Herbaceous

Never thought I might one day claim a ‘herbaceous border’ as my own, but this is a pretty good effort. Mainly thanks to a neighbour and friend who spent Friday mornings one summer digging alongside me, suggesting plants, identifying problems, helping me to envision some sort of order to the chaotic growth at that point.

This morning I was privileged to be part of a prayer focus on healing, and one participant had a picture of the battle in which Moses had to have a friend on either side of him holding his arms in the air. When his arms were up, the battle went his way; when they dropped with exhaustion things went pear-shaped. 

Walking each other home. Holding up each other’s arms in the midst of the storms of life. In sorrow or celebration, just being there for each other. Perceiving the vision; taking the long view and sharing hope and expectation in the God we can trust in everything. 

Thank you to all who have held my arms aloft at various times, who have dug alongside me and planted, who are walking me home. The fragrance rises to heaven. God bless you.

Withering Words

Autumn is around the corner and the leaves are beginning to turn. Soon they will wither and fall and the trees will be bare branches reaching to the skies.

Jesus once cursed a fig tree which had no fruit on it, and by the next day it had withered and was dying. There may be many lessons that can be taken from that but for me today I’m thinking about the power of words. The withering of the fig tree is a visual demonstration of the power words carry. Power to bring life, and power to bring death.

How many times have I used words which have caused someone to wither? I hope not often. I can remember a few times when a person has said something sharp or critical to me and that sharpness has caused something inside me to wither.

On the other hand, words are powerful to bring life. Many things are written in the Bible about the power of the spoken word to bring life or bring death. 

Jesus warned his followers to be careful with what they said, because we will be judged by every careless word we have spoken. Although many understand that to mean something for the Judgment Day, I think it means that uttering careless words is more powerful now than we imagine. 

We only know that which we see, but Jesus has given us many illustrations and parables and sayings which illustrate that what we see is not the reality that will last. What we don’t see, what is happening in the supernatural realm, is what will last. And what we say affects that realm more than we imagine, despite all the teaching in the Bible. 

In the Old Testament, Jacob stole the blessing which should have been the elder twin Esau’s. He tricked their father into bestowing his dying blessing on him. That may seem a silly thing to be upset about, if all it is is a bunch of words. But if the words have power to effect change, to affect the whole course of our lives, then the upset felt by Esau is more understandable.

May God bless you today and help you to keep a tight rein on your tongue, and me to keep a tight rein on mine. May he inspire me to speak words of life to all I meet, words which inspire hope and give peace even in the turbulent times in which we live.

This is the Day

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Recently I heard of someone who had chosen an arbitrary number of years which he felt might be the length of his life. He did the sums and calculated how many days that left him to accomplish those things which he had on his bucket list.

He then gathered that number of pebbles and put them into a large jar, and every morning he solemnly moves one out of that jar and into what started out as an empty jar.

It’s a sobering reminder that our lives on earth in this form are not immortal, and that we do have a finite number of days in which to do those things which we – which God – has prepared for us to do.

I don’t know about you, but without a plan, I find it very easy to fritter away minutes, hours, and days, without accomplishing things which I do feel I want to do.

This is the day that the Lord has made. Whatever this day holds, it is the only day that I can be sure I have, and it’s important that I make the most of it.

I’m not sure I’ll go as far as a jar of stones – I’m afraid I’d be shocked at how small it might be! But I do intend to embrace each day as a gift to be enjoyed and used completely.

God bless you as you use your day well, too.