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Brewing some perspective…one coffee shop at a time

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No blogging. No running. No unwinding. No margin. All work & little play is rarely a good combination.

A trip to the North Coast before the end of summer was a welcome pause. Caris & I walked along the path by the Atlantic from Portstewart Promenade to the Strand. It brought back memories of walking the same path with my Granda Murphy many years ago.

We started with a coffee to go from the new hipster Three Kings coffee shop. As a collector of quotes I noticed what was written behind the coffee machine. As the barista crafted my cappuccino, I read:
‘Be awesome you’re a hand of the king’

I’m not sure where the quote came from (even Google couldn’t help!) but I liked the sentiment. Striving to be awesome, being a hand of the king.The King. Doing things wholeheartedly. For the King.

As I walked along the Port Path I thought of William Makepeace Thackeray’s words: ‘Whatever you are, be a good one!’ As we walked passed the convent, I thought about Mother Teresa’s words: “Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.”

In subsequent weeks things went from bad to worse. I thought about what can be done when you’re feeling too awful to try to be awesome. When you’ve been under stress, overstretched & are feeling spent.

This month, I sat in another coffee shop with Cecilia mulling over this question. We talked about the need for rest.True rest. We need to find rest in the struggle, peace in the middle of the storm.

We find rest in Someone. We need to draw near, move close to God to find the rest we need.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28 NIV)

‘Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”’
(Psalm 91:1-2 NIV)

Even when we are feeling awful,
‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair’
(2 Corinthians 4:8 NIV)

‘We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.’
(2Cor 4:8-MSG)

Last week, as I left Ards newest coffee shop I caught a glimpse of a familiar face that is dealing with life threatening Illness & little children simultaneously. That’s taking tough to a whole new level. I realise I don’t really have the right to describe this year as hard compared to others.

I thought of the untold stories & invisible burdens carried in the lives of the people who surrounded me sipping coffee. In that coffee shop there were likely to be people dealing with unwanted diagnoses, bereavement, divorce & a multitude of other stresses as we progress along this journey called life.

This journey can take us through painful places. Yesterday I read of the Israelites pilgrimage through Valley of Baca, the vale of tears. There are beautiful words in Psalm 84:

‘Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.’
(Psalm 84:5-7 NIV)

I love that image of soft autumn rains- a season of refreshment.

The coffee shop I visited with Cecilia is aptly named Season, because of the well known Bible verse:
‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

There is a season for everything.

‘It came to pass’ & my husband’s grandmother added, ‘It didn’t come to stay!’

A Facebook added another dimension- ‘It might pass like a kidney stone but it will pass!’

Whatever tough times, difficult days or dark chapter we’re going through- it will pass

For, ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

Beautiful in time,not necessarily our time-scale.

‘He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.’
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

But if you’re still wading through the messy middle, longing for this season to pass, remember:
‘You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.’ (James 1:2 -MSG)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Previously posted @ blessedme.co.uk

In this place

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Some days the first words we read resonate & reverberate within us- marinating throughout the day in our minds like dinner in a slow cooker! The words cause reflection & one thought ignites another.

I read a devotional based on Genesis 39 on the first 5 app. It was entitled ‘God is with you in this place.’

The story told how God was with Joseph in prison (v21)

Of course God is omnipresent-everywhere & all around:
‘We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.’
(CS Lewis)

And there are times when we are deeply aware of God’s presence. We may have an extra-special sense of God being with us in church or elsewhere during a time of worship.

I remember one Friday afternoon when the band were practicing before Focusfest, beautiful words & music filled the Waterfront auditorium:
‘We bow down & confess
You are Lord in this place’
(Viola Grafstrom)

The awesome sense of God’s presence was palpable. I acknowledged ‘You are Lord in this place’

But sometimes,like Joseph we find ourselves in unexpected & difficult places. Even in those dark,unwanted places, God is there.

