Tag: life

Memos to myself

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The following 12 quotes can make a difference to our time management this year (if we put them into practice..)

1.’All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)

2. ‘So take some time to ask God today, “What do you want me to do with my one wild, beautiful life that no one else can?” Then listen to the whisper you hear in response.’ (Holly Gerth)

3.‘I never see why we should do anything unless it is either a duty or a pleasure! Life’s short enough without filling up hours unnecessarily.’
(CS Lewis)

4. ‘Focus is not something we find but something we create’ (Jeff Goins)

5.‘Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God.’
(Tim Challies)

6.‘A woman who lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule will often ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul.’

‘We have to slow the rhythm of rush in our lives so that the best of who are can emerge.’
(Lysa TerKeurst, The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands)

7. ‘Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.

‘Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will.’

(Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)

8. ‘We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.’ (Bonhoeffer)

9.’You can spend your life on a blur of things that leave you bankrupt.’

‘It’s not what you do now & then that changes anything ,but what you do *everyday* that changes everything. Daily disciplines are doors to full freedom’ (Ann Voskamp)

10. ‘We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.’
(King David, Psalm 39:6-7)

11. ‘Don’t count the things you do. Do the things that count’
(Zig Ziglar)

12. ‘Time is non refundable. Use it with intention’ (Anon)

Blessings,

Ruth x

Captured time

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Captured time. I read the name of the antique shop in Greyabbey as I ran past.

Captured time. Now more than ever before we love to capture moments, to create happy memories. But we can’t capture time itself- we can’t catch it. No matter what, the earth keeps spinning, time marches on & moments run through our fingers like grains of sand.

Tonight we celebrate another revolution around the sun- the end of another year- chronological (Chronos) time

We’ve just celebrated the moment that split history in two.

‘The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable’
(Ralph W Sockman)

I love how this poem puts it:

BC:AD

‘This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future’s
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.
This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.’

(U.A. Fanthorpe)

This was God ordained Kairos moment:

‘But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.’
(‭‭Galatians‬ ‭4:4-5‬ ‭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)

‘Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth’
(Hark! The herald angels sing-Charles Wesley)

Our Unchanging God transcends time:

‘Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.’
(‭‭Psalm‬ ‭90:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Yet, ‘Eternity stepped into time,so we could understand’ (Michael Card)

And He is at work in time

‘He has made everything beautiful in its time. 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)

Psalm 39:5 (AMP) says ‘My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best each of us is but a breath’

‘Selah’ is the word that follows next, & the amplified version translates this word as meaning ‘Pause, & think calmly of that!’

Indeed. Selah- Pause.Stop.Think.

‘Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.’
(James‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭NIV)

Our time here is so transient, like a vapour, like the notorious Irish mist that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

‘What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night… It’s the breath of the buffalo in the wintertime.It is the little shadow which runs across the grass & loses itself in the sunset’
(Native American saying )

In complete contrast, our God is from everlasting to everlasting. To Him, one thousand years are just like a day that has past (see Psalm 90)

‘We are a moment, You are forever
Lord of the Ages, God before time
We are a vapor, You are eternal
Love everlasting, reigning on high’
(Robin Mark)

Compared to the vastness of eternity, our time here is but a moment.

Yet, our lives are in God’s hands & we can trust in Him. ‘Lord,through all the generations, you have been our home’ (Psalm 90:1-NLT) He has been God ‘from “once upon a time” to “kingdom come”’ (Psalm 90:2 MSG)

So, as we live our lives, we can stay close to Him & dwell with Him. We can make the most of our time here. We can’t capture time but we can ‘redeem the time’ by keeping in contact with Him.

‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.’
(Psalm‬ ‭90:12‬ ‭NIV – A prayer of Moses the man of God)

All our days are written in His book. The Author of the epic story we call ‘Life’ knows how many pages are in the story of each of our lives (& of course what actually happens in our story)

‘Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d lived even one day’ (Psalm 139:16 MSG)

The Author of All knows how the story ends- with a happy never-ending:
‘This life is but a shadow.What is real is what will follow (attributed to CS Lewis)

As we pause & reflect on the Eve of 2018, we can trust the One who has been there already & holds it altogether:

‘I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied, “Go out into the darkness,
and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light,
and safer than a known way.”
(Minnie Haskins)

Blessings,
Ruth x

The ultimate gift

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Tis the season…to shop till you drop,grab a coffee to go, then shop some more!

Of course we started exchanging presents as a reminder of the gifts of gold,frankincense & myrrh presented to Jesus. But at times we go Totally Over The Top. I mean,what do we give our nearest & dearest who have everything they want-& more?

I walked under the canopy of lights in Victoria Square on Wednesday night then through the Christmas market to get inspiration. St George’s market was shut but a red sparkly bow adorned the entrance- making the whole building look like a present.

There’s daily emails bombarding my inbox with all sorts of gift ideas- including Boots star buys that I’m tempted to buy for myself!

While we endeavour to give great gifts, God is the ultimate Gift-Giver:

‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’
(James 1:17 NIV)

‘God’s gifts put men’s best dreams to shame’
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

The greatest gift came in unexpected wrapping. All the fullness of God- His grace & goodness, majesty & might, wrapped in swaddling clothes,lying in a manger

‘Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.’
(C.S. Lewis)

As we grow older our Christmas wish list gets shorter & we find that the things we want aren’t things. Sometimes the best gift we can give to others is our time.

Someone once wrote that love can be spelt T-I-M-E. Jesus loved us so much that He gave up eternity to spend time on earth.

‘For God so loved the world that He gave His One & Only Son’
(John 3:16)

‘Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor.’
(Frank Houghton)

He came to earth & became flesh, so that we can be adopted into the family of God through faith. The Gift of God means that we can become children of God.

‘The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.’
( C. S. Lewis-Mere Christianity)

‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’
(John 1:12 NIV)

‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.’
(1 John 3:1 NIV)

God’s gift is a long lasting, never-ending present-eternal life.

‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
(Romans 6:23 NIV)

God’s gifts can be found in unexpected places in our lives-in the dark, difficult days:
‘God said “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”
(Isaiah 45:3, 7 NIV)

Going forward through the darkness into the light, His Presence is the greatest present.

Christmas is
when God reached down,
when God became one of us,
with us in this journey of life.

Isaiah foretold this crucial aspect of the incarnation:
‘All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)
(Isaiah 7:14 NLT)

‘His name is God With Us and we believe He is.’
(Emily P Freeman)

‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’
(2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV)

This Christmastime, if you haven’t already done so, will you accept this ultimate gift from God – the Gift of Himself, for now & forever?

Blessings,

Ruthx

A gift to your future self

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It arrived in the post last month- a welcome surprise on a dull Monday via Amazon. It was a gift to my future self- a book I’d pre-ordered months ago. (God space by Keri Wyatt Kent)

I first heard the phrase ‘gift for my future self’ on Gretchen Ruben’s Happier podcast …& I liked it. The idea of doing something now to help your future self is appealing.Like pre-ordering a book. Or starting to exercise.Or making overnight oats for breakfast the night before.

‘But that’s just being organized!’ my sister-in-law Linda exclaimed. And it is!

But a gift for your future self sounds less ordinary & more whimsical!

My teenage children still tease me about my overnight oats as a gift to my future self!

Recently I’ve been thinking about gifts I should have given to my future self years ago, when those teenagers were small.

Back then, I had two children under two- both in nappies. Caris was just a toddler when Ethan was born in Nov 2002. His birth was straightforward- but there was an eruption of stress in the days before his birth. I didn’t sleep at all in the days before or after delivery. My mind was on over-drive filled with crazy, racing thoughts. After a week I was diagnosed with postnatal psychosis.

