Tuesday 31st January: Day 25

Thank you.
Thank you to those of you who have clicked on this site
and continue even now.
The journey that has begun is just that -
a journey that has begun.

While the blog comes to an end today
our adventures into the heart of God
as individuals
and as a community (online or in the flesh!) of God's people
needs to continue.

Remember,
God is always making the journey into our heart...
as we go on our way
an interim,
definitely not parting,
blessing:

God has flung his arms wide
to welcome you.
They are wide enough
to wrap around you like a blanket.
Go to
live in the warmth of that embrace -
Let it help
and encourage you to blossom
as daily,
you grow deeper
in your love 
for God,
for yourself,
for others
and for this wonderful and amazing world
in which he has set us...


Enjoy the Father's gaze,
the Son's life-giving selflessness,
and the inspirational energy of God's Spirit
living and working in you.


Be set free today
and every day,
to live life to the full -


and as the sun rises and sets
on each new day,
know with certainty that God
your God,
will never....
never ever ever...
NEVER
let you,
go.

Monday 30th January: Day 24

A new week begins
But you, Lord, are already in it.


A new week begins
and all we can think about 
is what it has in store -
Our diary with its appointments
or its blanks...
Reflects our life
with its highs 
and its
lows...
Its needs 
and its 
wants.


So what is it we want?
What exactly?
Meaning?
Purpose?
Do we want you?
At arms' length?
Or close enough to help
and to heal?


Lord,
learning to love you
as we love ourselves
as we love others
and the whole wide world around us
is not easy...
in fact,
it will take a lifetime!
Guaranteed!


But help us to begin
that life-long learning curve
right here.
right now...


may we live with
and learn to see as you do,
our fears and our foibles...


May we enjoy
and appreciate
the "me" you have made me
as well as life itself...
the world
and all those you have given us
to share our life's experiences...


But most of all
may we enjoy and appreciate
you.
Enjoy.
You.

Sunday 29th January: Day 22

Shhh...
You know by now I'm going to ask you
on a Sunday,
for a spell when you can be quiet.
not a long spell,
just a spell
when you can be at peace.
Still.

Even although we're talking minutes
not hours,
it's not easy, is it?
Try though,
to take a '
"time out" -
long enough to have a quiet walk
or simply to sit.

Tosay is a day
for being conscious
of what you see...
hear...
feel...
touch
and even smell!

Today you are to be conscious of God
always
all around you -
and in you...

 in you...
in... you...

Thank you, Lord God,
for all you teach me
about me,
about others
and about the world around me...


but more than anything,
thank you for what you teach me
about you...
because you choose to be
here with me
and you move alongside all who suffer
or are in pain,
those who are in distress
or anguish....


you choose to laugh with those who laugh
and to celebrate and share our good times....


in fact you choose to be on our side,
always.


All we can say is
"Thank you!"
so...
thank you! 

Saturday 28th January: Day

This believing business has pretty far reaching repercussions.
I'm encouraged to love God...
and me...
and others.
we've been through that.
Said that.
But there's more.
God asks us too, to love his world.

Yep.
The whole world.
People
trees, rivers, flowers,
mountains and rocks and deserts
bugs, flies, birds
fish and animals -
even midgies!

How?

By appreciating,
and enjoying
and caring for the world around us
in its entirety.
which means I need to think
and act
responsibility.
That car journey...
is it necessary?
Do I buy local\/
Is that fruit fairly traded?
How about the coffee we sip?
The tea bag brewing in the teapot?

Do I recycle?
Am I conscious of the footprint I leave?
Do I leave the lights burning,
the telly on standby,
the phone charger constantly plugged in?

Sustainable.
Am I helping the earth to be?
Scotland to be?
My community to be?

God,
Creator of the whole wide world,
I am entrusted to look after your creation:
to enjoy it - yeah - and I will!
But also to nurture and protect it.


I love this world:
the landscapes
and seascapes,
the skylines
and shorelines -
but what do I do to protect it
as you ask me to,
For future generations?


Help me, Lord, to live conscious
of how valuable
and vulnerable
your world is.
Help me to enjoy it
and to protect it...
to care for it
and to nurture it.


Help me to join you 
in its recreation....
its regeneration.
Now and always.

Friday 27th January: Day 20

Thanks to a little furry visitor in the kitchen I have been cleaning out my kitchen cupboards.  I have found lots of plastic storage boxes and lids.  The only thing is many of the boxes and lids don't match!
I think some of them disappeared a very long time ago but for some reason I have never quite got round to throwing out the odd part which means they have been lurking in the cupboards, fulfilling no udeful purpose ever since - just taking up space.
Our lives too carry a whole lot of things that, like those mis-matched boxes, serve no useful purpose except to take up valuable space.
Old and painful memories.  Past hurts.  Outdated regrets and disappointments, as well as mistakes that have equally passed their sell-by date.
Do we need to hang on to them?
do we really?