Since being reminded of Joseph’s story, I’ve recalled some of the places this journey has taken me to so far:

I’ve felt under stress at work. I felt utterly spent & at the end of myself. I declared to my empty room & computer screen that I just couldn’t do this any more. Not. Even. One. More. Day.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve obeyed & gone where I believed God wanted me to go. But it was more difficult than I imagined & I felt more useless than ever before.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve had sleepless nights caused by uncertain diagnoses & worrying about precious family facing major surgery.

God was with me in this place.

I’ve been confined to the ward with devastating postnatal illness. I’ve faced the aftermath & painstakingly slow road to recovery.

God was with me in this place.

Throughout the pages of the Bible, there are many true stories of God being with His children in unexpected places:

In the flames of a furnace,
God was with Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego in this place.

In front of a giant,
God was with David in this place.

In the stomach of a whale,
God was with Jonah in this place.

If you are following Jesus as a child of God, He is with you in this place.

Wherever you are, He’s there too.

In this place of broken dreams & shattered hope.
In this place of grief, hardship, pressure & pain.
In this place of suffering

Wherever you are:
God is there with you & even more astoundingly within you!

This place, this unexpected, dark, difficult ,unwelcome place that you find yourself in, may be a place of blessing in disguise:

‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
(Blessings– Laura Story)

At times we may feel we are free-falling to this place, but we are being held by the everlasting arms of our Heavenly Father. He holds the planets in orbit in this universe & so, we can hold on to Him with trust & hope in this place.

If you find yourself in one of those places today, remember:
‘Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans,
but God is not helpless among the ruins.’
(Eric Liddell)

‘All our difficulties are only platforms for the manifestations of His grace, power & love’
(Hudson Taylor)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Life is beautiful 

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The photo above captures what my husband Rob has {unaffectionately} christened our house tattoo.

He has minimalist ideas & was aghast at this wall art. He doesn’t realize (yet) that it’s removable, so for now, ‘Life is beautiful’ is our home’s tattoo.

‘Life is beautiful’ -not in a Pinterest perfect,whimsical,shabby-chic sort of a way.
But, ‘Life is beautiful’ in a messy,lovely sort of way-a deep beneath the surface beauty, surviving the battering storms, rising from the ashes.

My favourite film ever is Life is Beautiful -or should I say La vita e bella- for the original is in Italian with English subtitles. Roberto Benigni became an Academy Award winner in 1999 for his role as Guido.

Hearing the sunny Italian greetings in the piazza, in the film, instantly transports me to Orta. And reminiscing about idyllic holidays, counting blessings beside the blue blooming hydrangea.

In the film, Guido’s wonderful life takes a grim turn when he & his wife & young son are taken to a concentration camp. Yet, even here, he manages to make life fun for his son.

As time marches on, we have marked over seventy anniversaries of the liberation of Auschwitz. If we held a minute silence for every victim of the Holocaust then we would be silent for eleven and a half years.

While this tragi-comedy makes us laugh-out-loud in places, it in no way diminishes the horror of the Holocaust. By focusing on the devastating effects on one family it makes poignant powerful impact.

The film portrays how Guido chooses to make life beautiful in the darkest of places for his wife Dora & son Giosue

Our life is beautiful-because God is making it so:
‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

Everything- the good, the bad & the ugly can be made beautiful by our Creative, Redeeming God
The verse continues:
‘He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

In ways we cannot fathom, beyond our understanding God creates beauty for time & eternity-that we might know Him:
‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ (John 17:3 NIV)

In the pressure & grind of mundane, daily life, I often loose my bearings. I can’t see the beauty. I get easily annoyed by trivial problems, nuisances, & IT hiccoughs.

I can’t see the wood for the trees. I can’t see the blessings though they are all around.

‘Sometimes all we need is a little perspective’ -as Jones in the Noticer says
Somedays, I’d be transformed with even an ounze of perspective!