Postnatal psychosis is a tsunami in the mind that creates chaos in everyday life – the aftermath takes years to settle.The happy celebration of new life in the family morphs into a life-altering nightmare.My sleep-starved deluded self existed in a world that made sense initially but disintegrated as thoughts clash faster & faster.The fabric of daily life unravelled beneath me into tangles & we’re free falling from the life we love into the abyss of depression & psychosis.

Medication meant that the racing thoughts subsided relatively quickly, but months of depression followed. Chances are, statistically speaking, that more than a few of you reading this will know what I mean- when I talk of days of living in black & white rather than colour. Days of existing without truly living. Doing life with the joy squeezed out of it. Having ‘eyes without sparkle’ as one writer put it.

Just getting through the day felt like a momentous achievement.

But I did get through those long days & seemingly short years. This Thanksgiving I felt blessed & grateful for good mental health.

And as another birthday approaches, I think of the dark days less than the years before.

So what gifts should I have given myself for my future self then?

*Time

It would have been reassuring to know back then that things would get better with time.

It does take time to recover from mental illness -an unquantifiable length of time. But gradually, painstakingly slowly,you will get better.

Your baby won’t actually remember those days & with time your own memories will fade into the background.

In the middle of the mayhem,take time out doing whatever helps.Whatever works for you.

In time I would see the therapeutic value of writing. And reading when concentration improved.And running. Someone wrote ‘Running is the washing machine of the mind’ – I should have used it sooner!

Make time to go to Mother & Toddlers- even if you don’t feel like it. Even if it feels awkward initially.

*Help

You need to accept help.Trust those who know you best & love you most. If they suggest you need professional help- you probably do!

Your Community Midwife,Health Visitor or GP can all help. It’s what they’re there for!

During your Postnatal Visit with your GP, they’ll want to check your mental well-being. They may ask if you been bothered by feeling down, depressed,or hopeless over the past month. Or if you have had little interest/ pleasure in doing things. They are relying on you telling the truth & will offer help & support if you do.

*Faith

Going through the dark days, I had some faith. I wish I had more.

‘I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.’
(Philip Yancey )

As I look back I know that I never walked alone – I was carried by God (as it says in the Footsteps poem)

You may not share my faith, but TBH I just can’t fathom how you make it through life without God

‘Does that make my faith a crutch? Maybe. But what does a crutch do? It helps you stand and makes you stronger. So, yes, when I face overwhelming odds, I need a bit of that.’
(Bear Grylls)

When I was most unwell, I could only read a few verses at a time.These verses meant a lot to me at the time, & would even more to my future self:

God said,
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end-
Because I am GOD, your personal God”
(‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:1-3‭MSG‬‬)

‘He heals the broken-hearted & binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars & calls them each by name. Great is our Lord & mighty in power-His understanding has no limit’ (Psalm147:3-5)

I would remind my future self that in the messy middle of our story, the Author of life walks through our dark chapters with us.

If you are still there in the messy middle, stressed out but struggling through, pause & give your future self the gift of time,help & faith

(I say future self for when your mind is messed up & everyday life is disturbed, your current self cannot see any benefit to doing anything!)

Time. Help. Faith.

Blessings,

Ruthx

http://www.blessedme.org

PS

This was originally written for Lindsay who campaigns for Maternal Mental Health & blogs at Have you seen that girl. Find resources collected by her HERE

Find support on the Aware website or at Best Beginnings . PANDAS is a foundation supporting pre & postnatal depression.

The bottom line is it’s ok not to be ok – even when you’re pregnant or if you’ve just had a baby. Speak to someone about how you are feeling.And give a gift to your future self!

Neither merry nor bright

curlysue028

For the myriad of hurting hearts this Christmas.

The Christmas lights were turned off in St George’s Square Glasgow on 24th December 2014 as a mark of respect to those who tragically lost their lives there when a lorry careered into a crowd.

Christmas lights have went out in homes, hearts & lives across the globe- extinguished by loss, grief, terrorism, cancer, suicide.

