More Stuff Bubbling Up...

This really is going to be brief.

Honest.

It's just another take on those roses I sketched and painted
 a week ago.

I like it for the colours,
but hubby prefers the first drawing I did.

I wonder which one you prefer?

God Bless


P.S.  Not sure how this got posted. 
 It was a draft made in a series about drawing some time ago.

Easter

Tomb Angel  by Arcabas


 Matt 28:6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
 Come and see the place where he lay.



This wonderful painting by Arcabas gives us a new vision of the Easter morning.

It shows the women who came to the tomb in the early morning to anoint Jesus' dead body
 being greeted by an angel and an empty tomb.

 Jesus had come through crucifixion and was alive.

I pray if you have an area in your life that seems to offer little hope or expectancy, 
somewhere full of fear and trepidation,
you will look for Jesus as the women did,
 and find that place transformed and glowing with new life and promise.

That is what Jesus resurrection offers us,
right here and right now.

Be Blessed

Inseparable - You and God

In our Lenten group at church on Sunday evening the talk encouraged us 

to think about how God looks at us, 

and then to take a few minutes to consider what God may want to say to us as 

He/She gazed at us.


If, in my tiredness, I was expecting little other than a warm silence
     I was pulled up short as something I thought I "knew"

 came at me in an unexpected way.

To my surprise I "heard" just one word.

Inseparable.

Trying to get my head around this, I thought, 

"It's true I need to feel you near me Lord..."

but no that wasn't it.

The word just gently lay in my heart and mind as I leant in

 to accept the truth which seemed

 too strange and big.

We are inseparable.

God and I.

One.

Without this being true, you, I, all things would not exist.

 Would not "hold together", as some translations of the first words of John's gospel put it.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[it.
(My highlighting).

And of course Romans 8: 38-39 tells us nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus.

But this is an after thought, (mine as I write now, not St. Paul's when he wrote Romans !)

from  the original one which tells us the mind boggling truth,

 that as much as God's creation would not be complete without us,

 in some wonderful way God, (however we understand that term) 

would not be complete without us.

You, me, all things.

We are inseparable from God,

One with God.

In God.

No matter how much distance we may FEEL there is between us.

No matter who or what we think we are, or are not,

We are inseparable,

(one with),

God,

each other,

and all creation.

Perhaps you would like to take a moment of quiet to let this thought, and this word

inseparable

sink into you.


Let images, or words,
arise as they will
out of that one word.

Let all other things,
and thoughts,
 flow off, and around you.
Pay them no mind.

They are not for this moment.

Rest now.

Breathe,
and live,
 and simply be, with this word 
inseparable
for as long as it takes.

May a new truth break upon you today.

Be Blessed

Spring Fever, or Lent, if You Will

photo - telegraph. u.k.

  I blame the local D.I.Y store for their winter sales on paint,
 but hubby has bought enough for all but two of the rooms in the house,
 plus hall, landing and stairway,
 and is tearing away at the job.

 We are now on room three.  Our bedroom.
 Given  that he's almost seventy nine, has horrendously bad and painful knees,
 and problem eyesight, we progress fairly well.

 For fairly well read, me constantly repeating my mantras,
 "You have missed a bit",
(He does, and I can't help being a critic!)
 " Why don't you take a break?!"
 (He pushes himself, and I can't help being concerned!)
and me cleaning blobs of paint from places paint should never be,
 whilst he works himself to a standstill.

It's not exactly spring fever, but something very like it.

I must admit, seeing the transformation he is making,
 even those rooms I didn't think needed touching
 really did need freshening after all.

Seeing the gleaming white window sill that has just been  painted
against the yellowing frames that haven't, are pretty convincing.

Watching his preparation before he applies the fresh paper and paint
have made me think about this season of spring in the church's calendar.

(Did you know that Lent is an old English word for spring?
No, I don't think I did either.)

It would be so easy to cover over what's only slightly shabby.
Camouflage is so tempting.
Just keep covering what is underneath with another coat.



But No!


Sometimes hubby judges a simple wash down is all that is needed,
but a lot of the time he rubs the paintwork down.
Cleans out the old filling that's shrunk back,
or stands too proud. (Ouch!)
Then he puts in new stuff, and smooths it down so the cracks are gone.
Then, and only then,
as he deems the preparation is complete can the finish be applied.

Of course when we say finish, we know
 at some point it will all need doing again.

I always enter Lent with thanksgiving that
 even though transformation is a continuing process,
hour by hour, and day by day,
 as we seek to live in Christ,
this special season gives us time to focus on a deeper co-operation
with the spirit's work of renewal.

All it takes is the humility, (or we could say the readiness),
 to see the shabbiness that may have crept in,
and the little spots that need to be uncovered,
or emptied out,
 in order to be refilled and renewed.