And God can give us a glimpse of His perspective. He can lead us to higher ground:
The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. (Habakkuk 3:19 NLT)

He can help us soar:
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:31 NLT)

From these heights:

We can see His purposes, rather than our problems
We can see rainbows rather than thunderstorms
We can see the exquisite tapestry above rather than the tangle of dark threads underneath.
We can trust His promises & trace His grace.

And truly see:
Life is beautiful

Blessings,
Ruth x


Updated from http://www.blessedme.co.uk

No-vember

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‘It was November-the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.’
(L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)

We are at the end of an unpopular month -November.

I can vividly remember reading the following poem as the wind blew down from the Cavehill shaking Mr McGeogh’s mobile classroom:

‘No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! –

November!’
(Thomas Hood)

November has the reputation for being a blah month of the year, for passing in a blur of grey.

But, ‘sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective’
(Andy Andrews -The Noticer.)

‘I have come to regard November as the older, harder man’s October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer’s death as winter tightens its grip.’
(Henry Rollins)

With a change in perspective we can find a positive spin for November:

*Cosy fires
*Crisp, star-spangled nights
*Leaf-kicking walks
*Thanksgiving- we can count our blessings even on this side of the pond!
*Anticipating Christmas
*And of course, in our family, celebrating birthdays.

This November, instead of contemplating the dull weather & negativities of the month, we can rejoice that if we are in Christ we have:

No condemnation

‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.’
(Romans 8:1-2 NIV)

‘For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’
(Psalm 103:11-12 NIV)

No fear

‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.’
(1 John 4:18 NIV)

‘I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.’
(Psalm 34:4 NIV)

No worries 

‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’
(1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.’
(Psalm 55:22 NIV)

November!
‘November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.’
(Clyde Watson)

Blessings,
Ruth x

‘Tis the season…for letting go

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One discovery this autumn has been the trails at Mount Stewart. While I prefer running in daylight (& preferably sunshine) I can identify with the benefits of running hard listed in Keri Wyatt Kent’s blog ‘Trail running in the dark’

I don’t always have epiphanies during long runs. But sometimes the combination of mind-space, the beauty of creation & the challenge of physical exertion blend together in a serendipitous moment!

One epiphany was during Run Forest Run’s Minnowburn 10k. I had reached the last kilometre (more slowly than usual!) I was running over a carpet of leaves, & more leaves were falling like confetti from the trees as I ran beneath them. It was a beautiful scene- captured in my mind more vividly than on any camera!

As I ran I sensed God say, ‘In life you have to let things go, so I can make them beautiful’

Just as the trees let go of their leaves & let them fall to the ground to create this beautiful scene, so we need to let go.
What do we need to let go of ?:

*Past failures
*Regrets
*Selfish ambitions
*Choking Fears
*Broken dreams
*Emotional baggage
*Pet sins
*Unrealistic expectations
*Pride
*Harmful relationships
*Over-thinking
*(False) Stories told only to ourselves

And whatever else comes to mind.

How can we let go? We need to bring these things to God. Pour out our hearts to the One who knows us best. Let it go & most importantly leave it with Him. Seek His forgiveness if required, then walk in the freedom of His grace

For, ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’
(Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

And Autumn is the season of letting go.

‘Seasons are not only realities that occur outside and around us, in the skies and in the trees. I believe seasons are also internal and personal, interwoven into the fabric of human life. We are designed to transition, to change, and to vary. Our souls have seasons.’
(Seasons of the Soul– Adam McHugh)

The Creator God can bring beauty from brokenness , when we let go & leave our greatest fears & burdens with Him.

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

We have a Cherry tree in our garden. In spring it blossoms where it’s planted. In summer its shiny leaves rustle in the breeze. In Autumn it lets go of its foliage. Already I can see already tiny buds of new life on its bare branches, ready to burst into life in Spring.

Letting go is a necessary step for growth to take place.

