Not what I expected

 

The past couple of days in Britain it seems to have reverted back to winter.  There have been parts of the country that have seen snow and hailstones – in May!  Yesterday I succumbed and eventually put on the heating for a while, the cold was reaching right through to my bones.  They say that over the weekend it will be a little warmer.  I hope so as I have tomato and pepper plants that I want to get out into the little greenhouse before they take over the living room.  This is not the weather we expect in the southwest of England in May.

Yesterday I went into a particular shop in town looking for a product that I have been trying to get for a couple of weeks.  I discovered, however, that they had something similar but not exactly what I had been looking for.  For some reason the product I wanted is no longer available but this is the nearest I could get.  Sometimes when this happens or when the manufacturer decides to change the design on the packaging, we get a little confused – it’s not what we expect to see and so think that maybe it’s a different product altogether.  I’m sure I’ll soon get used to the alternative.  But for the moment it sort of throws you a bit when things aren’t always as you expect.

 

I suppose that’s the problem really.  I make plans and have things all sorted out in my head and then find that it doesn’t always work like that and I have to change my plans or get my head around a new strategy.  Ah!  How often I have done that.  We tend to plan ahead which is not a bad thing.  In fact it is a good thing but the trouble is we can so often have fixed ideas about things, become rigid in our thinking and inflexible in our attitude and then life happens and we have to rethink the situation or change our view about something.  Looking back over my life, I realise that very little has actually turned out the way I had planned or thought it would.  Over the years I have had to change direction on a number of occasions, when there was need to adapt to some unplanned situation. 

 

Having said that, I am still learning to go with the flow and travel where the wind blows me.  Over the past few years I have repositioned my thinking on many subjects and changed my mind about some things.  I am learning to realise the limitations that come with a controlled and planned life and accepting instead the freedom that comes with just letting the Spirit take me where He wants; to live without the confines of the controlled construct of organised church where my ideas and attitudes are under the authority of others; instead I now live in the freedom of the wild that it outside the walls of the building.  There is a breath of fresh air about it all. 

 

 

 

 

 

Better Vision

One of the unfortunate side-effects of having more birthdays is that parts of you stop working as efficiently as they used to!  I have regular check-ups at the eye clinic because of a cataract that is forming in one of my eyes.  This impairs my vision somewhat in that things in the distance become very unclear.  Last week I went for a regular eye test at the optician’s and this week I had to go and collect my new glasses.  It was amazing!  What a difference!   When the assistant asked if I could read the card, I did so without any problem and then in the distance, I could actually read the small print on a poster on the wall.  I was a bit like a kid at Christmas!  All the way up the street on my way back to the bus stop I was deliberately looking in shop windows for notices to read – just because I could – read them I mean!  I don’t know what any passers-by might have thought of this woman with a wide grin on her face looking in all the shop windows.

The following day I went to see my sister – we usually spend a couple of hours a week with a coffee, catching up on family etc.  The bus came around the corner about 100 yards away and I was thrilled to actually be able to read the destination and the number as it turned the corner and didn’t have to wait until it got to within about 5 yards of me.  Now I don’t need to look puzzlingly at an approaching bus and wonder if it is the one I want or not.

 



The thing I realised is that even though my vision was a little impaired and I couldn’t make out some things until they were really quite close, it’s something I got used to and sort of worked within that limitation without much fuss.  I stopped trying to read the news headlines as they went along the bottom of the TV screen.  I just listened to whatever the newsreader said.  In a way I just got used to my limitation in this matter and accepted it almost as inevitable.  This week I was reminded that things that aren’t 100% right can be changed.  Someone once said ‘Nothing that is wrong need be permanent’.  But in order to better my situation I had to go the optician and have my eyes tested and a new prescription given.  Eventually when the time is right, the cataract will be removed and my sight greatly improved.  I may moan about things not being right when maybe I should be thinking of how I can go about changing things and making them better instead of just putting up with things as they are.  With this in mind, yesterday I went into the back garden and mended a bit of fence that was broken.  There that’s better already!

 

Of course the world will take a bit longer to change; after all I’m not wonder woman!  But seriously sometimes we look with a bit of desperation at all that seems to be wrong and resign ourselves to the fact that it’s just the way things are.  But one step at a time, where we are, in our own back yard as it were, we can maybe do something to change some little thing.  After all the ocean is made up of countless drops of water, as they say.  In the Lord’s Prayer we pray ‘Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’ and as a Christian who believes that this is what God wants then maybe I should be changing things, one bit at a time just where I am so that heaven is apparent just here.  Each of us making a difference right where we are - now there's a vision!





