Maranatha!

The sun is out and the conservatory is warm! Spring is here, and so is my birthday. I thank God for the blessing of life, for the gift of a wonderful husband, children, family and friends, for drawing the boundaries for me in very pleasant places. I thank him for the joy of church family, the blessing of his presence in my life and for his incredible patience with my sometimes chaotic walk with him. I am excited for the next chapters.

Life is a gift, though for so many today it may not feel like one. Thinking about and praying for all those in the firing lines of super powers and tin-pot dictators, whose suffering is unimaginable and heart-breaking. We need the Prince of Peace now more than ever.

Praying he comes in our hearts, in our churches, in our communities, in our countries, today, in new and maybe surprising ways. Keeping my eyes peeled. Maranatha!

90

Spent time with a friend who will turn 90 next Monday. A special lady, quick to smile and laugh. Mailed a card to a friend who will soon turn 30. Another special lady, gifted and talented. 

We don’t have to have a special birthday to be special. Each of us is special to God, even when we don’t feel special. Even when circumstances make us wonder where God is. 

I will never leave you, Jesus promised. That’s what makes us special.

Thanks for the muck today...

We both heard the throb of the diesel engine and anticipated seeing the BT engineer’s van pull up outside. No.

Then I noticed the neighbouring farmer, out in the field across the road, mounding muck onto the hard, unploughed ground.

Dusty and I walked past it awhile later, and the smell reminded me of the muck in the field. I thought about it. The field is hard now, unproductive during the cold winter months. Its nourishment was spent last summer growing the barley crop. And so, the farmer is collecting up the organic wastes of his animals and creating a muck mountain out there, in preparation for spring ploughing.

It is steaming and rich. And smelly.

I returned from town a few hours later, having delivered Christmas cards, to be greeted by Don’s statement, “I hope you have a good sense of humour.” 

The way he said it, I knew I didn’t have that good a sense of humour. Not today. Not two weeks into being without internet connection.

BT had just telephoned to say they wouldn’t make it today after all, and it will now be three or four days hence. 

No. I don’t have that good a sense of humour. 

Then I remembered the muck earlier in the morning. The hard, resource-depleted ground. 

Anything like my heart? I’ve been doing too much in this pre-Christmas season, and not allowing enough time to sit with the Saviour and think about what really matters.

How much time is being recovered by us being off-line? How much time do we waste on the internet every day? If I were able to weigh wasted hours in the same way one can weigh cattle’s waste...

So, I am going to make a deliberate attempt to redeem the wasted time. I am going to continue ‘doing’ things as I get ready for Christmas next week, but I am going to do things while I worship God, singing along to praise and Christmas CDs, thinking of Jesus.

Spending time when I might have been busy online writing emails, blogs and tweets, focusing on God instead.

It’s as if I am wresting back the time I might have wasted shopping on-line – the time wasted on materialism – to spend it consciously in the presence of God. 

So, Lord, thank you for the muck today. I wouldn’t have chosen to have it dumped on my life, but now that it’s there – thank you.

Stepping stones

It’s my birthday today, and I’ve just been thinking of all those that have gone before – birthdays, I mean! It would be lovely to have a list of what I did on my birthday every year, kind of like a ladder. 

I would love to have my memory jogged to recall in better detail those beautifully decorated doll cakes my mother made on the alternate years when we had parties. I’d love to cast my eye down the list of names of friends and family with whom I celebrated, and remember.

I remember a few clearly. The early teen year when my friend Linda and I, whose birthdays were one day apart, thought we were gathering with a group of girlfriends to go ice skating, only to be ‘kidnapped’ by my mother and others and taken to the Camp Fire Girls day camp where we camped overnight, cooking dinner over an open fire and sleeping in pup tents. Memorable and fun.

My 21^st was spent in Stirling where I was an exchange student for a year. Three friends and I ate dinner in a Chinese restaurant together – it felt a little dull and anticlimactic. 

On my 40^th, we had a party and danced to the sounds of the 60s, which was wonderful.

Today I will celebrate with one son and his wife coming up for the weekend, and we shall all go to another son and his wife’s new home tomorrow for lunch. I’m also meeting my sister in law for a coffee and scone, and was out for dinner last night with close friends. It’s amazing to be made to feel special.

Every year, April 12^th is a stepping stone through my life towards its climax. I’m thinking of Jacob’s ladder, the story in the Bible where Jacob has a dream of a ladder joining earth to heaven, with angels going up and down on it. When he awakens he exclaims, ‘God was in this place and I didn’t know.’ Then he builds an altar there and worships.

God has been with me on every step through my life, and sometimes I didn’t notice. Jesus was criticised by the more serious religious types for spending too much time eating and drinking – at parties. Celebrations are God’s specialty, and I like to think that as I get closer to the top of my ladder, I am approaching my eternal home where there is plenty of singing and dancing, and everybody is special. 

So today, as I intersperse various jobs that need doing with moments of sharing and making new memories, I will reflect on those steps that went before – the ones I can recall. I will delight as I open cards and receive good wishes from loved ones near and far. And I will be awe-struck that despite the billions of people alive now and who have gone before, God made me unique, a one-off, and to him I am special. 

As are you.

Finishing Well

Our old friend Willie finished well a couple of days ago. 

He came to the healing and refreshing service on Sunday afternoon, and enjoyed the peace of God that was tangible during that hour. He was telling me about his upcoming heart operation in a few weeks in London, and how his plan was to recuperate and climb the local hill, Scolty, next summer. I said I’d go with him, and I’m sure a lot of his friends would have.

He celebrated his 91^st birthday on Tuesday with his family. And in the night, he slipped away. Quietly, peacefully. 

He certainly never let age nor increasing decrepitude hold him back. Even in these last few weeks he was often to be found with his hands plunged in dishwater after a congregational lunch or coffee time. He was a faithful befriender and visitor of those still shut in. He helped serve lunch every Saturday at one of the care homes. He worked tirelessly on behalf of Alzheimer’s sufferers and their carers. He did it all with a smile and a self-deprecating laugh.

Lord, may I finish my race as well as Willie did. He was a true inspiration.

Friends

Having coffee with a dear friend I’ve known now for probably nearly twenty years. We rarely meet up – she has her challenges and I am just busy. Her birthday just passed, so we will have our own quiet celebration, sharing joys and woes, reminiscing and looking forward to good things to come – travel, weddings and winter Olympic bids.

Coming by the house just before I leave, however, will be Don’s sister and their friend of a lot more years than twenty – they all grew up together. No doubt as they share coffee they will also share joys and woes, reminisce and look forward. 

Friends are such a gift from God. We should carve out more time to spend with them. Relationship is what life is all about, not tidy houses and gourmet dinners. 

Getting the balance right is not easy. Getting the balance between spending time with God alone, or in groups of like-minded folks praying or studying the Bible, and spending time hanging out with friends and family, or doing good things in the community, is not easy. 

I doubt if we ever get it exactly right. Just have to pray and go, or not. And trust God to use my little offering to make a difference in someone’s life today.