Anguish has been painfully, indelibly etched on the broadsheet & tabloid pages carrying news from Yemen to Myanmar & everywhere in between & beyond.

This month I’ve sat across a desk from too many people for whom Christmas is not the most wonderful time of year but rather the most difficult, dreaded time of the year.

I’ve stared into eyes brimming with tears for as long as I could bear –

Hearing the deafening silence that trails behind grief.
Sensing the ongoing heartbreak & unimaginable loss.
Feeling the palpable pain of an aching void left behind.

I’ve been reminded of the words from Les Miserables:
‘There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.
There’s a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone.’

For many this Christmas there are empty chairs & places in their homes and hearts.

For them, Christmas accentuates winter of the heart & soul.

Like in Narnia – it seems that it’s always winter & never {truly} Christmas again.

There’s no merry & bright.
No wonderful ,white Christmas.
No magic & sparkle.

Yet, it was into darkness like this- indeed because of darkness like this, that God sent His Son- as Imanuel- God with us.

Jesus, the Word of God, God the Son entered our world as a baby in the manger.

‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.'(John 1:14 NIV)

Or as Eugene Petersen paraphrased this verse:
‘The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.’ (John 1:14 MSG)

I also love the deep truth of this paraphrase:
‘He pitched His tent in the darkness of our valley’
(Geoff Thomas)

God came down to be where we are.

Bringing:
Love to the unloveliness of this fallen planet
Hope in hopelessness
Everlasting light in deep darkness
Comfort to those who mourn
Healing to broken hearts & lives
Freedom to captives bound in sin.

‘Christmas means Jesus came down & got involved in suffering. He hears your cries’
(Tim Keller )

‘When Love came down to earth
And made His home with men,
The hopeless found a hope,
The sinner found a friend.
Not to the powerful
But to the poor He came,
And humble, hungry hearts
Were satisfied again.

What joy, what peace has come to us!
What hope, what help, what love!’
(Stuart Townend)

When you strip away the trimmings & decorations, Santa & the reindeers, the indulgence of over eating & over spending.

When you listen for the still small voice of God,

When you follow the shepherds & the wise men to the stable …

There you’ll find the heart beat of Christmas- Jesus, God the Son- the reason for the season.

At Christmastime, you may find Jesus rejoicing with those who rejoice – at family gatherings & social events.

But I believe you’ll be more likely to find Him mourning with those who mourn, drawing alongside the marginalised, the broken & the needy.

During His time on earth, he was familiar with sorrow. He knew the reality of grief & loss. The shortest verse in the Bible simply states,

‘Jesus wept'(John 11:35)

‘Yes he walked my road, and He felt my pain,
Joys and sorrows that I know so well;’
(From the squalor of a borrowed stable-Stuart Townend)

He knows us. He loves us, & He cares deeply about us. The One who scattered the stars at creation’s dawn is also a Collector of tears:

‘You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.’
(Psalms 56:8 NLT)

Even through tears, at this time,at the heart of Christmas you’ll find Jesus. In Jesus you’ll find the hope & comfort you desperately need.

He says ‘Come to Me’

This Christmas, Jesus is not lying in a Christmas card stable. He is not sitting at a Pinterest perfect Christmas dinner oblivious to your need. Rather, He’s reaching down & reaching out – to your hurting heart.

He’s waiting for you – to come to Him

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

He’s asking, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

‘While God may not deliver us from pain & suffering, He’ll walk with us through it’ (Tullian Tchvijan- It is finished)

God is with us:

In our pain
In our grief
In our sorrows
In our darkness
In our trials
In our triumphs
In our daily lives

When the lights are switched off at Christmas, only Jesus can colour to our hearts & lives-for He is the great light of the world

‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. ‘(Isaiah 9:2 NIV)

Blessings,

Ruthx

What lies within

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One of the most thought provoking sentences I’ve read this year leapt out of a page of the devotional book my mother-in-love bought me last Christmas:

‘Honest souls know what’s inside of them. They alone can showcase a Saviour’
(Chris Tiegreen )

Someone has wisely said that we need to be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with God.