 

The Ever-Present Friend

The other day I saw a video of the song Jesus Emmanuel, The Name Lives On by David Phelps.  It is from his album Life is a Church.  It shows Jesus in various situations, just being with people, sometimes talking to them and sometimes just walking with them or hugging them, depending on their need.  It is worth the 4 or so minutes it takes to watch it.  You can see it here:



 

 

 

 

I particularly like the part where He is riding on the back of the refuse lorry, helping the bin men collect the rubbish.  It reminded me of an incident that happened over 15 years ago.  It was the custom at that time to give the children at Sunday School some topics for prayer.  I was taken to task because I had suggested to them that we should pray for the refuse collectors.  The gist of the complaint was that it was understandable and acceptable to pray for professions like doctor, nurse, teacher – those people who are considered to be fulfilling some vocation - but why refuse collectors?  My short reply was simply, ‘why not?’  So I was particularly pleased to see Jesus helping the men collect the rubbish and putting it in the lorry, hanging on the back with the others as they drove along.  This is my Jesus, my God.



What I also noticed was that there were no images of church buildings or anything to do with organised religion.  It was all about Jesus being out there in real life situations.  I think it’s sad that non-Christians think of Christianity (and Christians) as having to do with a building, liturgy and candles, people dressed in long frocks and wearing back-to-front collars and listening to a particular style of music.  If God/Jesus is really in everyday life situations, as I think most Christians really believe, then why is there such insistence on going to a building usually on a Sunday morning to ‘meet with God’?  It’s as though there is some need to go and fill up our spiritual supermarket trolleys so we are able to delve into the stock in our spiritual cupboards during the following week when we need to find a suitable verse or illustration.  God is here, now.  When Jesus met with Zacchaeus, it was outside and then He went to his house to chat.  He met a crazy man among the graves, a woman at the well when she was about her daily work … ... and we could go on with many more examples.  

It’s not just about joining with other like-minded people in a particular place to sing about Him or pray/talk to Him.  It’s about living with Him every day in all circumstances.  He is the ever-present one – He’s always there with us.  Jesus Emmanuel; God with us/me; now, here; at my point of need; in every part of my life; my very real and true Friend.



Unexpected Flowers

This week two unexpected flowers made an impression on me.  The first one is on a Christmas Cactus plant I have.  It was unexpected because the plant was in full bloom in December.  I actually mentioned in a blog before Christmas that I was hoping it would stay in flower for Christmas Day and so live up to its name – and it did.  So I was a little surprised to see another flower appear in April.  There has been just the one flower but it made me smile.  It was as though it was saying, ‘I want to do something spontaneous.  I want to be different.’

As the warmer weather has now decided to make an appearance, I have been doing a bit of pottering around the garden.  There is a small strip where I have snowdrops and crocuses.  They have now died off and so I was clearing the weeds that seem to be everywhere.  Clearing out some of the unwanted growth I suddenly saw a beautiful miniature purple pansy – just the one, all on its own.  It was hidden among all the weeds.  It was still growing in all its glory to its full potential, even though it went unnoticed because of all the other stuff around it.  It wasn’t something that made a splash of colour or caught the attention as soon as you looked at the garden as some larger, more striking flowers might do.  It just did its job, fulfilled its purpose whether it was noticed or not.  And it cheered my heart.  It was as though it was wearing the slogan ‘Just do it!’  It reminded me of a very old song that has the line ‘content to fill a little space if God be glorified.’

When we go to large gatherings, conventions, revival meetings or to hear some well-known speaker, you sort of expect to ‘feel’ God near.  You almost wait for the moment when you feel uplifted and encouraged.  But I do love it when God appears out of the blue; when we’re not expecting it; when He reminds us of some truth that we have deep inside and it suddenly comes bursting up to the surface and we just want to smile and say ‘Thank you Lord’.  He is a God who specialises in the one-to-one encounter; He is so very personal; He knows how to get my attention and whisper encouragement.  It was like He was saying ‘Don’t worry about doing things differently.  Don’t be concerned with all the stuff going on around you; just do what I sent you to do.  Even though it seems that nobody notices, there is a purpose and someone will be blessed, even if you never know.  Be you.  Be the person I made you to be and I will show my glory through you.’  I’m so glad that He has a habit of breaking through the mundane.  I’m glad He is a God who is interested in the individual and thinks of me.  Thank you Lord.