called Sister Giovanna (1660 Feast day 1 March) said,  'By being a pilgrim my heart learns to hear the cries of the  refugees,the poor, the impoverished, those arriving and those departing.' I reflected on my life, my calling and how I went to Jerusalem  with all the baggage, the pain and suffering of loss in the bush fire crisis and specifically to lay down the lives of ONE BILLION of our wildlife destroyed in the fires. This weighed heavily on my heart.  I stood at the Western Wall of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, the most Sacred and Holy place for Jews and placed my prayer note in a crack in the wall to be later burnt by Rabbi's in prayer offerings to God. I lit a candle for them all  in the Church of The Holy Sepulcher, the most Sacred and Holy place for Christians and I offered intercessions daily in the Eucharist in St Georges Cathedral. I came home feeling the weight of it all lifted and with a God inspired blessing to do a memorial service for them all of prayers and candle lighting.
I wonder have you gone away, at times to seek God,  heavily burdened and have come back with a blessing?
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

And I lit a candle in the most Sacred and Holy place for Christians