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

Beautiful and abundant.

He gave us eyes to see them and lips that we might tell how Great is God Almighty who has made all things well.TIS 135
I was taken by the hedge of lavender that lines my front path. This year it has been exceptionally beautiful and abundant and has given delight to many who pass by. Its been a work place for the bees and countless varieties of butterflies and as always I am drawn to thoughts of God and his abundant variety of creation given for our pure delight. I read this Irish Blessing recently:
May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step of the way. May a  rainbow run beside you in the sky that's always blue . And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne,servant of the Lord.

Hug a tree!

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God. Ps 52:8
  I have always loved trees. They speak to us, they show us their glory, their beauty,their gracefulness. They give shade from the hot sun, shelter for the birds to nest and a bounty of colour and new growth and they stand tall and steadfast,. There is so much we can 'read' in a tree if we see it as it is, a creation of our God.  I like what  Joyce Kilmer wrote:' I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose mouth is prest against the earth's sweet flowing breast; a tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray.' There is nothing more affirming of the presence of God if we see him in creation and creation as his. Perhaps today is the day to 'hug' a tree!
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Hundreds of little parachutes

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. TIS 768
 I am seeing the lawns around homes being mowed and tidied and manicured as spring settles in and they all look lovely but for me I love to see the Cape Weed in its thousands  with its bright yellow flowers and its centered black dot 'smiling' in the sunshine with memories of making daisy chains. I love the native Blue Bell flowering in the front garden and on the edges of the road and the 'pin cushion' look of the dandelion waiting for a breeze or a child to pass by and blow its hundreds of  little 'parachutes,' its fairy down, into the air and I say thank you God for everything that brings a resounding yes from deep in my soul.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Floral memories

Behold the beauty of the Lord. Psalm 27:4

The treasures of spring are truly something to behold and  I find a real lasting impression in spring that stays with me through my life. Yesterday I smelt the wisteria and everywhere I go that its out I have to smell its glorious deep fragrance because the minute I do I am transported back to my childhood where I am playing in the garden. Like wise with the bearded  Iris, there are so many beautiful colours but the perfume takes me back to my childhood among the ladies 'doing' the flowers for Sunday church and I whisper  just a few words of thanks to God ans I breath them in. As long as we stop to smell the flowers, we have memories, childhood memories. God memories.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said. 'Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne'servant of the Lord

the very edge of your soul

 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden. Gen 2:8
I took a group of ladies from my ministry out to the Tulip Tops Gardens to experience the ambiance, the beauty, the quiet and the sheer delight of the spring gardens. The day was warm with a real sense of spring about it and we had our picnic among the blooms of colourful tulips and other glorious flowers and blossom trees. Everywhere was God's. His work of creation, colour and beauty.Then  came into  my mind were the words I love : ' I said to the almond tree: Speak to me of God' and the almond tree blossomed......
Audra Foveo said: If you have never been thrilled to the very edge of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

seeing the expected and the unexpected

For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed. Luke 8:16

It's the time of the year when the garden is coming into its best as the spring flowers start bursting their full buds, those  unknown pockets of beautiful colour and perfection that are a mystery to us until they shed the skin of their bud. Then there is the promise of great expectations in the vegetable garden as we watch the vegies grow from seed to sustaining food. Among it all I see some mysterious plants that I know I didn't plant, they are long and scrawny but their bud cluster bursts into beautiful tiny cornflower blue flowers. A weed yes, no doubt from the seed fallen from the bird feeding tray but so dainty and emanating pleasure. I understand the meaning of Thomas Jefferson words when he says: 'There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.' Seeing the expected and the unexpected' in everyday life and gaining such joy from it has to surely be a 'God thing.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

pack peaches or grow an orchard.

Psalm 16: You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence.
 Sometimes the people I work among in daily ministry have no hope. They see no purpose in their lives and often struggle to just 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.Its like this: some people spend their day sorting peaches or cutting out pockets for 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.' The meaning and the blessings that accompany our life come not from achievement but from what we do for others out of how we live. Gardner 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 even past fatigue. My prayer is that we all see more in our lives than what it seems to be.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

The bird dose not  just build a nest but makes it a home.

a special place called home.