We do not need re-decoration as our rooms do,
but we all need opening to the deeper radiance
of an inner life that will shine through.
Well, I know I do.


So, away with any need for camouflage, or covering up.
I'm entering Lent with that touch of spring fever!





Wishing you a fruitful Spring,
 or Lent, if you will.

Be Blessed this Weekend.

An Anchor of Hope

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/21008246/3/stock-photo-21008246-white-dove-isolated.jpg

While the news from all over the world presses in with

so much suffering, sickness, and war,

 it becomes impossible to end

 the litany of prayer.

At the end of World War 11 words which have come to be known as

Inscription of Hope 

were found scratched onto a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany,

by an unknown Jew in hiding from the holocaust.

May the same vision of hope, and strength of heart,

be with all who seek peace at this time.

Inscription of Hope

I believe in the sun,

Even when it is not shining.

And I believe in love,

Even when there’s no one there.

And I believe in God,

Even when He is silent.

I believe though any trial,

There is always a way.

But sometimes in the suffering,

And hopeless despair.

My heart cries for shelter,

To know someone’s there.

But a voice rises within me,

Saying hold on my child.

I’ll give you strength I’ll give you hope,

Just stay a little while.

I believe in the sun, (Ooooo)

Even when it is not shining. (Ooooo)

And I believe in love, (Ooooo)

Even when there’s no one there. (Ooooo)

But I believe in God,

Even when He is silent.

I believe through any trial,

There is always a way.


To hear these words sung by New Jersey Honour choir click on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjrhRJ_hsuc

 as for some reason blogger is refusing to upload videos at the moment. 

Be Blessed

Read and Learn?

Scrolls of silver birch bark manuscripts lie waiting to be read.

I wish I could fathom their secrets,

but they have already written magic on my day.

Be Blessed

Giving Peace A Chance

Having received the word
 peace for the year ahead

 I am accepting it as a loving,
 yet searching,
 part of my road to wholeness.

I am also committing to my co-operation on that road.

 Last year when the word that came alive for me was

 Freedom,

 I found myself looking at fears
which most inhibited my Freedom of integrity ,

 and in seeing where I was most bound

 I could choose to accept the offer of the life of the Spirit

 rather than my old conditioned response,

 and gain release.

Obviously my pas de deux of Freedom in, and with the Spirit,

 has not finished because 2014 has ended;

 far from it.

  Indeed Freedom, and the new spot lit word of Peace,

 are very much partners in the dance of the Spirit.

Following the enhanced taste of inner/core peace
 I experienced as
A Grace of the heart
 the Spirit's down payment, (Eph.1:14)

I wasn't at all surprised to have my attention drawn to
 how often it is that my little heart goes

Pouff! 

http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/static/uploads/photos/how-big-is-that-wave.jpg

The explosion needn't be as big or as visible
as this wave breaking on the rocks,
 but the Holy Spirit,
 ever faithful,
has drawn my attention to how easily I lose my peace.

They may be small signs but
I notice my fists balling with impatience
 at mindless chatter,
my far from charitable thoughts to fellow drivers,
the fact even inanimate objects can make me angry at times...

I see how easily my irritation is aroused
 at countless mundane things.
How easily I can be saddened or maddened.

My mother used to remark on my explosions when I was a kid,
"No wonder there are wars!"
It's when the pot is jolted we discover what is really inside
by what spills out.

I know I'm more susceptible when I'm tired
or not very well,
 so I'm not merely being hard on myself.
Actually the Spirit is making me sensitive
 to how much my peace
can also depend on taking better care of myself.

Our emotional and spiritual well being
are not separate from our physical health,
 but all part of the one whole.

Even in the first weeks of living with this new openness
 to peace within
I have begun to recognise those things
which are taking too much out of me,
and what I need to avoid, and what cultivate.

I have become more conscious of the choice
 to live out of the quiet lake within,
rather than the roar of my heart hitting the rocks.
Not to say I have mastered the art of
letting my life be so centred:
but I am travelling hopefully
towards that grace.

And really, I'm wondering as I write
 if you might have a reason right now

to be pursuing a deeper heart peace yourself.

Firstly, starting on the outside,

 do you need to let yourself off the hook

 regarding some commitment, or pastime

 that isn't fuelled from a true heart desire,

 but rather some idea of yourself you need not follow. 

 Is there something you have taken on that,

 no matter how good it looks,

 has become burdensome
and would be a relief to let go?
(Relief could well be another word for peace
 in this instance.)

 Of course I don't mean something has just got difficult,

 but something that seems to suck the life out of you.

  Pray about letting it go if you discover something. 

 Perhaps ask a wise friend to help you decide
it's significance, and come to a decision.

Secondly, find a way to

 discover your own inner place of heart peace

if you haven't already done so,

by finding a meditation practice which suits you,

  There are so many on offer on the web and elsewhere.

