There you are again, God

 Let us see your face Lord. Psalm 79:2

The beckoning I get to go to the sacred place is so powerful of an early morning. Its like God says: 'Come, sit quietly with me,  open your hands and your heart and  take this day, its a gift for you.'  O there is so much to see of God from the sacred space today. The petunias of deep purple and those striped yellow and red (isn't God clever?) The glorious blue of a blue flower, the magenta pelargonium  and the fuchsias, always in a pose of prayer. The kaleidoscope of colours just go on and on. Let us see your face Lord - let us see your face.  Alice Carwardine said: There you are, again, God the creator. God of all beings. There you are again.

Jehovah-shalom. The Lord is peace.      Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                Fuchsias, head bowed in prayer.

Wonderful creator, mighty God

 Have you not known, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. Isaiah 40:28

Time does nothing to dull the awe and wonder of the greatness of God. Such is his creativity that at times it leaves us speechless - the acorn so bright green with its little brown cap has the potential to grow into a very, very large tree. The little egg in the nest that is anxious to burst out and be what its meant to be - a little bird, and the glorious coloured butterflies on the Buddleia bush. What a wonderful God we have who showers us with delights. A Rennie says: 'Let us seek and find the small joys that are the 100 and 1,000's scattered on our daily life.'

May the God of life bless you and keep you today and always.    Anne, servant of the Lord.

Wonderful creator. 

Christmas

 How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion ,'Your God reigns.' Isaiah 52:7

I thinks I have already received the most treasured Christmas present. One of the small children in church came to the communion rail and holding out her hand she placed a small red star into my hand and said. 'This is for you,  to remind you that Christmas is coming.' She is all of 4 years old. I read this saying today. Christmas is a gift from God  that we cannot keep unless we give it to someone else.

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

                                              Plaque in the church of the Nativity Bethlehem.

God's love

 God is love. John 4:8

From the sacred space beauty hovers in colours of summer through the garden. The first glorious flush of the summer roses has passed leaving behind memories of colour, of perfume, of shape, of revelation of miraculous  openings - of joy and delight, and I think of how nature is full of  things of love  - God's love.

How does God's love flow into you? What gives you life and a deep inner  peace?

May the God of life bless you and keep you today and always.     Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                        A vase of God's love, fresh from the garden, to give in love.

Windy days

 Wind wind blow on me, wind wind set me free. ( New Harvest songs)

I thought of this song when the strong wind was blowing  the past few days and reflected on how God is present in every action of his creation, even that wild wind which we often dislike so much. I read this little verse by Christine Rossetti:

'Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you. But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I. But when the trees bow down their heads - the wind is passing by.'

Creator God of all things, there are some days when we might want to pray, just calm it down a bit, but then I think, others need the wind, and remember, remember, the wind of the Holy Spirit.!

May the God of all things, bless you and keep you today and always.   Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                            We need the wind!

Look out and about

 For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies, Christ, our God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.  (Hymn TIS 137)

It was a pink and orange  and purple dawn that offered the promise of this new day. A new morning, a sacred time, when all things are made new and, as Annie Rennie would say, 'the world around us is full of small wonders.'  How true is that when I look at the garden that adorns my sacred space that is dressed in magnificent roses of many colours, spotted and stripped petunias, colourful geraniums, cheeky johnny jump-ups peeping their heads through every available garden space and  the beautiful colourful sweet peas are throwing their sweet perfume over it all. The place is filled with the presence of God. Joyce Rupp said:' Even though I know only a tiny portion of who you are God; I love what I do understand and experience of you in my life.'

Look out and about - lift up your hearts - for God is here in this place.  Anne, servant of the Lord. 

                                                                 Sweet Pea.

Pack peaches or grow an orchard.

Psalm16: You will show me the path of life, the fullness of  your presence.

Sometimes the people I walk among in daily life have no hope. They see no purpose in their lives and struggle to exist. I love this thought by John Gardner: When people are serving, life is no longer meaningless. We can see more in our lives than what it seems. It's like this: some people spend their days sorting peaches or cutting out pockets to sew onto pants and they do this all their lives and never feel the exhilarating sense of creativity that comes from within such as growing an orchard or  designing a suit for the pockets. The meaning and the blessings that accompany our life come not from achievement but for what we do for others out of how we live. Gardener goes on to say, if  we are lovers of beauty , then beauty will fill all our days and if we are committed to justice, then justice will drive us ever beyond fatigue. My prayer is that we all see more in our lives than what it seems to be.

May the God of life bless you and keep you today and always.     Anne, servant of the Lord

                                              A bird dose not just build a nest but makes a home.

And he showed his face.

 Come my heart says, seek his face. Your face, Lord, do I seek. Psalm 27:8

Many a time I would take to the walking track, not just to go for a walk but to seek the Lord and it is there surrounded with creation,  that I would ask God to show me his face. On one such walk I laid my request before him and then, right across my path came this most magnificent echidna, shy and nervous, hesitant but trusting as he walked across the path before me. Then, within meters of me, was a mother wallaby grazing, and from her pouch the tiniest face of her joey looked at me with great interest through long dangling legs. God continued to show me his face as he pulled down the shutters on the day over the  stone faced, magnificent mountains before me, lit in awe inspiring colours of the sun set.

I asked the Lord to show me his face and he did.

                                 As you go into this day, ask the Lord of no more, than to show you his face.

May the peace and presence of God fill your life every single day.   Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                                                   Mother and joey.

The aroma of God

 Beauty from brokenness, hope for despair, Lord in the suffering, this is our prayer. (TIS690)

Ah yes, the glorious roses have come into bud and bloom again amidst a garden full of countless 'God miracles' and their sweet aroma, the aroma of God, fills my sacred space where there is quietness of the soul, peace reigns, and conversations are had with God. Its here I reflect on the broken world, God's world, our world. Oh, if only this beautiful aroma of God could fill our world. If only it could waft over Israel, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, Africa and all the other troubled places ,what peace it could bring, what multitudes it could put  on their knees.

 Take our broken world into your sacred space with God and pray like never before that God's aroma will cover the earth.

Mane Nobiscum Domine -remain with us Lord.   Anne, servant of the Lord.

God's beauty

Awakening

 Then their eyes were open and they recognized him. Luke 24:31

Sometimes I wonder if we are a bit like the disciples who were walking along the Emmaus road and were startled to find their companion was the risen Lord Jesus Christ and likewise the disciples on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus walked towards them on the water and as for us, we can be startled also when we recognize the Lord is with us and this is often a wave of recognition for me and particularly I sense this from my sacred space where I am surrounded by the beauty of creation and colour in my garden. It is there I see him and there is almost a 'thin space' between us in this real awakening.

Friedrich Buechner said: Lord, catch me off guard today. Surprise me with some moment of beauty so at least for the moment I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath, beyond, within this life I breathe.  Where is it that the Lord catches you unawares?

May the peace of God fill your life every single day.   Anne. Servant of the Lord.

Here in all your splendor.