Let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:19
It can be a busy, bustling world in the hours of work, and home is often the place for retreat. I find as I get older that this place of retreat is something I look forward too more and more. Its a place of peace and quiet and presence where the voices and rush  of the day leave me as I open the gate,
and the stars at night and the sunsets and sunrises are crystal clear and unaffected by city lights.Three years ago I decided to find myself a new home - one on the very edge of community where I can live in silence in the presence of God and every day as I go walking I look for him in this place and find him everywhere.When I open the back door the  morning delight is full of pleasure as the perfume of the sweet peas ( and I quote Mary Oliver) 'sends its perfume to me on a gentle breeze and I go to it for a deeper, fuller experience and its called heavenly and something inside me melts and awakens'. There is something about home, retreat, and silence combined with sweet perfume and the early morning warble of magpies and the twittering of blue wrens and I know what it is. Its the presence of God.
Where is your quiet place of retreat?  Where do you go to experience the fuller, greater love of God?
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

good balance

To you, O God, I lift my soul. I trust in you....relieve the distress of my heart. Psalm 25
Sometimes I disrepair at the pace of life.That instant response that comes with it like emails that require an immediate response or phones that are forever with us and are answered the minute it rings regardless of where we are or what we are doing. The pace of life seems to be getting increasingly faster and faster so how do we avoid the stress it can create, that puts our right mindedness out of balance? I like this story: Once upon a time, two thieves were undergoing a trial by ordeal. If they could walk a wire over a gorge, they would be considered innocent and would be spared. If however they failed to cross the gorge the belief was they had been executed by the gods for their guilt. The first thief was successful and reached the other side. The second thief was terrified and called out. 'How did you do that?' I don't know' came the voice from the other side. All I know is that when I felt myself tottering to one side I leaned to the other.'A trusting heart is what enables us to lean to the left when life tilts us to the right. Its called balance  (Joan Chittister  Songs of the Heart)and isn't that what we need in life, a good balance in all things. May we always have God in our sights so we get a good balance in life.

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

Love without end.

I love you O Lord, my strength Ps 18:1
Where  does your love lie? Can you count your many loves? I start but somehow they seem to have no end: The early morning rising to catch the quiet and the first bird calls
 The 'smells' of spring. The 'look' of spring. (Just go for a moment and look O so close into a beautiful flower, look hard into its creation.)
 The old dog looking for a walk. That's one of her loves!
The quiet spot to go  and be.
The tiny blue wren looking at me through the window as I sit at my desk, singing its little heart out.
The anticipation of what the day holds for me as I serve my greatest love, My Lord Jesus Christ.
These are loves that cause me to feel there is almost no space between me and God. Loves that give me pleasure in the everyday detail. Annie Dillard says: I love with a keen, clear love. A love that wells up as I stand rooted in the now. Moments when I feel centered and grounded.Moments thanking God for everything from good simple food to the gentle breeze,to a shooting star across a clear summer night sky.
Van Gogh adds:   I always think the best way to know God is to love many things.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

A quiet spot to go and be.

listen and God speaks

A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Eccl 3:7
Listening, intently listening.
Sometimes I listen deeply, so deeply that the silence is loud. So deeply that out of the silence comes a still small voice or more profound, a beautiful, richly coloured bird lands within  inches of my sight, and God speaks.  I was sitting on my front porch just sitting in the quiet with God and the beautiful Crimson Rosella came with his partner, as they do each spring, and checked out their nesting place, They stood on the fence and just looked at me ad I at them, and God spoke.
Mother Teresa said: ' God is the friend of silence. See how nature, trees, flowers, grass all grow in silence'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

A lovely sort of wild place

The Lord satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:8-9
I was deep in thought  in a lovely sort of wild place beside a pond thanking God for the many blessings of the morning in this quiet place. My intent was to just sit and listen to the silence but God came by, into the silence and showered me with many morning, everlasting blessings.ending with the O so beautiful song after song that came forth from the honey filled blooms of the Japonica bush of the lovely orange breasted Rufus Whistler, so busy in her own happiness and my heart melted as I thanked God for his creation filled with pockets of  holy places, such beauty and joy for our delight.
Sit, be still and wait for the Lord to come by and O the blessings.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

for the love of feathered friends

All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing. TIS 100

We all seem to have a special bird that is meaningful to us. Some love the kookaburra whose song brings out of us  a laugh that spills out from  deep within us. Others will spot the call of the Rufus whistler sporting his orange chest among the honey filled spring flowers, others will simply 'melt' within at the glorious song of the blackbird at the break of day and as for the sparrow, Mary Oliver says: 'Of course I love the sparrow, those dun coloured darlings.'These are all 'God moments.' Need I say for me its the blue wren and when I think of them singing I ask myself  is it prayer? What could it be if it isn't? so I just listen,with thoughts of God and am blessed.
Don't miss the unmissable God moments in your day. They are so precious.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord