Packed with wonder and delight

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderous things . Psalm 119:18

Ah, the daphne is out full of clusters of flowers packed with perfume, delight and memories. As I stooped to take in it's delight to the eye and nose I was drawn to reflect on the words of Eva Jackson when she wrote: 'I was drawn like a bee to pollen - nose to flower and it rested for a second on the fragile sense of wonder -saying nothing - knowing such moments can be trampled by the smallest word.  How much do you treasure the God moments in your sacred space? How much do you see beyond what is right before your eyes? How much do you yearn for those 'God moments' to stay and not be trampled on?

Let the peace of Christ dwell in your heart.  Anne, servant of the Lord

                                                Memories are made of this!

Come, come and be with me.

 The hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Ezra 8:1

Macrina Wiederkehr wrote. When there is nothing left to do and no where else to go - remember your knees.

There is something humbling about falling on your knees before God. Try it!  For me it takes me back to the beginning of my friendship with God - the child who knelt by the bed every night to talk to him, to put my body and soul into his care and protection while I slept. I never felt closer, or more comforted by God than when I was on my knees.  

Kneel before the Lord your God and humbly pray.  Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                        Let us pray.

He alone does great wonder.

 To him alone who does great wonder, who by wisdom made the heavens, who scattered the earth upon the waters, who made the great lights - the sun by day the moon and stars to govern the night. Psalm 136

R.M.Brown said: God uses the ordinary things of life to bring about  wonderful happenings. 

That is so true. Just look at what the rain does to the parched earth, as it falls the grass grows. The sun rise declares a new day and the sunset draws it to an end but look at what the day has held. A bulb planted in the cold earth, with a little warm sun produces a flower of beauty and a tiny baby was born to be the Saviour of the world.  To God be the Glory.

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

                                                He turns gum nuts into spectacular flowers.

Sing with intent

 The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning, its time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.  Bless the Lord, O my soul.......for all your goodness, I will keep on singing like never before: ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. ( (Paraphrased, Christian song. 10,000 reasons.)

Does your day start by making space to hear and see things of God?  This day he made with the solo song of the beautiful Rufus Whistler, his rusty orange feathered chest puffed out in joy as he sang from the sacred space, his song full of intent to please his creator, as if it knew it was so. Do you begin your day  with singing?  Singing a song so  full of joy and intent to please our creator? 'What ever may pass, whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.'

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                His song full of intent.

Come, just come

In his hand are the deep places of earth; the heights of the hills are his also. PS 95:4

Does God take your breath away? 

The brilliant hues of the sunset bounce  and ricochet off the soft evening landscape,  and kiss  the mountain tops, an explosion of God's love,  before fading into the ascending evening dusk and at the end of the day peace arrived. I ask again, does God take your breath away?

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                    The sun kissed the mountain tops.

Like a warm smile

 

I am the rose of Sharon, a rose of the valley. ( The Shir Hashirim  - Song of Songs 2:1)

What is it about the very last rose of winter that buds then blossoms in the midst of the cold?  The last one on the bush like a light shining in the darkness and its  bright yellow like a warm smile. As I meditated on its beauty I thought of an elderly lady who sometimes comes by my place with the walking group from the nursing home. She is a lovely Chinese lady always with a smile and always in just shorts and a tee shirt. I asked her one day if she was cold and with a beautiful smile she said, 'No, I have Jesus in here(Pointing to her heart) and he keeps me warm!  Like the last of the winter rose, isn't that just beautiful.

The peace of the Lord be with you. 

  Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                               Yellow like a warm smile.

And so he saw Christ

 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him. Luke 24:31

Eugene J Burkhart  says: Seeing requires paying attention to a variety of things: conversations, stories from fellow believers and strangers, new interpretation of scripture, grief and a strange burning in the heart.  

I was talking to an elderly resident in the nursing home as we waited for the service to begin. He was sitting with his wife, a devout Christian but he had always professed to not 'being that' and had not been at the service before. Somehow during the conversation I remarked how good it was to see him here and he said: 'I have come to support my wife which I should have been doing all along but more so I have come because of what Russia is doing in the Ukraine and suddenly  realised that its only God who can bring down the  Russian leader and condemn him and the more people to pray for that to happen, the better, so God encouraged me, opened my eyes really, to see that and to see how much we need him in our lives.' It was a lovely God moment of revelation, of how God can come into our life journey and walk along side us.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Anne, servant of the Lord.

The deep presence of God.

 In your presence is the fullness of joy and from your right hand flow delights for ever more. Ps 16:11

Some times silence is my time with God in the sacred space, no words are needed, just sitting and reflecting on his creation, his goodness, around me and that was this mornings experience and in  the quiet I just reached out my hand to touch a flower, its perfume flowed like incense  and I felt the deep presence of God. In that was enough depth and assurance to carry me into this broken world.

Jehovah -shalom. The Lord is peace

Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                    perfume like incense.