Tag Archives: scripture

Time Traveling

Posted on by

“Into this cold, stark world, naked and afraid, with a slap on the rump to give us breath and start us on the road to death.” This is a quote I read years ago and for some reason kept in my notes. When you think about it, it is not too unlike the poem, “The Dash”, written by Linda Ellis and posted on my July 19th blog this year. Both the poem and the quote give thought to the time between our birth and our death.

Whether our lives are short and sweet or long and sometimes arduous, it is the time between day one and the final day that matters. It is how we lived, loved, served; how we treated each other, how we forgave, how we acknowledged others, how we humbled ourselves. It is being open to teaching and learning life’s lessons and sharing our knowledge; it is about comforting, consoling and caring; it is about interest in others over self-interest, and it is coming to terms with “the after”.

There are those who believe that death is death and that is that; nothing more, nothing less, nothingness.

And then there are those who believe that death is a continuation of life, and to those who look forward to seeing their previously departed loved ones, death can only be a blessing after a journey along that road that began with our first breath.

So, rather than shed tears at the departure of a dearly loved friend or family member, I choose to smile, knowing that their real journey has just begun. The journey to life everlasting where only love rules…unconditional love…finally…after all that time traveling.

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

 

 

 

 

Go Out In Joy

Posted on by

Have you ever watched a tree while the wind is blowing…or even just a breeze? The leaves seem to be clapping their hands. It always reminds me of Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Happy Sunday.

 

A Little Jolt of Happiness

Posted on by

“Your cholesterol is too high!” This is what my family physician has been telling me for years. My body will not tolerate statin drugs, and dietary and exercise regimens have not worked, so yes, my cholesterol is too high.

“Your cholesterol is too high!” This from my cardiologist in June.

“So I’ve been told,” was my demure reply.

“Dangerously high!” No demureness on his part. “But I can help you.”

I went home with a new plan involving a new drug…a very expensive drug…which needs to be administered by injection twice a month. I learned how to do this in two hours on June 29th, with the help of a nurse who visited me in my home.

After two doses of this new drug, I had my blood work repeated.

“Your cholesterol is really good!” This from my family physician who took time out of his busy schedule to tell his receptionist to relay this news to me yesterday.

The jolt of happiness that went through me more than made up for the jolt of the medicated needle that is responsible for this wonderful turn of events.

My thankfulness extends not only to my doctor and my cardiologist, but to my insurance plan that covers the cost of this drug.

And thanks be to God, the overseer of my life, for this newest little jolt of happiness.

…Give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed.  Jeremiah 51:8 NLT

Praise the Lord, and pass the medication!

 

Be My Guests

Posted on by

Today we are to “feature a guest” as #everydayinspiration nineteen. Ideally this guest should be one from the participants of these assignments, but I am choosing to invite all readers as my guests, and instead, feature two people from my favorite church in the world, St. Andrew’s Scarborough. (Everyone has their favorite.)

The first is our Pastor Duncan. Wow! This man uplifts me week after week, and has been the inspiration for many of my writing topics, today’s included. Lately he’s been talking about Jonah and how God got his attention by allowing him to spend three days and three nights in the belly of a big fish. Most people think of a whale as being the only fish big enough to swallow a whole man. Now, you’re thinking what’s so inspirational about that? The crux of the story is that Jonah, as a man of God, was supposed to warn the City of Ninevah to change their disobedient ways or their city would be destroyed in forty days. Jonah didn’t want to have anything to do with saving the sinful city and so refused God’s instructions. Hence the time out in the whale’s gut.

So, what’s that got to do with you and me? Only one thing. We are here to uphold God’s will for a perfect world, and if it means going to our own Ninevah to try to instill some sense into those whose intentional or unintentional behavior takes the lives of others, either physically or emotionally, then so be it. Those are our marching orders. I learned on Sunday that I either start to march or face the fate that Jonah did. God, help me!

The second person to uplift me that day was a soloist from our choir. “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” The words were sung with strength, clarity, power and joy. Our singer has recently seen the inside of a whale’s gut…that place of dark unknown. Just two weeks ago she spent three days in hospital when some unknown malady robbed her of her speaking voice, let alone singing voice. She could have begged off Sunday’s commitment citing that episode, but despite her visible nervousness, she got up there and inspired the whole congregation. Wow!

So whether you are face to face with a huge fish or waiting for God to reel you in for His own purposes, I’m delighted that you took this time out to be my guests. I hope you had a whale of a time. oops 🙂

 

 

 

A Sight for Sore Eyes

Posted on by

The scene was a red light in front of me and cars all around me. My eyes felt sore and sleepy from the exhaust of so many idling vehicles in such close proximity to mine.