‘Perhaps when watchers see us burst into life it will be the colors of Jesus they see.’
(Ashley Hale-The Year I lost Autumn)

For, whatever the season:
‘You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.’
(Matthew 5:14MSG)

Blessings,

Ruth x

Revised & updated from www.blessedme.co.uk

Just real ordinary 

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In the pre-digital days of photography when we sent off films to be developed, I often collected a packet of disappointingly bad photos with unwanted red-eyes & fingers obscuring the object!Now in our digital age we can delete them before anyone sees them & photoshop the good ones to make them even better!

Apparently, 200,000+ images make their way onto Facebook alone every minute. Yahoo! claims that as many as 880 BILLION photos were taken in 2014 (popphoto.com)

On the World Wide Web, we can project the Facebook perfect, Pinterest pretty version of our lives. Life can be bunting & cupcakes, on matching Cath Kidston & Bridgewater tableware, surrounded by our airbrushed family in colour co-ordinated clothing – a life where everything goes according to plan…

Often we are zoned into the virtual world, which exists only on our smart phones & tablets. We can become preoccupied with an edited & digitally enhanced version of reality – that is not real at all. A distortion of the truth , which in reality is a {little white} lie.

‘Stop instagramming your perfect life’ urged Shauna Neiquist in Relevant magazine.

Most of us will freely admit that our lives are far from perfect- more like an episode from the Simpsons than the Waltons (even on a good day!)

When we compare our lives to others on-line, our lives may seem:
Mundane
Routine
Normal
Uneventful
Ordinary

Our real life may fall short of our {unrealistic} expectations

On-line comparisons can affect our perspective of the snapshots in the panorama of our everyday life. Seasons of life may seem dull-black & white vistas interrupted by the odd colourful celebration. We perceive uneventful weeks punctuated by
the occasional unexpected event- compared to other’s action-packed colourful instagrammed lives!

‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ Theodore Roosevelt wrote. Conversely, gratitude nurtures our joy.

So,’Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life’ (Galatians 6:4, 5 MSG)

Also,we can be totally immersed in our virtual {unreal} world to the detriment of our spiritual well-being. I ask myself:
Are we dazzled by the eye-candy of perfect images on the web & starving our souls?
Are we captivated by God or distracted by a million & one snippets of {useless} information bombarded to us daily on our smart phones?

Hudson Taylor wrote, ‘If we are faithful to GOD in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life.’

In this age of technologically enhanced images, we need to focus on the fact proclaimed thousands of years ago that we are made in God’s image (Gen 1:27) And He is conforming us to be more like Jesus.

‘What we are becoming is more important than what we are accomplishing’ (Catherine Campbell)

‘It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with {social media & the World Wide Web} when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.’
(Adapted from C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses)

Frederick Buechner writes:
‘God is right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives… trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world.’ (The Magnificent Defeat)

‘If God doesn’t rule your mundane, then he doesn’t rule you. Because that’s where you live.’(Paul Tripp)

Jesus lived for thirty quiet years before three in the spotlight.

His birth was not Christmas card picture perfect-

His death was too horrific for our minds to truly picture.

Jesus, who knew the sweat & grim of an ordinary carpenter’s workshop, who walked the ordinary dusty Galilean roads,can infuse our ordinary days with his extraordinary presence. He can bring the miraculous to the mundane.

Because:
‘Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries’
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

‘God breaks into real,normal, boring time & makes Himself known’
(Amy Orr-Ewing)

Our God breaks into ordinary lives of working people:

The shepherds were looking after sheep on Bethlehem’s hillside, just as they had many nights before, when a myriad of angels appeared, proclaiming Jesus’ birth.

Peter & Andrew were casting nets.They had gone fishing as they did everyday.

Matthew was collecting taxes-business as usual.

They had an encounter with Jesus just where they were.

We can have encounters with God everyday- on a Monday en route to work just as much as in the church sanctuary on a Sunday. He can transform our 2D monochrome moments into 4D technicolor by His Spirit in us.

