The wonders in life - just pause.

 His name is wondeful,counsellor, mighty God. Isaiah 9:6

Just there near my sacred space I could see the vines  and flowers of the Sweet Peas and they drew me to wander to them and take in a  long, deep breath of their sweet perfume in an attempt to capture all I could of the fragrance in the hope of holding the memory until next spring. I walked away with a real blessing and it was like a little celebration. Life is good if we want to make it so. I read this quote. ''Each day can be  a day of celebration if we just pause and enjoy lifes wonders, large and small.'

Do you savour such memories to keep, to hold, to reflect on or more so, draw you to God?

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

   

Wonderful councellor, mighty God.

Wandering in the morning

 Creator God who shaped the earth and the heavens, your glory shines in all you have made. (Christian song)

There is so much of God's creation to soak in when time is spent among it, just sitting or wandering in and about the garden, beauty before me, and out of the corner of my eye I catch yet another beauty to indulge in. We are so enriched and blessed by creation. As I wander in the early morning I stopped to pick a cluster of Freesias to bring home, feeling like I had been given a  pearl of great price. I put the flowers in a vase and the fragrane of God filled  the house.  Michael Leunig writes:You have no place in spring except upon your knees.

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

.                                                  The fragrance of God

Receive God's glory

 Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were  created.  Matthew 17

Have you seen the Glory of the Lord? When where you last stopped in your tracks at something so beautiful that it held your breath? Did you recognise it was God's glory?   I can see it this morning - I can see the Glory of the Lord that surrounds me in my sacred space - the colours are brilliant red, pink, pink and white together, and purple, displayed on the large azalia bushes, and at their feet are masses of  blue for-get-me-not flowers just to remind me of God's love.

I read these words: 'Let us seek and find the small joys that are the hundreds and thousands  scattered colourfully on the lives of our day.'  There in lies the Glory of the Lord.

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

                                                  The Glory of the Lord
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life of blessings

 From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessings after another. John 1:16

A blessing that can't be surpassed is our knowledge and love of God in our lives. Life comes to life in that knowledge as we walk daily with him. From the toughest of days. just to know he is there with us, is a blesings, watching a tight bud on a rose bush opening into a fragrance of beauty, colour and delight, a mystery, a wonder, a miracle ,a blessing. If there is something tough on your plate today, something you are anxious about, something you need God's blessing for then smell a rose, or look in wonder at the dense blossom on the prunus tree, or in the bright face of a golden yellow daffodil and know that God is ever present with you and be blessed.

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

Now there is a blesing!

Treasure chest

 And now O father mindful of your love......we here present, we here spread forth to you...in your own service make us glad and free. TIS 519

The sacred space is a wonderful place for reflection and visions and this morning as the sun rose deep yellow on the horizon then deep pink, spreading across the sky, it  was no exception as  it heralded the new morning and it felt like being in the presence of God.You know how it is, you too have seen it before  and  it was like God was opening the lid on a treasure chest. letting out the treasure, the treasure of a new day full of colour,dressed for living, untouched,fresh,waiting to be embraced and loved and used for God and I prayed, 'Lord God, may we use this new day in service to you and one another.'

May our creator God, bless you and keep you always.  Anne, servant of the Lord. 

                                            Mindful of your love

Stilling prayer

 Let us enlist our lives in continuous celebration of God's goodness and greatness. Psalm 145( Psalms Now. L.E.Brandt)

The sacred space is again bathed in morning light with the comming of spring. Its soft, its peacefull, its quiet except for the joy of the twittering song of little birds that are also enjoying the change of season, such happy little things like balls of feathers on tiny stick.. As for the spring  flowers and blossoms, well they are just packed with love from God, full of colour and incense. If we stop long enough, I mean really stop long enough, we can feel the power of God holding it all together around us. He is present. He is there. He is all in all. I often use this quote from Colin Arquhart as a stilling prayer at the day hospice: The light of God surrounds me. The love of God enfolds me. The power of God protects me. Where I am-God is.

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

                                            Where I am God is.

Brilliant creator

 ........all creatures show  your glory,heaven and earth draw near your throne singing, holy,holy,holy (TIS 99)

God's love for us is so great that he showers us with countless blessings. He lavishes his love on us and its all around to see. Just sit awhile and look, unwrap each bit of his beauty before you and enjoy with thanks and praise, marveling at the brilliant creator. The other day I picked the first of the blue for-get-me-not flowers from the garden and placed it in the lapel of my vest and all day long I saw and reflected on the love of God for me and a God who will forget- me- not.

May the God of all creation bless you and keep you this day and always.  Anne,servant of the Lord.

                                                For-get-me-not

Kingdom building

At the works of your hands I sing for joy. Psalm 92:4

I was reflecting on my day ahead  and how I thought about the tasks before me. Some of my thoughts were a' glass half full,' or is it 'half empty!'  Our attitude and how we see our purpose in life has a lot to do with how we go about our daily life, about how we see things, how we do things, especiall how we see our attitude with God and our journey as followers of Jesus. I read ths profound saying:  Two stone cutters were asked what they were doing. The first said, ' I am cutting this dammed stone into blocks.' The second replied,' I am on a team building a cathedral.'  How do you approach your daily life?

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

                                                         St Saviours Cathedral

The gift of nothing

Come, let us with our Lord arise..........this is the day the Lord has made, that all may see his love displayed. TIS 375 paraphrased.

 I love the words, 'just lose yourself in me and find my love,' for that is what happens when we take ourselves off to our sacred space to just 'be' with God because, for me, that is where God's given treasures are seen, in the stillness and quiet amongst the garden of emerging spring where there are pockets of quiet and fragrant beauty and the breeze is 'singing' gently through the trees.' O, to give the first hour of the morning to God, it belongs to him, just breathe it in and enjoy the gift of nothing.

May your sacred space fill you with God's love.   Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                       A sacred space.

Dwell in the house of the Lord.

 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dewll in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Psalm 27:4

Sometimes the best things in life are those nearest to us. The crispness of the morning frost letting us know we are alive; the frozen dew drops on the tips of a leaf, hanging,suspended, paused, frozen in the moment; the weak sunlight pushing through the fog creating those moments of  haunting beauty; the Daphne at the front door that really knows how to charm with its deep, sweet perfume that takes you back in time to grandma's garden; a day ahead prayed in and over, full of challenges and promises, adventure and delights, hand in hand with your best friend, Jesus. Robert Louis Stevenson said: 'The best things are the nearest, the breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at hand and the path of God before you.'

As you bless me with light at the sunrises rising,shine on me now with love.  Anne, servant of the Lord.

                                      The Daphne takes me back in time