The Moses staff

My soul thirsts for the living God. Where can I go to meet you. Psalm 42
Every time I go out early in the morning I always come home with many blessings. It might be the blessing of a tiny wild flower tucked away in a clump of overgrown weeds. It might be the vivid colour of  an autumn tree, its colours, its beauty, lingering with me. It might be the beautiful song of a bird, sitting high on the power pole. Yesterday I was leaning on my walking staff watching two playful puppies romping with each other when a man came by in a wheel chair. He stopped and said: 'I had a walking staff like that one. I called it my Moses staff.' Therein followed a conversation about Moses and his rod, his staff, and God.' I don't know what he was thinking as he went on his way but I went home yet again with a blessing. A blessing of having encountered a fellow Christian also out and about to meet with God. 
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Morning Blessing

This is love.

What are you doing down on your face? (Joshua 7:10)
Autumn can take our breath away with trees of multiple coloured leave, or just a single tree wrapped in yellow glory. And then there is the cluster of trees  with various shades of red among the changing greens, their base a carpet of  the fallen and again the child in me wants to walk through them, kicking them around in delight. And I think yet again of the creator of all this beauty. A God who showers us with such blessings. A God who goes 'all out' to please us with his creation in so many ways and I wonder why does he care for us so much. After all we are only a speck in a vast universe of his creation. He flung stars, the planets, the galaxies, and the sun and moon into their position yet he took it on himself to create our planet of infinite beauty and delight just for us. Just for you, and just for me.  His creation is his gift to us. To me this is  the unmeasured, overwhelming love  of God
and its enough to put me down on my face.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

God's gift .Just for you and just for me.

love shows the way.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34
The last week in its mixed emotions of Holy week, with all its drama and reflections, the one word that stands out is love. Jesus gives us a mandate to love others as he has shown love to us. I recall a conversation from one of the volunteers in our community program who assists a client with a degree of disability requiring help sorting out her home. She said. ' I had taken a client out for coffee and while we were chatting she told me how the support we are giving her has changed her life
She now feels she has hope.This client even looks like she is standing taller. Lucado said: A little rain can straighten a flower stem. A little love can change a life.
Go in peace and tell the world Christ is risen!
Anne, servant of the Lord

comfort, comfort all my people

Remembrance of that grim Friday

'Whom do you seek?'  'Jesus of Nazareth.' ' I am he.' ( John 18)
Good Friday and we are in the depth of Easter. For some its been a 'full on' Easter journey of services, remembering and engaging in foot washing and the Last Supper of the Pascal Mass and reaffirmation of vows and today brought the remembrance of that grim Friday when Christ was crucified in what must have been the most horrible of deaths possible. I think this death is the greatest example of 'tough love!' May we, in the quiet  of this day catch a glimpse of this suffering, this sacrifice, that enables us to live. May we do this 'living' well.  A living that leads to eternal living. A prayer in my morning prayers that draws me  to our way of living. " Lord teach me to pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle in them the fire of  your love. '
May the death and resurrection  of Christ continue to live through us in word and action.
Have a Holy and blessed Easter
Anne, servant of the Lord

Stain glass window. Grafton Cathedral

The cross of love

All glory praise and honour, to you redeemer king. TIS 333
Each time I open my prayer book at the front page I see an old faded, graying palm cross, I gaze at it and reflect and remember a journey.
 Christ's journey.
 My journey.
I remember as a child making palm crosses. A wonderful activity of gathering palm branches and sitting around a table in the parish hall with a group of ladies from church. There was lots of chatter and laughter as it was the day before Palm Sunday. I remember it as one of the many treasured steps of my faith journey. As I look at this palm cross I think of the crosses of life. The crosses I have had to bare. The cross that enables me to bear them. The cross that saved me. The cross of love.
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world proclaims his sacred name. (TIS 351)
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

The mark of God

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Psalm 19:7)
We cant miss the mark of God on his   handiwork. The beauty he created. The orderliness he  formed and the massive grandeur of the night skies. The stillness of the stars, the  silence in the sunrise. If we want to see his glory then just look about you. its all a love letter from God, his priceless gift to us.  Socrates said: 'Speak that I might see.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

The mark of God in creation

My Saviours love

This love that surpasses knowledge. Ephesians 3:19
The world is full of God's love but we really only see the surface of it. Take the ocean for example. We look at the wide expanse of water and think we see the ocean but there is so much more to it. There are the hidden bays around the corner of the shore line. There is water going on and on beyond the horizon we cant see from the beach that lap the shores of other countries . There is a depth to it that is full of the mysteries of sea life that we can not see from where we stand. God's love is as immeasurable as the ocean. We catch sight of it in our lives, in the creation, in the times we feel God's love around and near us  but we have never seen it all. We have never seen what depth it holds.
(L.B.Cowman)  We can only see a little of the ocean, just a few miles distant from the rocky shore, but out there - far beyond our eye's horizon. there's more - immeasurably more. We can only see a little of God's loving - a few rich treasures from his mighty store: but out there - far beyond our eyes horizon there is more - immeasurably more. If you are like me you will at this moment be humming - Wide, wide as the ocean,high as the heavens above, deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Saviour's love.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

