Call out the Gold

Back from my walk, I strolled round the garden to see what’s happening. I was surprised to see wallflowers budding and beginning to show colour. I planted them last year, given them by my neighbour, and didn’t know whether to leave them in for another year or pull them out in autumn. I’m glad I left them in.

It’s lovely to find new growth where things appeared dead. 

Kris Vallotton coined a phrase, ‘call out the gold’, in reference to seeing the good in every person, prophetically or otherwise. I pray that this might be my aim today and every day, that when I consider anyone else, I ‘call out the gold’.

That’s what God does with us. Even when we were still sinners, he saw something within us worth redemption and Jesus came and died for us. Even when we mess up, he still looks at what might appear dead, and sees green shoots of life and beauty.

The message of Easter. So fitting for springtime!

Thank God for Easter

As yesterday’s early morning walk behind the cross drew near the church, those carrying the cross strode out of sight, followed by a few swift followers. The rest of us were ‘stuck’ behind a ‘bottle-neck’ formed by one old man with his cane, and his companions. 

Nobody overtook them. We knew where we were headed, so we kept company with those who were finding the way difficult.

Sometimes on our life’s journey we feel like we’ve lost sight of Jesus, lost sight of his cross. But he has left us map points by which to plot our course, guidelines in Scripture by which to live, and it’s as we continue to walk in faith that his cross comes back into view. It’s right that we adopt the pace of the slowest in our party, so that we can all arrive together. There are no prizes for the sprinter in the Kingdom but I think Jesus loves the marathon runners who slow their pace at times to accompany others who struggle along the way.

Jesus walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as they struggled with Easter weekend events. He walks with each of us as we struggle to make sense of our circumstances, and the situations in the wider world.

Thank God for Easter.

Fragrant Lily

I was given a gift the other day. An ordinary tin pot with a bag of soil in it, and a bulb of great promise. One day, if I get out there and plant it, we will enjoy the beauty and fragrance of an exotic, glorious lily.

God has given us all the gift of life. Most of us look pretty ordinary, but there is promise with the gift. When we plant the Spirit within our heart, others can enjoy the beauty and fragrance of our exotic, glorious Saviour Jesus.

Happy Easter.

Resurrection River

Deep and wide and flowing fast. That was the River Dee this morning at 9 am (summer time – if you didn’t move your clock you will have missed it...), as we gathered along its banks to praise Jesus on a glorious Easter morn. We meet, weirdly, just below the graveyard ... surely a resurrection service should be just above it? 

The river was in spate this morning after a night of stormy wind and rain. Sometimes life seems to be in spate, as its storms lash us. What an inspiration to look at the beautiful changing sky, well-defined clouds scudding past at speed, and praise the Lord of Creation who never changes, who is always good, who is always love, and who is the Victor over death, forever.

He is risen. He is risen indeed!!!

Walking home

Silent walk behind the cross through the town of Banchory this morning. Jet-lagged but there, because it is a highlight of the Easter observances. Some of the pavements are broad and clear; part of the walk is through a park; much of it is on narrow pavements and many times, twines of ivy or overhanging branches brush the faces of those whose meditations have taken their eyes off the pathway. A lot like life, I thought.

Walking each other home. How that phrase has enriched my life these past months and this morning, as I thought of Jesus’ own final walk through the steep streets of Jerusalem, I reflected that he, too, needed help walking home. Exhausted and savagely beaten, he crumpled beneath the weight of the cross and someone was pulled in to carry it for him. Someone may have mopped his brow. Someone cared for his body after his death. 

Jesus’ life was not a walk in the park. He asked his friends, the night before he died, to stay with him and pray and watch. They fell asleep on the job. We are all walking each other home, but at the moment, with my dear mother nearly 92, I feel most conscious of walking her home. It is a challenge in many ways, throwing me out of my comfort zone, requiring long-distance skype calls and a lot of prayer, and her forgetfulness can become tedious and demanding. But I am so conscious that this is a privilege, a blessing, that I am entrusted with staying awake with Mom, with doing what I can to make the final walk, however long or short, easier for her. May I remain awake and vigilant, inspired and empowered by Jesus.

He is risen indeed!

Standing on the river bank yesterday morning, a youth band enthusiastically leading our praise to Jesus, a crowd of young and old, regulars and Easter visitors, clustered round them. The river flowed on inexorably; rabbits bounced; a woodpecker pecked and other birds sang their hearts out. The sun blazed out of a clear blue sky. A perfect start to the wonderful day that is Easter.

We sang. We listened to the gospel story. We prayed. We sang some more. In between, various folk stepped forward and shared what the resurrection meant for them. ‘Nothing is impossible with God’ said one scientist who had spent years struggling with the impossibility of a dead body coming back to life. ‘Amazement,’ said another, that Jesus could love her, could love the world, so much. ‘Everything,’ said a third. So much, that it was impossible to condense into a sound bite and share. She said later that as she struggled to express the monumental ‘thing’ that the resurrection is to her, she saw her little girls rushing round gathering up rabbit droppings, oblivious to everything else.

And isn’t that the way of life? Some of us who have already been blessed with a gift of faith, who have experienced and participated in the relationship through the Spirit which we can have because Jesus died and rose again...we just want to celebrate our Lord and lift him high on our praises. But out there in the world are others who have not yet experienced the touch of Jesus, who are totally focused on the ‘droppings’. (Actually, these little girls do know Jesus as their saviour and Lord but they are, after all, little girls...)

So, happy Easter. However you see it, it is the greatest day in history. The day that changed everything. The day that makes it possible for heaven to come to earth through those who believe.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.

Expect the Unexpected

I thought I would be going to my Pilates class this morning, but received an email last night indicating we are done now until after Easter. So instead, this morning, I went alone round the old familiar dog walk trail behind ‘Jock’s’. 

A noisy, squawking flock of geese circled over the farm nearby. They weren’t travelling in their usual flexible V shape, just circling and communicating to each other. Unusual, I thought.

Suddenly a deer broke cover and leapt across the path. Gosh, Dusty would have responded like a shot in her old glory days. There was just me there today, though, noticing the grace and beauty of the roe deer as it bounded deeper into the woods. 

Coming home, I discovered that our B&B guests who were due to be here for six days had been moved on to Thurso by their company, so sheets were in the wash and we were re-calculating our week. Then we got an email saying replacement guys were coming for the other five nights of that booking. Up to remake the beds and ready the room.

Expect the unexpected. That’s always my attitude when travelling and I guess as life is a journey, too, it should be my attitude every day.

We’re coming up to Easter, and I’ve been reading the Easter story this morning. Although Jesus had advised the disciples that he would rise again on the third day, nobody expected it. The women who went to the tomb on the Sunday morning expected to find the mangled, dead body of the leader they loved and had followed all over Israel. They had the herbs and spices and expected to be tenderly washing and caring for Jesus’ body. 

They were so unprepared for a resurrection that Mary asked the ‘gardener’ who had taken away the body. Of course, the gardener was Jesus, and Mary was the first to encounter him and then race off to share the good news – the staggering news – the completely unexpected news – that Jesus, who had died a humiliating, agonising, very public death on the Friday, had risen and was walking around in a brand new, resurrection body.

Expect the unexpected. I wasn’t expecting an encounter with God the night he came in power and love and overwhelmed and transformed me. 

As I go out today, I want to be open and alert for the unexpected. Ours is a God of surprises.