So,
‘Do the most everyday & insignificant tasks, knowing that God can see…We are doing more than we know’ (George Matheson)

We can see glimpses of God in our ordinary life!

Rather than waiting on the next big thing, we can wait on God here in this moment:
‘What we have is time. And what we do is waste it, waiting for those big spectacular moments. We think that something’s about to happen—something enormous and newsworthy—but for most of us, it isn’t. This is what I know: the big moments are the tiny moments. The breakthroughs are often silent, and they happen in the most unassuming of spaces.’
(Shauna Neiquist in the foreword Jeff Goins – The In-Between)

‘Maybe what we call “mundane,” what feels boring and ordinary, is really how we spend our lives. And we have an opportunity to make of it what we will—to resent its lack of adventure or rejoice in its beauty. Perhaps the abundant life we’ve been seeking has little to do with big events and comes in a subtler form: embracing the pauses in between major beats.’
(Jeff Goins The In-Between)

The banner outside Bethany Baptist proclaims:
‘Ordinary people worshipping an extraordinary God’

This Extraordinary God can make our ordinary lives extraordinary ,
not perfect-but real.

So,
‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering’ (Romans 12:1, 2 MSG)

‘Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference’ (William James)
{because it does!}

Blessings,

Ruth x

*Revised & updated from original post @ www.blessedme.co.uk

When you can’t sit down

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I’ve written about the importance of chair-time & sitting down ‘on the inside’ 
But what happens when you can’t stop, when you can’t rest even when you want to?

‘Life, for most of us, feels like a movie we’ve arrived to forty minutes late’ writes John Eldredge in his book entitled ‘Epic’

We always seem to be in a hurry, multi-tasking to try to catch up with ourselves. Weeks go by at a frenzied pace, in a hap-hazard way.

It’s difficult when we feel that busyness is thrust upon us rather than chosen by us.

Yet if we don’t pause, we can burnout i.e. become emotionally & physically exhausted, detached from those around us & feel ineffective & unfulfilled even though we’re working hard.

‘Hurry always empties a soul’ wrote Ann Voskamp in ‘One thousand gifts’

It’s just as well that the God who created us , also created rest on the seventh day!
Rest. The dictionary defines it as freedom from activity, or a pause for relaxation.

The Italians speak of ‘dolce far niente’ – the joy of doing nothing! But, 
‘There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want!’ (according to Calvin & Hobbs!)

We need to rest before we become exhausted. It’s not selfish to look after ourselves:
‘Self-care means giving the world the best of you instead of what is left of you.’ (Katie Reed)

‘You should sit in nature for twenty minutes a day. Unless you are busy…then you should sit for an hour!’ (Zen saying)

In Psalm 62:1 King David wrote, ‘My soul finds rest in God alone ‘

Rest is a Person- not a place!

For, true rest is found in God alone.

That’s worth repeating, so I can let the truth sink in:
True rest is found in God alone.

‘That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.’
(Psa 27:5 MSG)

Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me & you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest” (Matthew 11:28-The Message)

Real rest sounds very appealing, doesn’t it? Our God created rest on the seventh day of creation. A day of rest each week is actually a blessing given to us.

Tonight I read these words:
‘Sabbath is more than a day.It is a way of life,a conviction we order our lives around,based on what we believe about God. But mostly, it is a gift from God we cant find time to open,because we dont know what we’re missing’
(Keri Wyatt Kent- God Space)

God’s special day of rest is a time to:
-Relax 
-Recharge our batteries
-Refill & refuel for the week ahead
-Nourish our souls
-Renew our minds

So, here I am, on this autumn Sunday listening to the rain softly falling down. I’ve had three days of enforced rest due to a viral illness. (I will have empathy when I’m diagnosing others with similiar this week!)

I must learn to rest before I am tired & embrace this welcome pause before another week starts to play out.

‘To pause between the notes of our lives turns noise into music. It’s called resting’ (Keri Wyatt Kent)

This is the day the Lord has made. Don’t load it with yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s troubles. Rejoice in the gift of today!’
(Max Lucado)

So,’Give up last weeks burdens, so you can head into the week ahead without them. Surrender all troubles to God & forgive yourself & others’ (Marianne Williamson)

Blessings,
Ruthx

Sometimes you need chair-time!

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 For as long as we have lived in our current house, we have had a comfy chair beside our dining room table. It used to be a rocking chair (that was covered by a throw after Layla chewed large chunks out of it when she was a puppy) The rocking chair has now been replaced by a cuboid leather chair.

The chair’s principal function is to provide a more comfortable place for Rob to sit while I finish my dinner! I am an extremely slow eater (I was once the last person to finish each of the three courses at a wedding reception with over 200 guests!)

This year I designated the chair as a place to read fiction slowly. I promised myself to read at least once a week in this comfy chair! I have managed to read many chapters of ‘All the light we cannot see‘ in this chair.

Apparently reading fiction improves brain connectivity & function. Also, ‘Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are’ (Mason Cooley) Escapism at it’s best!

A couple of years ago I read a novel called The Chair– about a chair with supernatural powers as it had been carved by a carpenter from Nazareth two thousand years ago.

The idea of an extraordinary chair is not a new one. At the Giant’s Causeway, there is a rocky seat known as the Wishing Chair. Apparently, this chair was made for the giant, Finn MacCool, when he was a child. And ever since, so legend says, all wishes made by anyone at the Wishing Chair will come true. 

I’ve been listening to an audio-version of Bill Hybels’ book Simplify. In it, he stated that the first practice to unclutter your soul is chair-time. 

This chair doesn’t have to be extraordinary or fancy. We simply need to find a chair to spend time with God. Bill urges us to schedule chair-time to sit & read the Bible with the Author & to take time to listen to what He has to say.

‘Come near to God and he will come near to you.’
(James 4:8 NIV)

‘God gives us everything we need for space -but we will have to make space.
God gives us all the ingredients for time -but we will have to make time.’
(Ann Voskamp)

The idea of spending time in the chair is simply that- creating space to commune with God.
For our God desires to have a relationship with us. He longs to be close, not distance. If we feel that God is far from us, we have moved away.

I’m not sure why, but when I thought about chair-time with God, I found myself re-reading the chapters of The Shack where Mack spent time gazing at the stars & walking across the lake with Jesus. Our God is the good, good Father & the Friend who is closer than a brother.

No matter what we need , what our inclinations are or what our days look like we could all benefit from chair time. As Bill Hybel’s earlier book title stated, we are too busy NOT to pray.

We need to slow down. 
Sit down. 
And be still. 
And know. 
Deep down.
That the Great I AM is God.
Our God.

‘Be still, and know that I am God’
(Psalm 46:10 NIV)

‘Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings’
(Hebrews 10:22 NIV)

Blessings,

Ruth x

PS This is the puppy on the chair before it was chewed:

Edited & updated- originally posted @ www.blessedme.co.uk

For the troubled soul

curlysue028

The days feels longer & bleaker than usual -the weather, the viruses, getting through the art & science of medicine. Hearing others’ bad news on Facebook, in work,in church, on the news.

We know that nobody said it’d be easy- but sometimes life feels just too hard,doesn’t it?

“Life is hard, but good,” said one of the speakers at an OMF afternoon. I knew what she meant- hard in the same way climbing a mountain is difficult but enjoying the stunning view at the top makes everything feel good.

It tied in to the audiobook I’d been listening to en route- Shauna Niequist’s book Bittersweet -reflections on the intermingling of bitterness & sweetness, heartbreak & hope in life.

I woke up early yesterday thinking about suffering & sadness , healing & hope. This deep subject was in my pre-caffeinated mind as it spilled over from a tangent discussed at the ladies Bible study the night before.