A glimpse of God's love

Going about your business

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Psalm 8:1
Do you recall a moment that filled your mind with awe and wonder?  Its one of those moments when God reveals himself . There you are going about your business and suddenly there is God....in the beauty of the wild flower by the walking track. In the beauty of the one bright red autumn leaf on a tree of fading green. A friend was telling me about the moment she saw the most beautiful butterfly in a most unexpected place. A butterfly with colours like she had never seen before and it filled her with awe and wonder that has stayed with her even to this day.  These moments are moments of precious discovery, discovering  deeper, our God, and they stir our spirit. Howitt wrote:
When forth I go upon my way a thousand  joys are mine, the cluster of dark violets, the wreaths of the wild vine.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Anne, servant of the Lord

wildflowers by the wayside.

God's embrace

Yes I have loved you with an everlasting love, and it is in this love that I embrace you. Jeremiah 31:3
If I could paint a picture of the morning it would go like this: The soft light of dawn filtered through the leaves of the ghost gum, sending shades of gray and light through the window of my  room  as the wind played  with its leaves.  A Currawong, a true sign of autumn, called from among its branch breaking into the silence and as the dawn parted like a curtain to let in the light of day I hear God's call to 'come walk with me'.  What a precious moment it is when we realise that God is with us always, embracing us with his love, even when we wake up in the morning. I often say 'Have you been there with me all night watching over me since we said our good night prayers together?  (I sometimes think that is why I have an empty chair in my room, so he can rest while watching)
God's love, his everlasting love surrounds us always. Embrace it with him.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

God loves us with an everlasting love

All day I thought of God

Morning by morning O Lord you hear my voice. Psalm 5:3
My grandson, in his first year at 'big school' was telling me that every morning they say prayers and on Friday morning they go to the big church and he said it was there he saw 'God on the piece of wood!!' ( Oh to be 6 again)  He said: 'I couldn't stop thinking about God all day.' Isn't that so true. If we meet God in the morning he is with us all through the day. Gariepy says: As the grass and flowers of the morning are refreshed by the dew that comes before dawn, quietly from  above, so the soul that waits upon God on the first hours of the day is refreshed and nourished by the heavenly dew of God's grace. Besides the wisdom of a 6 year old who says he saw God in the morning and he thought of him during the day,  it is Jesus great example of morning prayer we model: 'Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.' (Mark 1: 35) That morning dew of prayer is what sustains our day and keeps us 'God focused.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

God on a piece of wood!

Creative hours with God.

He was going there on foot. Acts 20:13
There are times in our day when we just want to journey with no one other than God. It might be a quiet spot in the garden,a comfortable chair by a window, or  on the bed.  My morning walking is one such time. Its a time of just 'me and he' alone, chatting, pondering, listening. Its a time that I feel God very near and the conversations are real. I ask him about the beauty of his creation, about helping Mrs Smith to get back on her feet and to comfort the lonely and isolated. Its a time to ask about the plans he has for me and how best I can serve him.  Moses was alone when God showed him the burning bush and his commission. Joshua was alone as he walked around the walls of Jerico  and  the Lord of hosts stood before him. Mary was alone when she encountered the angel who came with Good News.
I was alone when the Rosella in its suit of blue and red came so close I could have touched it and the Glory of the Lord was in it as one soft, quiet, blessing. So special, so revealing are the times alone with just 'me and he'. Journey with no one at some stage of the day and God will join you.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Morning walking . Central Australia

Talk to the shepherd

The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23: 2
I love nothing better than seeing a mob of sheep in a paddock. It says something to me about God. They draw me to biblical verses such as in Psalm 23 and John 10. Loved and memorised passages of scripture that have been a part of my life. Recently I saw a mob of sheep all in a line  and I was compelled to stop the car, get out and just watch them.  The sheep didn't seem to have a care in the word. Is that because they are cared for, have food, have water, have a 'shepherd' a farmer, who takes care of all their needs? Jesus, our shepherd provides for us in this way and I always remember a line from a Max Lucado book which simply said: ' If you cant sleep - don't count sheep - talk to the shepherd.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Mob of sheep along  Cooma Road

Where are you.

