Always hope

Just back from a walk. The sun is burning off the early morning mist and it looks like it’s going to be the sort of day where I scrap my To-Do list and head out to the garden.

Everything in the garden is screaming ‘HOPE’. Even beneath the bed of leaves (which I still haven’t cleared up since November), snowdrops and crocus and daffodils and tulips are breaking through the earth and stretching skywards. 

As winter’s grip lessens and the sun lingers longer, higher in the sky, the signs are all there indicating that warmer days are on the way. The monochrome of winter will soon be brightened with the lavish colours of spring. Already the white snowdrops carpet the lawn.

It isn’t just the weather that is seasonal. Our lives are, too. 

Ezekiel had a vision from God, a vision of a valley of dried up old bones. As Ezekiel spoke out the words God gave him, the bones came together and when the Lord breathed into them, they became truly alive.

Time to come out of hibernation, to open ourselves to God and be filled with his Spirit and live. In God, there is always hope.

Leaves for Healing the nations - a few thoughts

So, day 2 on ‘the leaves are for the healing of the nations.’From an arts major, not a scientist.

I have learned today that plants put an equivalent amount of oxygen into the atmosphere to the CO2 they take out. And they put an equivalent amount of CO2 into the atmosphere as the oxygen they take out.

Because they take in a greater amount of CO2 every day than oxygen, the net result is that plants put oxygen into the atmosphere. They counteract some of the harm we do with all of our CO2 emissions.

No wonder tree planting is a good idea. And jungle burning is atrocious for many reasons.

So I can see that the rather humble leaf is critical for maintaining the atmosphere in which we live. But how does this equate to healing the nations, as the Bible asserts in Ezekiel?

I am thinking in terms of absorbing what is harmful and emitting what is good. And remember, these leaves are connected to plants which are positioned by a river of living, fresh water (Jesus is the source of such living water.). The plants (Christians) produce fruit (by the power of the Holy Spirit) which feeds those who are hungry spiritually. And they have leaves which absorb what is harmful and emit what is good, thus changing the atmosphere of any situation encountered.

Jesus said to love our enemies; not to return like for like but to forgive, to turn the other cheek, to go out of our way to serve even those who are ‘enemies’. By doing so, we absorb what is evil, and by the power of the Holy Spirit it is changed. 

If someone gives offense, I choose not to be offended. If someone insults me, I choose not to be insulted. I choose to return good for evil, changing the atmosphere and in my every encounter endeavouring to change the world.

The nations are in turmoil and violence, murder and mayhem pervade our news media. I choose to take that in and emit peace. In my one small corner, I choose to change the atmosphere from one of anger and violence to one of peace.

It may not change many nations, but it is a start.

Leaves for the Healing of the Nations

The leaves of a fruitful bush growing beside a spring of fresh water will be used for the healing of the nations, the Bible tells us in Ezekiel.

The fruit from the bush nourishes the hungry; the leaves are used for the healing of the nations.

I’ve been thinking of this for hours as I picked blackcurrants, and am up to my eyeballs in blackcurrants readying them for jam making. I think I need to revisit a bit of botany and photosynthesis and what the purpose of leaves really is!

I believe that leaves absorb some of the pollutants in the air, and then along with using the sunlight they convert it into the green goodness of plants. I think I need to make sure of this, but it does have some obvious parallels to the purpose of leaves in this biblical sense.

Perhaps never has the world been in more need of healing. We Christians need to spend more time in the Word to figure out just what this verse means. The healing of the nations...

As we Christians immerse ourselves in the living water, fully refreshed in Jesus, we bear fruit which nourishes the spiritually famished around us. And maybe there is a sense that we also act as leaves, attracting pollutants – bad attitudes, thoughts, atmospheres, etc – and converting them into healthy attitudes.

How does that bring healing to the nations? One person at a time?

 

What do you think?

Wanted - Dead or Alive

Last year I floated in the Dead Sea. It is so buoyant that one can literally float away from shore and find it very difficult to right yourself again. One German lady, rather round, actually had to call for help to regain her footing as she felt herself floating off further than she wanted. 

There is no life in the Dead Sea, just a high concentration of various minerals and especially salt. And it is vast, stretching off to the horizon.

So just now when I read these lines from Ezekiel, I could just see it. This prophet had a picture from God and it concerned a river flowing from God himself, a river of life which flowed down from God and ‘enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh.’ 

There have been times in my life where I’ve felt that inside me was a Dead Sea, out of which no life could spring. How encouraging are these words to anyone who recognises that feeling of lifelessness, that the river of life continues to flow from God and empty into the Dead Sea, where it transforms the deadness into a life-giving spring. 

The passage goes on to describe fruit trees flourishing along the banks of the river, trees which bear a continuous crop of nourishing fruit and whose very leaves contain healing properties.

I remember those old posters from the Wild West days. Wanted - Dead or Alive. That's how Jesus feels about each of us. He wants us, whether or not we feel dead or alive inside.

Jesus is the water of life. He nourishes and refreshes us, and that nourishment and refreshment is healing, restorative, even resurrection to those who float in a deadness within.

The river is flowing. It requires no effort from us to make it flow. It flows from God, constantly, and where it empties into the lifeless spots of our lives, it brings healing and life.

I just need to stand in its flow.