Honestly, what really lies inside us?

Truthfully, what lies deep inside us is much darker than sugar and spice or even slugs and snails suggested in rhymes.

Augusten Burroughs wrote ‘I myself am made entirely of flaws stitched together with good intentions’

When I look within myself I can clearly see an obvious bias toward selfish ways, bad attitudes & cold indifference. ‘Old fashioned’ sin that is as common as ever.

For the Bible says, ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23 NIV)

We humans all bear damaged souls & broken beauty. We fall short of what we are created to be .

Built into each of us is tremendous capacity for both good & evil.There’s a mix of fears, failures & faults. The hope of all we long to be versus the truth of who we are (as Casting Crowns aptly put it)

We as humans fall painfully short of our own expectations, let alone God’s.

Paul wrote ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.'(Romans 7:15 NIV)

‘Sometimes the most impossible person to live with is yourself,’ wrote Ann Voskamp, ‘Our hands are so stained with sin, that even our best works can leave traces of dirty prints’

She echoes words written by a prophet thousands of years ago: ‘All our righteous acts are like filthy rags’ (Isaiah 64:6 NIV)

But the great news is this, that between then & now, at the very crux of history, Jesus came to earth to deal with our dirty rags of sin within:

‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.’(Titus 2:11 NIV)

‘But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.’ (Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV)

And,’Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1 NIV)

If we trust in Jesus, His glorious grace shines within us , dispelling the grip of sin:

‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’
(2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV)

‘In the presence of light you see darkness.
In the presence of power you see weakness.
In the presence of beauty you see ugliness.
In the presence of God you see your need for grace’
(Tim Keller)

And asking for God’s grace within us can totally transform us!

‘We know what we are but not what we may be’ (William Shakespeare)

‘He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,’ (2 Timothy 1:9 NIV)

For the amazing truth is that God knows exactly what lies inside us-
& yet He still loves us!
He sees our sin & has sent a Saviour
He sees our problems & our potential
He knows our mistakes & our mission

And because of His grace, our sins are:
Forgiven
Forgotten
Forever

His grace inside us:
redeems our life
releases us from fear
& illuminates our path

When we focus on
the grace & mercy of God the Father poured within our lives,
the sacrificial love of God the Son,
& the light & power of God the Spirit,

Then:
‘What lies behind us & what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us’ (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

And remember:
‘We’re far worse than we ever imagined, & far more loved than we could ever dream’ (Tim Keller)

‘In your greatest moment you are never more than a sinner who has been embraced by the mercy & love of God & forgiven at the expense of the death of His Son.
In your most broken times you are never less than a daughter of the King, a chosen child of the Father & an inheritor of every blessing in Christ’
(Valerie Murphy -Focusfest 2011)

If you’re like me, you might want to read those quotes again slowly, to inhale the audacious truth, then exhale grateful thanks to our Good, Good Father God.

Amen!

Blessings,

Ruth x

Story-telling in the Land of Smiles

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Twenty years ago I  spent a summer in Thailand for my medical elective in Manorom Christian Hospital in Central Thailand with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) I was inspired by the inspirational skill & devotion of the doctors serving God there. I also have happy memories of  running along paddy fields, visiting markets, eating tropical fruit, & of the warm hospitality of missionaries. This country captured my heart & for a significant time I believed I would be back there as a medical missionary.

In April 2017 it was eventually possible for me to return to Thailand again. I’d been in Singapore & I had the opportunity to visit Thailand just for the weekend.

It was a short visit just after Thai New Year. Just after Songkran- the national water festival. Just after a week of challenge, education & encouragement at OMF headquarters.

Just a weekend, but it was long enough to see spirit houses & temples – a reminder that ‘To be Thai is to be Buddhist’

Long enough to see beautiful Thai smiles & hear ‘sawadee ka‘ (‘Hello’)

Long enough to hear what love sounds like at House of Grace orphanage.