Think how much more room in our lives we could have for much more useful and creative things if only we could ditch what is really simply excess baggage....
but it's not easy, is it?


Lord,
we're hoarders.
Perhaps not at home (though some of us are...)
but in our lives.
We hang onto what we should have no more use for...
Unhelpful things that remind us past mistakes
and regrets
disappointments
and hurts inflicted...


We hoard harsh words - until we end up believing them.
we hoard harsh memories - thinking we can't just move on...
but in fact you ask...
you ask us to let them go.
"Give them to me", you say...


Lord,
uncurl my fingers,
loosen my grip on these things
and help me here and now
to give you my excess emotional baggage...


Thank you for carrying everything for me.
Help me to know relief today.
to feel relief.
set free.


and praise be to you
our Glorious,
weight-bearing God!!

Thursday 26^th January: Day 19

I tried to find a copy simply of the music to Wild Mountainside. I failed!  This link will take you to the song – but the words are the original.  Keep the music playing on the pop up link below, as you read through what follows!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSuL9JB-Uy4

Isn’t it amazing

What the Lord can do

With anyone who is willing

To try his will to do

And though it’s tough and sometimes hard

God gives us all we need

To follow in his footsteps

And live in his love.

Age or youth is nothing

God can use us all

All he asks is that we trust that

He’ll catch us when we fall

And though we doubt and hesitate

God gives us all we need

To follow in his footsteps

And live in his love.

Trust he knows what’s best

Listen to his voice

Take a step in faith

Listen to his call

Know that he still wants you

Chooses one and all.

He knows we’re far from perfect yet

He longs that we might live

Following in his footsteps,

Living in his love

Wednesday 25^th January: Day 18

Apparently JK Rowling started writing her ‘Harry Potter’ novels in a cafe in Edinburgh.

I can understand why she did.

Confession time.

I have been known, in the past, to travel to a coffee shop in Inverness when the sermon writing has not being going according to plan and in the bustling busy-ness of the surroundings I have found inspiration.

It’s easier down there because very few people know me or even notice me.  I take a wee notebook and pen and over a very leisurely coffee I write.

That got me thinking.

We tend to assume we meet God best in the quiet.

Could it be that he is every bit as present in the noise?

Try this as an experiment.

Go to a cafe or a pub,

somewhere public and busy,

Buy a drink

And sit down

And think.

Ask yourself,

Can God speak through the hustle and bustle

Of everyday life?

It may not always be easy for him – but can he?

If he can,

Then what might he be saying to you in the midst of life?

What might he be trying to say to those around you?

Notebook and pen optional in the pub or cafe –

But might be useful!!!

Tuesday 24^th January: Day 17

Sheesh! 

It can be hard remembering to let God love you,

Then loving yourself

So that you can look beyond and love others!

The danger is we think it’s all too much

Too hard

And just give up.

DON’T

Because we’re all in the same boat

And some days we’ll do all three things reasonably well

While on other days

We’ll be lucky if we remember

Even one of the three ‘loves’...

The trick is in learning to set the times we fail,

Aside –

And then just starting again the next day.

Afresh.

Which, by the way, is what God suggests we do,

Have a clean slate,

A fresh start, he says.

He calls it forgiveness.

And like being loving,

God is pretty good at forgiving

Even when it comes to us...

Then he asks us to forgive ourselves.

And to forgive others...

Mmmm...

Does that cycle

sound familiar?

Lord God,

I need all the fresh starts I can get

Since I muck things up so often.

Thank you for never giving up on me –

But help me not to give up on myself.

May I find the courage

to let me off the hook today

so that I can make the most of the opportunities it holds...

Now take a deep breath – and breathe in through your nose...

Sniff long and hard...

The cleanest of clean starts lies before you.

Right now.

Monday 23^rd January: Day 16

As this week progresses, please don’t forget the lessons of last week.

You are loved and accepted as you are

By our amazing God.

So love yourself enough to take care of yourself.

Love however, can’t stop and stay with me...

or with you...

Love is meant for enjoying – yes

But it’s also meant for sharing

And we need to do so in God’s name

And for his sake.

What’s come into my mind today is an ancient prayer, said to have been written by St Teresa of Avila.  She said this:

Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours.

Let these words be in your mind all day today.

See if they influence what you do and say.

                        Christ has no body now but yours.....