Fingers impatiently tapping the steering wheel in anticipation of the light change, my peripheral vision picked up a couple slowly moving towards the curb. They had the green light. They looked ancient but were only elderly…and they were holding hands. I could see the old man’s lips moving, but obviously, could not hear his words. It was apparent that the light was going to change before they had a chance to cross the busy street. He let go of his wife’s hand and moved towards the light standard to push the button that would give them access to another green light, but of course, would have to wait a few minutes for that to happen.

Even though traffic had begun to move, and I now had the green light, my eyes lingered on the couple as he moved back to his lady’s side and once again held her hand.

That is one of my absolute favorite things in life, watching the elderly holding hands. It is comforting, uplifting, and a sight for sore eyes.

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.” Psalm 73:23

To Write or Not to Write?

Posted on by

That is the question. Not to write is not the answer for me. When I’m not writing it feels like a part of me has gone missing.

If my blogging falls behind, someone will call to see if I’m still alive. “Why do you ask?” I ask. “Well, you haven’t been writing,” they say. So you see, it seems to them that I have gone missing also, which is a good thing…I’m happy to be missed in that way.

To write is a part of who I am and it is one of my favorite pastimes. Not to write feels like I’m being derelict in one of my life missions. After all it was God, who got me started on this path, with all His admonitions in the Bible about writing.

“Write in a book all the words l have spoken to you.” Jeremiah 30:2

“Write down the revelation…” Habakkuk 2:2

“Write on a scroll what you see…”Revelation 1:11

“Write this down…” Revelation 21;5

These are just a few scriptures that inspired me to write.

And so you see, to write or not to write is really not the question; the question is what to keep writing about?

If anyone out there would like to send forth some helpful ideas, I am totally receptive. What would you like to see in print?

 

 

Abundance

Posted on by

Abundance is all around me. It’s in the air I breathe, the water I drink, the soft grass I walk on, the wind blown seeds awaiting new birth, friends, family, splendid nature shows; all for free.

There was a time when I lived a limited life because I only thought of limitations. I was never consciously grateful for the abundance all around me. It was what I perceived as lack that held me in the grip of poverty: not actual poverty but imagined poverty.

And then I read this in John 10:10…”I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Jesus) KJV

It made me change my way of thinking and living.

Now that I know how to think abundantly, abundance is mine. My needs are always met, and I’m no longer hesitant to give.

Abundance…it is a good word and deserves to be spoken abundantly.

God’s Gain

Posted on by

Our loss is God’s gain. Yesterday, we lost another wonderful member of our congregation. Joan was a true servant of God, wearing oh, so many hats, as she went about quietly seeing to many matters of our church. She was a friend, advisor, chief cook and bottle washer on many occasions, a money manager, a session member, a choir member, and the list goes on. As well as being so many things to her church family, Joan was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and devoted sister.

Psalm 116:15 says it well, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”.

I’m sure Joan is marching with all the other saints in heaven as we, her friends and family, take comfort in the fact that our loss is God’s gain.

Rest in peace, Saint Joan, rest in peace.

That Darned Ark

Posted on by

The story of the flood and Noah’s ark (Genesis 6-9) appears to be giving a lot of people a lot of trouble.

For instance, how could a loving, caring God drown the whole world except for one man, his family, and a pair of every species of animal…just enough to repopulate planet earth.

Is it purely allegorical and if so what is allegory? Here is one explanation from the internet.

Allegory Definition 

Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events.It can be employed in prose and poetry to tell a story with a purpose of teaching an idea and a principle or explaining an idea or a principle. The objective of its use is to preach some kind of a moral lesson.

So, I kind of see it as God creating this beautiful planet filled with beautiful people and other creatures for the purpose of living in harmony and good will, and expecting them to be thankful and obedient to him in return. After all He’s the parent…we’re the kids.

Isn’t that what we expect from our children? We provide them with love, shelter, food, clothing, lessons for living life, and in return we expect co-operation, respect, obedience…not to mention a reciprocated love. Who of us hasn’t punished, or threatened to punish a wayward child for not living up to their end of the bargain? Except we don’t go as far as God is depicted to have done.

So, I’m thinking that whoever wrote that story, supposedly Moses, had a vivid imagination, a keen (if not warped) sense of justice, and pegged God as someone not to be tangled with. In other words, is the story of the flood one big empty threat…just like the dad who told his son, “Don’t touch that (whatever) or I’ll chop your hand off!” Really? Is it simply meant to make us pay attention to what is expected of us in God’s world?

The sad part about the people who let the flood story stop them from reading any further is that they missed the beautiful ending to the story…the part where God promised he would never do anything like that again and sent a beautiful rainbow as a sign of that promise. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing that rainbow in the clouds (Genesis 9:13).

So why am writing about that darned ark? It makes me sad that so many people are missing the rest of the story, God’s story, and all that it entails for our earthly sojourn, simply because they cannot let go of that segment with all it’s depicted horrors. All I can say is read on…you don’t know what you’re missing.