Meditate on this

Jesus said: I am the light of the world. Who ever follows me will never walk in darkness but will  have the light of life (John 8:12)
So many times I feel so humbly blessed because  of living a life that is Christ centered. Fall in a hole, and He picks you up, Exciting times and He fills you with joy. Something missing in your day and He fills it. Needing to talk to someone and He is there. Something  I read stuck in my mind this morning as I watched the day rising from the night, as the light covered the darkness, and it was this, and I think no more need be said, just meditate on this:
'Follow the light you have
and pray for more. (George MacLeod)
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Light in the darkness

nudging and guiding

Guide me O my great redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land.I am weak but thou art mighty
hold me with thy powerful hand. (TIS 569)
I was  sitting on my front porch watching the farmer in the near by paddocks moving the cattle. He was behind them slowly nudging them in the direction he was wanting them to go, avoiding rocky outcrops and the fragile  banks of the creek and various other hazards and spots of danger. Suddenly I had  a deeper sense of the movement of Christ in our lives, how he gently nudges and  guides us and he does it 'from behind.' I read these lovely  Celtic words of wisdom:  My dearest Lord, be thou a bright flame before me, be thou a gentle guiding star above me, be thou a smooth path beneath me, be thou a kindly shepherd behind me, today and ever more. (St Columba)
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Now I see

Matthew 13:16   But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.
I look at the pond now and reflect on what it was. A stagnating pool of muddy water that came and went and a cluster of wood ducks calling it home and I look at it now, three years later and see, with the human touch how it has changed. Bulrushes and bird loving grasses cluster at its shores, its always full and flushes clean its waters when refreshing rain falls. It is home for a variety of birds,wood ducks and water fowls proudly strutting the grass surrounds showing of their babies and an occasional turtle will venture out and sun bake and frogs are the chorus beneath it all  . It reminds me so much of our lives and our ministries and where we have come from over the years and how with nurturing by God's love we are where we are today and those we befriend in the name of Christ, are where they are today.Epicurus said: Remember what you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.  I  read this lovely prayer: May God bless your heart that you may be a well spring of life for others and may God bless your hands and feet that you may attend to his business during your times on earth - your life matters deeply to him.

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

Empowered by God

'Your peaceful presence, giving strength, is everywhere.' (Benedictine Nuns Hymn)
There is an African proverb which reads like this: if you think you are too small to make a difference, - try sleeping with a mosquito.
We are empowers  by God to make a difference in the world we live in. In our own space of living and working.  There are so  many people we come in contact with and so many people we 'rub off on' that provide a wonderful space to show God's love. I remember an elderly lady in the nursing home  once asked me can you 'smell God' after she went into the chapel to pray because she could sense something different in that 'God space.' . Can others sense something difference  when they come across our space, our presence?   We are empowered by God to do the work of God.
Meister Eckhart said: What is the good if Mary gave birth to the Son of God 2000 years ago if I do not Give birth to the Son of God today - God is always needing to be born.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

God speakes

Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me.  (Sacred song)
I love that oneness, that connection, that God moment when I am out walking and something catches my eye (or is it my Spirit?) and I stop in awe and wonder. Sometimes these 'God moments' spring up expectantly and other times I can see them coming such as watching a sunset or sunrise creeping into the sky, subtle at first with a hint of colour and then grows into a spectacular arena of colour that  speaks to me of God's love; an almost overwhelming love that makes my knees weak and my soul rise up in song!
Joan  Chittester says: Station stops in your day, stops to reflect, stops to see the sacred, stops to enjoy the presence of the moment - station stops - sacred moments - refueling places of God's love that refresh us  and connect us with the one who walks with us always - Jesus Christ.

Sacred pause - spirit filling- God's love

New Year

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old, I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the   wilderness and rivers in the desert. Is. 43: 18-19
A New Year,-  new beginnings, new opportunities - as we walk right into it, ready to embrace all it offers and throws at us. May your prayers move heaven and earth and may you remember  that everywhere you place your feet, God's kingdom comes to earth. Go humbly and boldly forward with your  hand firmly gripped in Gods.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Travellers

Ring, bells,ring,ring! Sing, choirs,sing,sing,sing! When he comes, when he comes, who will make him welcome. TIS 283
They will all travel in the next day or so. - Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men - people returning home to be counted -   all heading in the same direction and we too have been caught up in the expectation  and travel with them. Mary and Joseph are travelling to Bethlehem to 'be counted' unaware that their baby Jesus would be born there. The shepherds will be travelling because of an encounter with a whole host of heavenly angels on a hillside in the night and the wise men who will be actually travelling to worship a long expected king, bringing gifts. What are we thinking as we are travelling towards the celebration of Christmas that marks the birth of our Saviour and King, Jesus. As we grapple with the tinsel to go on the tree, the crowds at the shops and the last minute gift buying amid it all are we travelling to celebrate Jesus birth -  are we remembering why we want to celebrate?
Journey ends;where afar Bethlehem shines, like a star, stable door stands ajar. (TIS 283)

Manger Square Bethlehem 

A star

' How beautiful on the mountain 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.' Isa 52:7
I think I have already received the most treasured Christmas present for this year. One of the children at church walked up to me during the greeting of the peace and placing  her small hand in mine she looked up  and as she passed a small red star into my hand  she said. 'This is for you, to remind you that Christmas is coming.' She is all of four years old!  I read this saying today: Christmas is a gift from God that we can not keep unless we give it to someone else.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

" The word became flesh and dwelt among us" Plaque in the church of the Nativity Bethlehem 

ordinary to extraordinary!

While Shepherds watched their flock by night. (Christmas Carol)
I remember standing in shepherds field outside  Bethlehem and picturing a scene of the shepherds and their sheep on what was an ordinary night for them but God chose to make it an extraordinary night. Lucado says( paraphrased) : The sheep were ordinary. Some fat, some scrawny. Some with barrel bellies. Some with twiggy legs. Common animals.They were simply sheep - lumpy, sleeping silhouettes on a hillside. And the shepherds. Peasants they were, nameless in the Christmas story, probably wearing the only clothes they had and smelling like sheep.. Had God not chosen to make this night extraordinary then the sheep and shepherds would have slept the night away. BUT, 'God dances amidst the common and that night he did a waltz!' Silent sheep woke with curiosity and shepherds rubbed their eyes at the sight of angels and the night was no longer ordinary.  So often I reflect on how the angels came to bring good news  to the common peasant shepherds, alone in the dark, sleeping in the open and I think of the ministry of many of us among the isolated,disconnected, living in the  darkness of their situation  and how that ministry is often described as 'of angels.' The angels came to the shepherds in the night because that is when the light is best seen and is most needed.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Anne, servant of the Lord

Entrance to the chapel on Shepherds Field.

Advent angels

O come, O dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by your advent here. TIS 265
Scattered around the seats of the congregation are the angels from the Christmas story. Angles proclaiming the coming of the Christ, the king, the saviour. They remind us that something is about to happen, they carry with their presence a message. When I go out for an evening walk at this time of the year I absolutely delight in seeing what people have put around their homes that proclaim Christmas is coming. The lights that cover the roof of homes, the lights in the gardens and the sight of the Christmas tree lit up in the front room of homes or the view of it through open doors. We do lots of things to proclaim the coming of Christmas that generate that expectation, that waiting, that knowing that something is coming, something is about to happen. During Advent may we reflect on the great gift it is to us all to have the Saviour Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives and may we always be prepared for that second coming.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Touch a flower

O Lord our God, your greatness is seen in all the world. Psalm 8:1
I always feel that oneness with God and all creation when I stop and touch a flower and raise its stem to my face and smell its perfume of sheer delight. Its a heaven sent blessing.  I read these lovely thoughts by a Vietnamese monk, an apostle of peace......isn't that lovely.... an apostle of peace. He writes: When I touch a flower, I touch the sun yet I do not get burned! When I touch a flower I touch a cloud flying to the sky. If you really touch a flower deeply, you touch the whole cosmos. ( Thich Nhat Hanh)
 Countless  'God connections ' and blessings are right at our finger tips anytime, any day, anywhere, just smell a  flower, just breath deeply the fresh clean  air, just listen to the bird singing.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Give thanks

O Lord how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions. Psalm 104:24
Take a look at everything that is in your field of vision and reflect. God made it all and what strikes me is that he is still making,creating and being extravagant.
Every new sunrise...every new day....the fresh shower of rain that transforms the dry and dusty roadside to yellows, blues and pinks of the wild flowers.The single bud on the rose bush alongside yesterdays full bloom, the tiny babies in the bird nest,
Constant, faithful, creating God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

powerful yet graceful.

I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Exodus 19:4
I was watching the baby sea eagle flying ever so gracefully back and forth on the sea breeze and the text from Exodus came to mind and I found myself thinking of all the times God has carried each one of us through the ups and downs of life. Just like he carried the Israelite's through the exodus, so he carries us. Each and every one of us who are true believers are  to him a 'treasured possession.'
Michael Joncas wrote: And God will raise you up on eagles' wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.'

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

Go little tugs.

'May the strength of God pilot us.' ( St Patrick)
I was taking a break by the sea and was watching a small pilot boat pushing and guiding a larger vessel out of port giving it direction and setting it on its right course. Such strength from a small boat, - such a valuable and important task and I began to think of how day by day we go out under God's guidance and come back in and wonder about the value and worth of our daily doings especially if we are the only one doing a particular work. How do we maintain the strength to 'keep at it?' I read this verse by Charles Allen: 'Remember that you are needed. There is at least one important work to be done that will not get done unless you do it.'
May the strength of God pilot us.

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

Lord, keep us in awe.

When  someone asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment, Jesus answered. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength' Matthew 22:37
A glorious morning with the fields alive with the wash of the overnight rain and the presence of God is within it and its something I never tire of, this early morning glory --- vivid green grass covered valleys, shimmering with dew. Mountains bathed in mist, soft and blue. A mother bird teaching her young to fly - I think God has just passed by - painting, creating - thank you Lord. Lee Warren said:
Lord, help me to never lose a sense of wonder over the way you spoke the world into existence. Keep me in awe, Father, as I consider how you have arranged for the sun to rise each morning and for the ice to melt each spring and for the plants to come back to life.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

A gospel story

In the beginning when God created the heavens. Gen. 1:1
I recall when I was in Jerusalem studying  a subject called 'Palestine of Jesus 'at St George's Cathedral,  how the lecturer referred  to the landscape, the places of the bible like the Sea of Galilee, the Old City, the Mount of Olives etc  as the 5th gospel.  I could really relate to that and it brought so much of the biblical stories of Jesus alive. As I was out walking earlier I walked across the grass of the hillside and sat awhile on the seat at the top and form there I could survey the valleys and plains and the glorious Brindabella mountains, a landscape of green, low morning mist, the full pond from recent rains and the beauty in the finer things such as the wild flowers and the the red rump finches and I decided to call it all the 6th gospel because in it all was God. Martin Luther wrote: God writes the gospel not in the bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

All of nature is a gospel.

Beauty puts a face on God

Your steadfast love ,O lord extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.....you save humans and animals alike O Lord. (Paraphrased) Psalm 36: v 5-6
I love the wisdom of the mystics and others who have embedded their lives in God and from who we have benefited so much. I make a comment today about my beloved dog and companion Bella who has sat by my side for the twelve years I have been writing these reflections. She passed away last week, a gracious, brave lady but its not her I comment on but what I saw in her, a creature of God's creation. As the Indian children in the neighbourhood asked me one day when they saw the cross on her collar.'Is she a Christian dog, are you two Christians?'  She emanated God's love not only to me but to others who knew her, often being described by the vet as 'having something very special about her.'  Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)  wrote: Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God.
How lovely. How true.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Bella  2003 - 2016 

A joy every day

The cold wind in the winter, the pleasant summer sun, the ripe fruits in the garden: God made them every one. (Cecil Frances Alexander)
Spring still evokes in me a joy every day. I said to a friend as I looked out on her garden, just 'how lovely are all the flowers this time of year.' Every flower I look upon has a 'joyful, colourful, face of beauty' What great love for us, from God.  I love to pick the beautiful roses in all their glory and place them on my table. That is such a prayerful action, an in the moment action and the sweet peas placed in the vase in the bedroom give off an everlasting reminder in the night of God's love.
From an unknown writer comes these words: The beauty of creation convinces me that the creator not only loves me,but he wants me to have the very best.
Take a moment now, before the rush of the day sets in, and go and smell the flowers.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning.

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, praise for them, springing fresh from the word. TIS 156
It is said that 'anything worth thinking about is worth singing about' and Mary Oliver adds 'which is why we have songs of praise, songs of love and songs of sorrow'. I can relate to this thinking so much as I often have a song in my heart and on my lips so much so that  though I go to bed at night and sleep there is something in me that still listens for the joy of the beautiful melodious sound of the blackbirds song in the early morning, the first of creation to sing to God on a new day.
May there be songs in your heart and on your lips that bring you joy and peace and comfort and assurance of God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne,servant of the Lord

Just a Caterpillar?

I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God. Ps 52
The little four year old had hold of my hand tightly as we walked to the park to play. Suddenly he stopped and squatting down started examining a caterpillar with great curiosity. It was just an ordinary plain  black caterpillar with lots of legs going at its almost standstill pace  across the path but to the four year old it said far more because after a long period of examination he said: ' I know what that  caterpillar will be, I can see it now, it will be a beautiful, colourful butterfly and it will have wings and it will fly. There is a wisdom story from oral tradition that says: 'A genius is one who can recognize the butterfly in a Caterpillar, the  eagle in an egg, the saint in a selfish human being.' I like to think its the one connected with the creator and his creation.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Massive Wedge tail eagle in the SA outback