Light of your Presence

 

Let the light of your face shine upon us, Lord.

Most vitamin deficiencies, I think, can be sorted with supplements. Vitamin D, however, is most effectively received and used by our bodies when we are in the sunshine. Even in hot climates, it is advisable to spend several minutes a day basking in the rays of the sun in order to receive Vitamin D.

A challenge in Scotland.

Much of our spiritual sustenance is grabbed on the go. Praise music in the car, or an audio version of the Bible. Podcast while we wash up.

Nothing replaces the benefits of those several minutes spent basking in God’s presence. There is no supplement, no replacement for that.

May you give yourself a moment today to sit and drink in his presence, and so be refreshed and renewed. God reaches the places nothing else can.

Let the light of your face shine upon us, Lord.

No Connection

 

A violent electrical storm raged through Scotland a fortnight ago, wreaking destruction where it could. Having heard the forecast, we unplugged everything before going to bed, and congratulated ourselves that in the morning, after the night’s devastation, everything worked when we plugged back in.

Our neighbour was not so fortunate. Although he took the same precautions, when he plugged in, no connection.

A couple of miles away, another friend lost her internet and telephone connections when lightning struck the earth and literally fried the underground wires. Technicians are finding several areas where the wires are nothing but carbon dust.

No connection.

Violent storms of all sorts are endemic on earth, perhaps more now than ever before. Environmental crisis brought on by human greed and wastefulness; a pandemic plague, again occasioned by human foolishness; economic collapse; explosions and coups and poisonings; racism and unjust political systems…the list goes on.

The enemy wants nothing more than to strike our hearts with a bolt of lightning, destroying our connection with our creator God, vaporising our love for him. I choose to remain in the protective arms of Jesus, shielded from the effects of those devastating lightning strikes.

In this world, we have trouble, but Jesus has overcome the world.

Lego Reconstructions

 

I never dreamt it would take me so many hours to rebuild all the Lego constructions our four kids accumulated while growing up! All the bricks and bits ended up in one big box, and I have spent weeks sorting into colours, shapes, and then rebuilding. I imagined I would be done in a week or two. At least a month in, spending a couple hours every day, I’m not finished yet!

Most of the pieces are standard shapes and sizes, which can be used for a variety of constructions. But a large number are unique pieces. Maybe a cannister or a helicopter rotor piece or a tow bar or … I look at some bits sitting in the containers and cannot imagine what they are for. Until they are connected with the structure for which they were made, their purpose will remain a mystery.

I am looking forward to finishing, knowing that I will have pieces left over which didn’t fit anywhere. I also have gaps where I haven’t been able to find the unique bits required.

If I don’t ever find the missing bits, then those constructions will be less than they were intended to be.

Each one of us is a unique bit, fashioned by God to fit into whatever social structure we inhabit. We bring to that structure something which nobody else can bring. Something ordained by God, given to us to be used for the good of the church, of society, of the world.

Even if it takes years, may we all bring our unique gift to the sphere of life we inhabit, so that the integrity and functionality can be all that God intended. We were meant to be together. It’s the way we make sense.

New Roof

 

Can’t keep a good man down. He may be 73, but he is building the scaffolding, positioning the roofing ladders, climbing up on to the slates to remove each one, painstakingly slowly. One by one, the force he exerts releases the nails and frees the slate intact, to be used by the slater when it’s all being put back together again.

As the slates come off, rotten wood is exposed. The sarking boards, the roof trusses, ancient wood: much of it rotten. Decaying. Left unrenewed, they would have given way eventually, collapsing inwards.

Much of our time is spent in maintaining that outward appearance. We are fine. Yes, it’s tough just now, but we are strong, soaring even. But sometimes, underneath the façade, we are not so fine. We are eaten up by the woodworm of self-doubt, of hurt, of anxiety and fear. We need to expose this inner decay to the light of Christ, so that he can renew us from the inside out.

I think this is a lifelong challenge. Once I start assuming I’m just fine, I discover that actually, there is a bit in there which is about to collapse.

Today may I be transformed by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, surrendered totally to Jesus so he can work in me to effect change that is lasting, based on who he is and what he has done for me.

Secure connections

 

Don has worked for hours renewing the bunk beds our children slept in, so that returning grandchildren can sleep in them. Now they are sanded, varnished, put back together in the bedroom. New mattresses have arrived, and new bedding.

The ladder, however…

The ladder is there, but one of the metal brackets connecting it to the bed was missing. Don removed the second bracket in order to get a new one made – and it’s disappeared. So two new brackets now need fashioning and screwing on so the children can climb up to the top bunk safely.

We go to so much trouble ‘climbing up’ to God. We practice our worship music, write fantastic prayers, think through a message and prepare a children’s talk. We come together and climb the ladder … but in order to connect to God, we need hearts hungry for his presence and eager for his words.

Hearts and spirits eager for God: those are the secure connections which take us into the relaxing presence of the Lord.ac

The Rocks

The rocks.

I went to Auchmithie Beach because, as I watched Martin Fair preach to the West Church from there, I was stunned by the diversity of the pebbles and stones on the beach.

As part of my Artist’s Way, I was to collect five stones this week. I brought back double that.

The smooth pebbles reveal that they’ve been washed, again and again and again, pummelled by a pounding surf when the tide comes in, enveloped in the water as it recedes. The soft water does it, over the days, over the weeks, over the months and years, in and out, in and out, wearing away the rough edges, sanding down the sharp corners.

The pummelling of the wave action flings the stones against each other. Rough edges sanded to silken softness by the bumping against each other. Smoothed by the interaction with each other.

In front of me, large conglomerate boulders squat like tired soldiers. Glued together by accumulated grime, dirt, and organic detritus. They are black; they are dirty; there is nothing to commend them. Yet I know that in a century or so, someone may sit here and admire beautifully smooth pebbles, pebbles pummelled and washed, cleansed and freed from the grime that glues them into the dirty boulders they are today.

I am like these squatting soldiers, my personality plastered together by people, places, events, held tight by the adhesive of familiarity, of responsibility, of duty, of love.

I sit and wait as God washes me clean. He removes the clarted grit which has frozen me rigid into an image of my life’s circumstances rather than a reflection of our beautiful Saviour.

Some of my gunk and grime is so superglued to me that it will take a storm to release me and set me free. Use the storm we’re living in now, Lord: Covid-19, the severe thunderstorms and torrential rain this week, the earthquake in California, my ageing Mom. Shake me. Wash me. I know Covid has totally blindsided me. I never considered things could so universally and drastically change, virtually overnight. Help me to hold your light to this world, full of hope and ready for whatever comes next.

Not all is negative, and the beauty, the love, the laughter, the grace – those become as silken threads winding through me, intrinsic to the person God created me to be.

I am so grateful for all those in my life who have become those silken threads. The external gunk – wash it away, dear Lord! The loss and sorrow; the fear and pain, the anger and unforgiveness. The mean spirit in me which reflects the mean spirit in the world, not the grace of God.

I am created to be an image-bearer. Your image, dear Lord. Your hope. Light. Life. Love. Grace and peace. You’ve anointed me as a peacemaker. Renew that anointing, Father, and use me to bring peace to you and through you into this hurting world.

May Jesus, the hound of heaven, never lose me, leave me, or give up on me. I am hopeless in my own strength, but thanks be to Jesus, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

 

Unsolicited Blessings

Sometimes God answers prayers I haven’t prayed.

Yesterday was such a day.

I had chosen it as an artist’s day away, part of this Artist’s Way I’m doing with Mhairi. A couple of weeks ago, I had watched as a preacher preached from this beautiful beach near Arbroath. I knew instantly that I wanted to go there.

What drew me was the amazing range of colours of the rocks and pebbles on the shore, the sharply rising sandstone cliffs, and the solitude. So, notebook and pen, Bible and water and a cereal bar and I was off to find this place.

The skies in Drumoak were overcast but as soon as I cleared Inverbervie, the sun blazed out of a clear blue sky. God was smiling on me.

Auchmithie Beach was all I hoped for and more. As I stood alone, gazing at the lapping waves, thinking about the book I’m working on, I felt God release me to stop. To stop working. To take the time to gaze and be refreshed in the silence. (Well, apart from the gulls and the waves…)

We have such a gracious God. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name. Forget not all his benefits. He gives us gifts we didn’t even know we wanted.

Tomorrow I’ll show you the stones I brought back…