But how can we ever begin understand the complex interplay of faith & prayer, healing & medicine& the rainbow of the sovereignty of God overarching it all?

Sometimes, in tough times we need verses with promises like Romans 8:28 read out loud & clear. Sometimes we need our reality to be validated, someone to draw alongside us with few words, & fewer answers.

“Life sucks sometimes,” was one of the most helpful empathetic statements our former Pastor spoke to Rob in our darkest chapters.

In the difficult times, it can be hard to stay positive & faith-filled.Life can hurt deeply. When our soul aches,it’s ok to trust yet doubt, to hope yet hurt. And it’s OK to go to God with our questions & frustrations.He knows our thoughts before we speak them. He knows our limitations:

We see tangled threads rather than the finished tapestry.
We see the messy middle rather than the finished masterpiece.

And we can’t make sense of it- any more than clay can comprehend the potter.
We can’t see the big picture.
The unseen.
The invisible.

Yet,
‘Each strand of sorrow has a place 
Within this tapestry of grace’
(Getty Music-The Perfect wisdom of our God)

On Sunday morning I was reading about what Celtic Mystics described as thin places. Places where heaven almost touches earth, & God meets with us. I was thinking more of moments rather than physical places- where the almost palpable presence of God touches our troubled souls.

We can experience the presence of God in the breath-taking wonder of His stunning creation.

Our quiet times can be thin places when we read with the Author.

God connects with my daily life when I truly pray. Often it’s the depth rather than the length of my prayers that matters.

Thin places also occur when we feel stretched & overwhelmed, when we experience heart-wrenching pain that comes from being as broken as this planet we live on.

‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world’
(CS Lewis-the problem of pain)

In the thin places, our God offers peace to our troubled souls 
‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’
(Psalm 147:3 NIV)

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
(John 16:33 NIV)

We don’t have to understand.
We don’t have answers but we do have our Saviour’s presence- through it all.

Life is hard but God is always faithful & always there

‘God withholds in His wisdom what He could provide by His power. I don’t know why He does it, but I’m thankful I don’t have to’
(Dr Larry Crabb – quoted by Emily P Freeman in A Million Little Ways)

‘We commit ourselves to Him, yes; but far more important, He has committed Himself to us, & what He takes He holds,& what He holds He moulds, & what He moulds He uses’
(Norman Grubb, The Spontaneous You)

I love that image- the Potter is holding & moulding.

Even when we feel like we’re free falling & life is reeling out of control, we are held- in His hands, & He never lets go.

In this journey we call life,
‘Instead of a map, our Father offers his hand.’
(Emily P Freeman)

….’and when you can’t see His hand trust His heart’ (Anon)

Blessings,

Ruth x

PS You may also like:

Trust -choosing to see the invisible

* Edited & updated- originally posted @ www.blessedme.co.uk

Just trust- choosing to see the invisible 

curlysue028

Rob & I attended a friend’s wedding on 19th July. It was a beautiful sunny day- just like our own wedding day on the same day- now over twenty years ago!

I reminisced & listened misty-eyed to Pachelbel’s Canon & to the poetic vows, promises made to stand by each other & remain true-no matter what:
For richer or poorer 
For better or worse
In sickness & health

Twenty years on, we are very happily married. But looking back over the years, there have been both the best & worst of times. There has been sickness & health. There have been a complete spectrum of stresses, and even bright sunny days can be overcast by boulders carried in our hearts.

And we are not alone in life-experiences! Indeed if we all threw our troubles up in the air ,we would probably be glad if we caught our own again!

I believe that ‘the Universe is made up of stories, not of atoms’ (Muriel Rukeyser) And over the course of time, the story of our life together has mingled with the stories of those we go through life with- family, friends, colleagues, our wider social circle & friends of friends. We hear their stories over cosy cups of coffee, via social media & prayer bulletins. The stories criss-cross with our own, & intertwine together, to form part of a bigger story that we call everyday life.