Long enough to feel the tropical sun in the hot season & the sand beneath my feet as I walked along Crystal Beach.

Long enough to recognise how stressed I had been & to sense the blessing of this weekend that was just what I needed.

And most importantly, long enough to hear Alan & Maelynn’s story- a story of following God’s call across the globe in the days when travelling to Thailand meant embarking on a three week journey to Asia by boat!

They married in South Thailand & worked as missionaries there. Soon Alan & Maelynn had 5 children under 4 ( including 2 sets of twins!)

There followed years of ministry in South Thailand & Bangkok. Then on World AIDS Day in December 1990, God challenged them about the 300,000 Thai infected with HIV. In 1992 ,Aids Care Education & Training ( ACET) Thailand was born- an opportunity to show God’s love in action.

Now in their late 70s, retirement isn’t really on their agenda. As long as they remain healthy, & there’s work to do- they’ll remain here in Thailand.

I listened to a chapter of their story in their home nestling among banana & papaya trees near Chantaburi. I thought about how stories have been described as social glue- the substance that binds humanity together. I was also deeply challenged by the fact that Alan & Maelynn’s  story was actually all about telling His story

Just the week before in Singapore I’d sang ‘May our lives tell your story’

(from Shine on me by Graham Kendrick)

What a prayer: May our lives tell your story!

Eugene Peterson wrote an article ‘Living into God’s story’:

‘The Bible is basically and overall a narrative, an immense, sprawling, capacious narrative. Stories hold pride of place in revealing God and God’s way to us.’

God’s story contains the overarching themes of His faithfulness, redemption, sovereignty , eternal love, deep mercy & amazing grace.

His story is eternal:

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

His story involves:

*Blessing

‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.’
(Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV)

*Saving

‘But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,’
(Titus 3:4-5 NIV)

*Calling

‘He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.’
(2 Timothy 1:9 NIV)

*Encouraging

‘May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.’
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NIV)

Yes, may our lives tell His story.

After all, He is the Author of life, the healer of hearts & the Saviour of souls.

‘God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.’
(Psalm 18:24 MSG)

‘None of us is the leading character in the story of our lives. God is the larger context and plot in which all our stories find themselves.’
(Eugene Petersen)

‘Lord write your story on the pages of  my life that I may bring glory to You’
(Leah Dipascal)

‘Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.’
(Isaiah 25:1 NIV)

‘Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts.’
(Psalm 145:4 MSG)

Blessings,

Ruth x

‘Tis the season…to make room

curlysue028

December starts with good intentions of organization & calm & cards posted on time. Yet as the month rolls on, it gains momentum like a giant snowball gathering more & more festive events & shopping.

I can identify with Bilbo Baggins who said, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)

Someone wise once said ‘Rest before you are tired’ And the Wisest of All created rest in the beginning.

We need to create margin, or white space as we approach this time of the year. Our diaries may be jam-packed already, but:

‘Its in the white space- the in between moments of stillness- where the joy of Christmas is found’
(Rebecca Cooper)

‘White space is where the magic happens’
(no sidebar)

‘The quieter you become the more you can hear’ (Ram Dass)

In the middle of the mayhem & busyness attributed to Christmas celebrations, the  sound of silence can be deafening. Last month’s minute of silence on Remembrance Day felt much longer than  sixty seconds.

‘There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech.’
(Charles Spurgeon)

Even in this season,‘We must also identify what gives us life, what recharges us and restores our capacity.’(Alli Worthington -Breaking Busy)

In the quiet, we can connect with God. We can make room to  marvel & wonder at the miracle of Christmas, that God is with us – Imanuel

How can we make room for God this Christmas?

*Read

In December I set aside my usual reading plan & start off each day reading from an Advent book

This year I’m reading The One True Gift by Tim Chester. Last year I read The One True Light by the same author.

The year before I read The Time is Now by Amy Orr-Ewing

*Pray

We can pray for our family,community & our broken world.