Until you find a more permanent meditative practice

you might like to start by

at the very least finding a place
 for a few moments quiet for yourself this weekend.

Broom cupboards, toilet cubicles,
 hiding behind a newspaper on a train...

the options are endless so be imaginative!

Once you have found your place,

 breathe deeply,
swimming down to the bottom of your breath,

 to your own secret place below your heart,

 and allow every breath to assure you,

 you are loved. 

A few minutes, and

 You will have made a good start!

Be Blessed

this weekend.

P.S. Apologies for strange lay out and line spacing in places. 
 Blogger has gone wonky.

A Grace of the Heart

I'm not sure if what I'm going to say will make sense to anybody other than an introvert, but here goes...

I have lifted all the following pictures from http://blueeyedennis.tumblr.com/

where you can find them, and many other treasures.

I guess it is not unusual 

to feel a little tug of excitement at the first sight of falling snow.

Even when we know the inconvenience, 

and sometimes sheer misery it is going to cause,

 the beauty of the transformation being wrought 

has an inevitable fairy tale charm.

(At least in those first moments).

Here in the U.K. we usually have so little of it,

 novelty value alone is worth something.

As a child in the hills of Wales,

winters seemed more severe than they are now.

We would quickly get snowed in,

 and my poor mother would fight desperately

 to keep a way out open.

As soon as the way was opened I remember 

it would freeze again at nightfall,

 and often Mam would tug the drawn curtains aside 

to watch the swirling flakes hurrying through the blackness

 to fill the way she had so recently cleared

I  knew the work and worry it caused her

 just to keep us in the basics of food and fuel,

walking icy miles around the drifts 

to get what  supplies she could carry.

I knew the sheep on my uncles farm 

would need to be searched out of what ever winter fastness they had found for themselves away from the safety of the farm,

and that men, dogs,

 and the beasts themselves would be at risk.

I knew the attendant difficulties and anxieties all too well,

 so I had no excuse for the continuing song in my heart asking the snow to close in around us 

as tight as my mother's nursing shawl.

As simple as it sounds it was the thought we were shut in 

which thrilled me so much.

For me there was a wonderful freedom

 in being held in the silent heart of the snow. 

The whole world,

(as far as I could reach it),

smelt different, with a clean, sweet smell.

The silence too was sweet,

bound as it was by the mourning of the wind in the chimneys,

or sloughing around the sides of the house,

 carrying flurries of snow on it's breath.

I knew all too soon the drip, drip,

 of the thaw would break through, 

with it's dirty grey weals 

wounding the purity of the crisp white skin

that had appeared impregnable while the cold held.

Life would return to normal,

 and the ordinary day to day comings and goings,

noise and disruption would ensue.

Snow or no snow,

strange kid that I was,

I truly preferred it the other way.

I have been reminded of all this in the weeks of Advent.

As I tried to keep an inner silence in my wait

 for the coming of the Christ Child,

I often became aware of a silence of the heart,

like the fastness of my early snowbound home.

I puzzled over the sensation,

trying to tease a meaning from the sense memory,

so sweet, and fresh, and pure;

so other than than my own heart.

I am left with the sense that a new word for 2015 was forming, (unrecognized 'til now),

for my prayerful focus.

I believe my new word is

peace.

For so long I have yearned for

 the inner sanctuary of my heart to be a place, 

not only to withdraw and know God's peace

 when I am disposed to be peaceable,

 but for there to be at the core of my being

 an engine room of peace,

 so badly needed by my volatile disposition.

I am so truly grateful for tastes of the deep tranquility

I feel I have been shown

 through these memories of the silent holding

 of the pure mantle of the snow, 

with the warm lamp of home burning love at the centre.

May He be our Home and our Hearth,

Our Peace and Our sweet Keeping.

Be Blessed

For the taffeta rustle of the dry leaves song 

as the wind whispers through them.

For the tremble of far off spring in the catkins promise.

For the sea swell dance of the blue conifers

 For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies.

For the beauty from our birth,

 Which over and around us lies.

  Gracious God to Thee we raise,

This our grateful song of praise.

This song accompanied on my walk this morning

Hope the Rutter setting below will bring you

 as much joy as it did me.

Blessings

Greetings for 2015

Marking the New year 

is a little like drawing a line in the sand of the beach.

The great ocean of time washes over it

 and we realise it was

just a mark of our own making.

The moment of a New Year breaking

helps us take stock perhaps;

in truth every moment of life offers us new opportunities.

How great is that?!

http://stylipics.com/happy-new-year-2015

May You and Yours Know the Richest Blessings

 In the Year Ahead.

May Not the Least of These Be

 Laughter!

http://happynewyear2015wishesquotesmessagessmsimageswallpapers.com/