God, creator of the ends of the earth. Isa 40:28
So many times we find ourselves in places of wonder. Wonder at the beauty, wonder at the creation, wonder at its beginnings. I recall one such place when I sat between the two huge 'centennial 'like cliff faces in Simpson's Gap in Central Australia that flanked the life saving water hole. I came to that place. I paused. I wondered as I gazed at the scene before me set in the arid red sand of the desert and I asked God.' Where are you?' and a voice from within the rocks said. 'I am here - within every grain of ancient sand. I am here-in this pond of living water. I am here - in the tree roots clinging to the rocks. I am here - even in the 2 meter span of the cobweb that swings gently in the breeze, its ends attached to the rocks by the silk like threads'. Friedrick Beauchner said: When God created something where before there had been nothing as the author of the book of Job puts it: 'The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Its the sheer and shimmering novelty of things,' (38:7)

At Simpson's Gap

The most beautiful sweet song

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.  1 Chr 16-:25
I could not resist the childlike play when I was out walking, stomping on the fallen acorns and hearing their caps crunch under foot., marveling at such a small capsule that can grow into such a big tree. I marvel at this like I do with many things, especially the sight of a flowering plant growing out of a crack in the pavement, or on a rock face. Or a tiny bird, safe in the thicket, singing the most beautiful, sweetest song. And  God comes near . Mary Oliver says:  When I was thinking these things a wren in the privet began to sing and I thought, what could this be if it isn't a prayer.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

an inheritance of joy.

The good person out of the treasure of their heart produces good. Luke 6:45
Somethings just stay with us all our life. Special things that are given to us  by family or friend and they are real treasures. In many ways they can shape our lives because they travel within us like a treasure in a clay pot. One such special treasure is the verse that my father wrote in my bible which was  a gift at my confirmation in 1957. It is from Psalm 119 V 105. 'Thy word is a lantern unto my feet; and a light unto my paths.'  While buried in my heart it has carried me through life.  John B Gough, a Temperance lecturer was given a text by his godly mother, which indeed became like buried treasure, for it lay hidden in his heart for many years.Treasure those godly people who have set your path in the right way.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

rooted in living water

Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. Job 14:8-9
I looked at the tree stump in the ground of the dried up river bed . Broken and burnt from the traumas of its life yet from its base was coming this green, vibrant and healthy new growth.  Though unseen from its arid bed, it must have had its roots deep down in water.   Day after day we go out into a new day often with the same rhythm, the same movements, doing the same things yet we still carry a skip in our step because we know that deep down within us we are fed by the everlasting streams of God. Its a valuable mantra to say in daily life........'keep your roots deep in the living waters.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Todd River Alice Springs

stopped in our tracks

For your steadfast love is before my eyes. Psalm 26:3
Numerous times in a day we have God encounters be they through people or creation. Sometimes they just stop us in our tracks  and we feel we are on sacred ground. Other times its in hindsight that we felt God had just been walking with us. God encounters. God moments. How precious. I was coming home from my walk and stopped to chat to a lady. She was taken by my 'Genna' dog. She patted her and talked to her and said.' Look at that lovely colouring, the waves in her hair, and her ears, those lovely curls all over them. What a beautiful creature......only God could create something like this.' I was in the moment of her admiring my dog, like a mother with a child and not expecting God to come into the conversation from a near stranger and there he was, right in the conversation, present.  Such encounters just lift our spirits up a notch and draw us into awareness.
Sr Stan says: 'God, teach me what is sacred within my day as I tread on holy ground.' 
 Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne,servant of the Lord.

Genna has a ministry of her own.

Suffer the little children.

This little light of mine I'm going to make it shine, make it shine, make it shine. (Children's chorus)
I just love the innocence of children yet they hold a wisdom as if they have been here on this earth before. My grandson started school this year and was very excited about that. He is enrolled in a Catholic school, his family wanting religious education , uniforms and all that goes with those principles so there he is, first day at school. I asked him did he have a good day. He was very excited. 'Loved the new friends he can make, loved his teacher, loved every bit of it. Then he said with double the excitement. 'The best bit of all. Do you know what that is?' I  said 'no.' The best bit is they know about Jesus. He is here at this school as well as at your church!!.'  I thank God for that timeless blessing that he is safe in God's care. How precious it is to nurture the children into faith. Life's path will have many valleys and mountains but the strength of the Lord will be their stay.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Baptism day.

glimpses of mystery

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad. Ps 40:16
There are many things in life that give us joy. Often we don't see them because we are either too busy or worrying about the matters of life. But what delight when we do see them. Yesterday a sulfa
crested cockatoo sat on my fence, staring at me through the window and when he flew off he left a long pure white feather on the garden, almost like a calling card, a gift. And I marvel at the long summer grasses that come to the very edge of the walking track. There is nothing much of beauty about them but tucked away amidst is a tiny pink wildflower , doing its bit to bring joy to anyone who sees it. And I heard before I saw, the bright green acorns with their little caps, falling to the ground from the great oak tree. I watched in wonder as they fell, one by one and wondered, if I wasn't there to hear them would they still make a sound when they landed on the ground?
Sr Stan says: Joy comes in little whispers in sudden unexpected glimpses of mystery.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

acorns in their little caps on.

you and God together

Every day I will bless you and praise you. Psalm 145:2
The morning gift was wrapped in the soft pastel hues of pink and orange against a blue sky. It reminded me of the colours of ribbon tied around a present.  I found my first words for the day were good morning, good morning, good morning as I reflected on a prayer  by Stanislaus Kennedy:

Through you I rise
and you through me
into this new day
we are making together.

Blessings on your day.....you and God together.

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

Sunrise on the sea of Galilee