Steeped or marinated?

One of our wedding gifts was a tea cosy from Hong Kong, where friends lived at the time. In those days, few folk used tea bags in a mug. Most people I knew used loose tea in a pot, and the cosy kept it hot as it steeped.

Steeping made it strong.

When we were raising our rather big family, I normally bought the cheaper cuts of meat. They were cheaper because they were tough, and needed marinating.

Marinating made it tender.

As I steep my mind in the truth of God as revealed in the Bible, I am strengthened to stand against the injustices all around me. I am strengthened to step forward and speak out about global and national injustices, and I am strengthened to stand with those I know who are suffering injustice.

As I marinate my heart in Jesus, in worship and in prayer, I gain God’s compassion and love. I can speak out, then, from a place of love, trusting God to work through me to soften the hearts of others and right the injustices.

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Psalm 37.

Sometimes he chooses to act through us.

A Quieter World

What a delight to awaken to a quieter world, where the trees stand straight and tall and only the barest breath of wind ruffles the branches. Sometimes life blasts us. We bend in the strength of the onslaught and sometimes can’t make any headway at all. Our dreams grow distant and our plans appear unattainable.

That’s when we need to be rooted to the promises of God. We need to have enough of his promises in our larder that we can chew on them in those stormy times. ‘I know the plans I have for you, plans for good...’ ‘If anyone is in Christ she is a new creation.’ ‘I call you friend.’ ‘I will never leave you.’ ‘I can do all things through Christ.’ 

I see a lot of trees have been uprooted in the plantings round our place. Some have broken off but mainly the fallen have been uprooted, taking down a whole circular carpet of earth and a bed of roots – lots of roots, but shallow. Not getting a proper grip. Not planted deep enough to maintain stability in the fiercest onslaught.

Sitting in the stillness, remembering that God is God, sensing his presence, feeling his touch, experiencing his breath as he inspires me again with his Spirit...that’s the food and water my soul crave. May you take time today to be still and know that God is God. He loves you and me, truly, madly, deeply. The future is promising. It is all good. Wow.

Peace

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still. 

I feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights – paralysed not with fear but with indecision about which of the many things on my list I should do first. I’ve a deadline approaching and more things on my list than I will have time to do. 

‘I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.’ John 14:27

The world is a troubling place. Understatement of the year. But Jesus’ promise is that we can live and move and have our being in this world in his peace, as we are still in him. Be still and know that I am God.

No matter how things look, God is Sovereign. No matter how helpless we feel, he is powerful. No matter how pressured we are by things to do, he can lead us to do the things which have priority and he can give us the peace to let the rest go.

My peace I leave with you. Be still.

Peace, peace

Peace, peace

This is the time of year when songs abound on the theme of peace. Ironic, that it is also the time of year when peace is far from many of us as we scurry around making preparations for the Christmas extravaganza.

People cry peace, peace, when there is no peace.

How do we recapture the peace, and what is meant by it? The Biblical word for peace is shalom and it means much more than absence of war. It means a deep pervasive wholeness and lack of agitation or anxiety. A wholeness deep in one’s heart which then radiates outwardly and spreads to the situations in which we find ourselves.

There is no real peace until we have peace in our hearts. There is no real peace in our hearts until Jesus is Lord of our hearts. Crazy that as we Christians celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, we so easily neglect that Prince in a frenzy of shopping, cooking, baking, buying. 

Be still in the presence of the Lord, the psalmist wrote (37), and wait patiently for him to act.

Be still. Wait patiently. Trust God, and he will help you. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good. Profound words. 

I am about to embark on my day, a day in which I hope to trust in the Lord and do good, to be still in the midst of crowds, to wait patiently in queues, to commit every purchase to God. 

Happy Advent.