I love these little books to help us pray using God’s Words:

5 things to pray-
For those you love
For your church
For your world

*Listen

Listen to Christmas music.  I love traditional carols blended with contemporary worship:

A Christmas Offering-Casting Crowns
Adore– Chris Tomlin
A Hallelujah Christmas – Cloverton
How many kings-Downhere

*Explore

Wrap up warm & escape into the great outdoors to  breathe deeply, clear your mind,  & star gaze.  Creation is the ultimate whitespace- the best way to unplug  from the un-necessary & connect with the One who made it all!

Each day we have choices to make:

‘Each of us is an inn keeper who decides if there is room for Jesus’
(Neal Maxwell)

‘Let every heart prepare Him room’
(Joy to the world)

Blessings,

Ruth x

FATT-Frazzled All The Time ?

curlysue028

They say that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they react to:

Traffic jams
Tangled Christmas tree lights
Toddler tantrums
& of course spilt milk!

These minor mishaps & countless others can lead to us feeling hassled & annoyed.

But I’ve noticed that there’s a more subtle ongoing background activity that makes many of us feel F.A.T.T.- Frazzled All The Time. We are not functioning at our optimum & feel slightly stressed a lot of the time. We are frazzled & frayed at the edges-worn away to exhaustion.

We are multitasking to a level our brain was not designed for. We scroll down through social media incessantly- at the same time as watching,cooking, talking & toileting! We are multi-tasking too much, & becoming inefficient. Indeed digital scrolling has altered the way we read

We are never unplugged! We can’t switch off so we never truly unwind.

This causes mental clutter & mind congestion & leads to us being fuzzy-headed, scattered brained …& frazzled.

We are overloaded & supersaturated with oftentimes irrelevant, useless facts. We are drained by information we don’t even need to know! Apparently, an average Sunday paper contains more information than an average medieval man acquired in his lifetime. This is the Information Age with the constant stream & newsfeed. Our minds are over fed yet undernourished.

‘That’s often the case with busyness: it robs us of the gifts right in front of us.’ (Jeff Goins)

Our daily lives can be hijacked by small things.

‘Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.’
(Song of Solomon 2:15 NIV)

In the whirl of activity, we have no time to wonder or ponder.

No time to calm your mind or search your soul.

We are easily distracted, getting dragged into the vortex- entangled in the world wide web- searching & skipping from one screen to the next.

I find myself drawn into the minutiae of ‘Friends of friends’ on Facebook & yet I run out of time to write a note to our Compassion kids. This highlights my very poor time management & skewed priorities.

There are so many {too many} good things on social media & the web, that we need to focus.

We have to form clarity in the clutter. In the same way that we de-clutter our homes or our desks, we need to de-clutter our minds.

‘We make choices & our choices make us’

We need to conscientiously choose to focus & de-frazzle!

It can be soothing to disconnect with the digital to engage fully in reality!

What can we decide to do to de-frazzle?

Here are my simple suggestions:

•No screen time before breakfast
•Always read God’s Word first
•Set a time limit before you switch on
•Ask does this really matter?
•Is there anything more important you should do instead?
•Go for a long walk- & leave your phone at home
•Read a paper book rather than Kindle/ibooks
•Go back to basics & use paper & pen to journal thoughts
•No phones out at meal times- at home or when out & about
•Consider a ‘cyber Sabbath’ i.e. no tech/gadgets for one day a week
(I haven’t managed this one yet- but it’s a great idea in theory!)

And when we quiet our minds, we can start to hear the still, small voice of Truth:

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

Meditate on those words:

Be Still
Be Still & know
Be still & know that I AM
Be still & know that I AM God

‘Stillness is to the soul as de-cluttering is to the home.’
(Emily Freeman)

‘When you have an overwhelmed world, you don’t have to have an underwhelmed soul -if Christ fills the thoughts.’
(Ann Voskamp)

Blessings,

Ruthx

Brewing some perspective…one coffee shop at a time

curlysue028

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