Perhaps one of Casting Crowns’ songs might help.  Click on the link or even better still download it to your phone so that you can play it over...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3wYluJhzI&feature=related

Sunday 22^nd January: Day 15

.... And rest!  

Follow last Sunday’s advice and take a long walk –

Or if you prefer,

sit quietly with a lit candle before you

and just be in this moment...

(no telephone, no television, no nothing!)

Let your eyes look to see what’s around you....

Listen to the sounds.

If you can, 

close your eyes for a bit

And let your other senses take over.

With your eyes shut

The landscape remains the same

But you get a very different perspective on the world...

Seeing things from other angles is important.

People think different thoughts

We see things differently

Have different priorities

Use different words

Do different things...

Live different lives....

Because, strangely enough.

we’re different!

Hmmm...

The same,

But different!

Lord,

Should things rub me up the wrong way this week...

Should someone say what is not helpful

And their words cut,

Let me pause before I react

To see if I can see things

from their angle...

Should others be slow to grasp what I’m meaning,

Or fail to understand what I think or feel,

Again, let me pause, Lord, before I react

To see if I can see

where they might be coming from.

Lord,

I need to learn from you.

Master of patience and forgiveness.

Teach me.

Saturday 21^st January: Day 14

Do you remember learning to ride a bike? 

From what I remember it involved my dad holding onto the saddle while he told me not to look at the wheel but straight ahead.

I think every one of us needs a saddle-holder as we go through life and we also need someone to remind us to lift our eyes from looking down at our own two feet – because that’s the only way we’re going to maintain a proper balance from day to day.

In God we have someone who performs both those roles beautifully!

And just like my dad, he knows exactly when to loosen his grip on the saddle to allow us to go solo!

Is that a wild thought?  That God lets go of us?

But is that not what bike-riding is all about?

Finding the courage to cycle off on our own –

Discovering that we can actually do it!

Loving the freedom!

And knowing too of course that there is always someone there

To pick us up when we fall

As well as to give us tips and hints on the best routes to take...

Jesus friends didn’t only follow behind him,

They were sent out ahead of him.

On their own.

Sent out with his blessing.

And so are we.

Whatever you do this day

Do it in the realisation

That your heavenly Dad

Trusts you enough

To let you go.

Father,

Help me not to let you down.

Guide me

In what I say

And do

And think.

Help me to feel your hand at my back

And to sense the warmth

And pride in your smile

As you let me go.

May I travel well

And remember all you have taught me.

Friday 20^th January: Day 13

God accepts me as I am – but do I accept me?

I look at me and to be honest I want to change so much!

I want to be better at this

Or do the next thing less.

I want to be fitter

Thinner

Younger!

I want to be more patient,

More artistic

Smarter,

Funnier,

Taller!!

But the bald (and wonderful)

fact is that

God loves me just as I am.

He loves you just as you are.

I wonder if we really believed that –

In our hearts

If we might then find

We begin to change

To become even more ourselves?

But that’s jumping the gun.

First we need to accept what

And who

And where

We are.

Lord,

Help me to see in me

What you see in me...

And to accept myself for what I am...

Then knowing I’m loved,

Give me the courage this day

Simply to be myself

And to be content in you

Just as I am....

Everything else, Lord,

Can wait...

Right now –

In you

I am enough.

Thursday 19^th January: Day 12

Mmmm...

That’s a slightly hesitant ‘Mmmm...’

I know I can be a bit slow on the uptake but I’m just beginning to put two and two together and I’m reaching a conclusion I haven’t consciously reached before.

You are all probably a lot brighter than me and got there ages ago – but humour me will you?

God values us, right? 

He welcomes us just as we are: warts and all, right? 

That’s what we’ve been saying over these blogs. 

We don’t need to polish up before we come to God.  He accepts us as we are.

Then he stands by us, watches over us – offering us guidance and comfort and strength and help and peace, tons of fresh starts and so much more.

Meanwhile we...

Well, how much do we value ourselves?

God sees us as worth loving – but do we see us as worth liking never mind loving?!

If we take God’s interest in us seriously then we have to learn to see ourselves through his eyes...

Which means we need to value ourselves.

That might sound selfish, but it’s not.  Jesus himself said this to his friends:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.... and love your neighbour as yourself.

Two and two makes...

God loves us and wants us to love us too.

He wants us to take care of us - so that we can then take care of one another.

Lord,

I’m not sure what to think.

It’s easier to love others.

It seems more Christian.

Yet you’re telling me I need to care about me too?

My mind is going into overdrive.

I need to care about me...

That has repercussions, Lord.

I suspect though, that you know that!

Help me this day, just to live with that thought.

Then help me to begin living it.