So many of these true stories are sadder than fiction:
sudden deaths & tragic accidents
babies dying before they are born, 
diagnoses that are beyond chemotherapy & modern medicine,
teenagers taking their own lives,
alcohol & drugs,
debt & stress,
mental illness,
divorce.

In the middle of difficulties, when our head is swirling, we need to focus on a still, unchanging point in our reeling world. In the ever-changing vista of the kaleidoscope of life, when life feels like its spinning out of control, we need to focus on God- the One who keeps galaxies in orbit. 

We need to be still & see with the eyes of faith 
‘ Open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.’
(Psalm 34:8 MSG)

We can have the eyes of our heart wide-open to the invisible:
‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ‘(Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

In the hard, hurting pages in the dark chapter of life, it can be hard to ‘see’ God, the Author of our life-but God is at work in our stories 

Even when we can’t see God’s hand, we can trust His heart. He is behind the scenes:
‘So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace…There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. ‘(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 MSG)

God can mend tattered hearts & broken dreams. He can  put the fragile, broken pieces back together again- the way they were always meant to fit together-like a brilliant craftsman forming his masterpiece.

There are things we just can’t see at the moment, but our invisible God is at work

‘So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are! will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.’
(1 Peter 5:10 MSG)

I was listening to an audio-version of Kay Warren’s book ‘Choose joy for happiness isn’t enough’ earlier this year. Her words feel even more poignant since the shocking news that her son committed suicide. In the book, Kay describes joy & sorrow like parallel tracks on the railway of life.

I too am convinced that joy & sorrow, love & suffering, peace & pain are inextricably linked –but in an even more intricate way than parallel tracks. Perhaps, they are intertwined like the twisting double stranded helix molecule of DNA – the blue print of life itself. Just as DNA is held together by hydrogen bonds, the twists & turns in life are stabilised by intricate bonds of the love & mercy, grace & goodness of God.

Just now, in this moment of time, our lives may seem like a tangled mess- but with the eye of faith, we can choose to see that even the troubles & trials, stresses & strains, the bitter & sweet are part of the intricate plans of the perfect infinite wisdom of our God.

Our God created the cosmos, designed our souls & planned our destinies. Yet He carries our burdens and collects our tears:
‘You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in your book?’
(Psalms 56:8NASB)

‘You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.’ (Psalm 56:8 MSG)

We have to choose to see the unseen-to trace the invisible fingerprints of God in our lives, as He weaves His thread of blessings through the twisting helix of life. He alone can weave all things together for our good (Romans 8:28) into the plans He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11)

Even when things don’t seem to make sense, & everything seems random & chaotic , we can praise Him where we are at- ‘in the storm- even when our hearts are torn’ (Casting crowns) 

We can offer a ‘Broken hallelujah’ (Mandisa) & exclaim “Blessed be the name of the Lord”

We can proclaim:
‘This is not how it should be,
This is not how it could be,
This is how it is,
And our God is in control

This is not how it will be,
When we finally will see
We’ll see with our own eyes
He was always in control

This is not where we planned to be
When we started this journey
But this is where we are
And our God is in control’
(Steven Curtis Chapman)

As we open wide the eyes of our heart in faith, we will fall upwards into the arms of our Almighty Father God.

There we can whisper:
‘I know now Lord why you utter no answer. You yourself are the answer’ (C S Lewis)

And He promises:
“I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, 
lavishing comfort,
invading their grief with joy.”
(Jeremiah 31:13 MSG)

May this be our prayer:
‘O grant me wisdom from above, 
To pray for peace and cling to love, 
And teach me humbly to receive 
The sun and rain of Your sovereignty. 

Each strand of sorrow has a place 
Within this tapestry of grace; 
So through the trials I choose to say: 
“Your perfect will in Your perfect way ‘
(Stuart Townend)

But for now,
                Just trust

Blessings,

Ruth x

*Edited from post originally published @ www.blessedme.co.uk