Tag: journey

A life less ordinary

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Perhaps, if you’re a  like me, you  yearn for a life less ordinary. Especially when my mood is as grey as an Irish Summer, when days blur together & weeks merge to months consumed by work & responsibility. Perhaps we feel life is being survived in black & white, rather than enjoyed in an array of colour.

When the best of our awake time is spent on things outside our control, & we want to travel lightly but we feel the weight of the everyday grind, we just want to step off the wheel.

Our perspective is altered by pressure & our days seem bland.

Beige.Vanilla.Ordinary.

It’s God’s love that brings colour to our lives- indeed God’s presence brings us truly to life! It is He who breathes ‘extra’ into our ordinary.It is our relationship with God through Jesus that makes all the difference.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”(Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG)

Jesus said,”I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
(John 10:10 NIV)

Jesus said,“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”
(John 10:10 MSG)

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
(John 17:3 NIV)

It is knowing God that makes life less ordinary ..from here to eternity!

It is God who created each of us for a unique purpose in His Grand Design. He placed us where he wanted us to be in time & space:

‘From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
(Acts 17:26-28 NIV)

Living a less ordinary life requires us to seek God & reach out to Him though he is not far from any one of us. We need to choose the life He offers:

“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV)

When we do, He has promised:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
(Psalm 32:8 NIV)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
(Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)

These words are more than nice sentiments to put on a bookmark. They are a truth to hold onto when ‘ordinary’ life feels difficult. It is a promise given  by God to His people at the worst of times.

On the Sunday morning I attended church in Singapore,the Anglican Minister preached from this verse & expanded its meaning in a way I’ve never heard before.

The Hebrew word for ‘plans’ is hama-ma-ha-sabat . It means exquisite design rather than technical plans. The same word is translated ‘ways’ in the following passage:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

Our life is less ordinary because our lives are the exquisite designs of our Creator God. God’s plans may be different to our ideas:
‘We can make our plans but the Lord determines our steps’
(Proverbs 16:9)

But ultimately His plans will transform our ordinary lives, to bring  Him glory.When we grasp this truth, we can thrive in the mundane, & cope with the challenges of everyday life on planet earth. We can have hope in the dark times.

We can live our ‘ordinary’ lives in an extraordinary way with the help, grace & love of our Awesome God.

As we go through this week, consider:

‘What if you stepped into all that God created you to be?’
(Dr Jennifer Barnett)

‘Quit trying to fit. Why try to squeeze all your extraordinary into ordinary?’
(Ann Voskamp)

‘The Lord is the strength of my life’ (Psalm 27:1)

Blessings,

Ruthx

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

Embrace the detour

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We had packed the campervan for two weeks in Tuscany via the Alps & the Med. Shorts & T-shirts & lots of sun cream. The four of us needed a sunshine infused holiday. I had researched the campsites & had planned the sights to see ( including the leaning tower of Pisa & the Duomo in Florence)

I just about got finished at work – & breathed a sigh of relief as we all clambered into the van.
Then, en route the ferry at Belfast, the van heaved & grew noisier. The Air Conditioning broke (although I t had just been fixed- apparently)

It’d be too uncomfortable in the heat sans A.C. I reluctantly agreed with Rob’s idea to stay north toward cooler climates. We turned left at Calais & kept driving! We visited Belgium, Germany, Denmark & the Netherlands. We went to the flower market in Amsterdam, got chocolate & waffles in Bruges & walked alongside the Wall in Berlin. We got drenched in Copenhagen & longed for the Italian sunshine. We drove past cornfields but wanted to see lakes & mountains after miles of flatness.

In life,things sometimes don’t work out as we anticipated. There are detours from our planned route when things go wrong- unexpected exam results, diagnoses & illnesses. Life can be interrupted by issues with our relationships, careers or health.

‘You may not want to embrace where you are.But it’s so important to embrace whose you are’. (Crystal Evans Hurst)

‘Even if it feels like nothing is turning out as you ultimately hoped, He who is Hope Himself is turning things around for your ultimate good'(Ann Voskamp)

We can trust Him in the detour.

‘Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD ’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD! ‘(Proverbs 3:5&6 MSG)

And at the end of the day,

‘The good news is you don’t have to know where the trail leads in order to follow it’
(Chrystal Evans Hurst)

For,’Those who walk with God always reach their destination’ (Anon)

‘It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place’ (Elizabeth Elliot)

Blessings,

Ruthx