Lean in

Don was explaining, in more detail than I cared about, how the bench saw worked. The motor had stalled and overheated, and he was puzzling out the reason. He’d just realised that perhaps the guide had shifted slightly, so that when he pressed the long bit of wood hard against it, the saw itself was having to work extra hard to go against the grain of the wood, rather than with it. The motor may have overheated as a consequence, and stopped working.

Jesus is the guide who never shifts. We are never thrown off square when we lean in to him. We do not have to work extra hard at life. When we press hard against him, we can go through our challenging, painful times, held secure in his peace that passes understanding. That peace only comes from him. We can’t work it up. We can only lean in.

Awesome Father

The young mum pulled the scones from the oven, listening for the kettle to boil. She was busy in the kitchen, but also, she kept a watchful eye on her 18-month-old in the conservatory: a wee girl who rejoices in climbing anything and everything – at just the right moment, Jem abandoned the scones and scooped her daughter from the window ledge before she over-balanced and pitched onto the tile floor beneath. 

God promises (psalm 32) that he will counsel us and watch over us. There may be global disasters abroad and domestic situations at home, shootings and civil unrest, and God is involved in all, near to all who suffer. Yet also, he has an eye on the vulnerable – on you and me – and can be trusted to reach out a steadying hand when we wobble, a saving arm when we fall.

Our situations may not be so dramatic, but God cares about the detail and thinks of every life as precious. He is an amazing Father.

Hijacked Diary

The diary is fuller than I like. I’m a person who craves space and silence and thought I had things sorted so today would be a day at home. Showed up at the hairdressers yesterday to be told I had the day wrong, and the appointment is for today! Middle of the day. Bang goes that settled feeling of freedom to choose what I do when.

So as my day is hijacked I ask for grace and peace, that I might see Jesus in the detail of the day, and that I might let go of that underlying irritation...

In the Detail

I’ve been looking around online getting ready to book flights. The main airline’s website is offering a price which seemed high, so I checked the websites offering cheap fares and found one which seemed, at first sight, to be a bit better.

However, in checking the detail I realised that when you included the cost of a checked in piece of luggage, the main airline was actually offering a cheaper fare.

‘The devil is in the detail,’ someone has said. 

So many things in life come with long pages of detail which we have to subscribe to before we can go any further. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always read those pages. I tick the box, impatient to get on with whatever it is, without considering carefully what I’m agreeing to.

People often affiliate themselves with religions in much the same way. They join up because they enjoy something about it, or because they are happy to adhere to its most prominent points, or because they assume they fall under the umbrella of belief. 

Many people call themselves Christians, for instance, without exhibiting many of the attributes that a follower of Jesus should have. Not going to church is a small part of that. More important are the attitudes – of humility, of service, of seeking justice and peace, of loving our enemies – attitudes Jesus modelled for us and also taught us in many of his parables. Attitudes which are so challenging to keep that without reliance on God through a close relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, they are well nigh impossible.

Perhaps a more apt saying would be that the truth is in the detail. Jesus declared himself to be the Truth, and said that he is the way, the truth and the life. 

That is just a tiny bit of the detail Christians believe. That Jesus is the source of life itself.

Intimacy and Joy

I look out the window in my prayer alcove and see the grey mist draped like a curtain over the land, obscuring the landmarks and shrinking my world. This is not a day for vision but a day for detail, a day for small things. Don’t despise the day of small things, the Bible advises. 

A day for detail and intimacy. Intimacy with my environment, with my activities, with my Lord. This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it. It is a decision rather than an emotion.

Without vision a people perish, we know, but the vision has to be accomplished in a thousand details.

How often I complain about a day like today! Shame on me. Without days like today, I might dream a million dreams and see thousands of possibilities but never actually accomplish anything. 

So, I will pay attention to the detail. Some of the detail which I enjoy. Some of the detail I just have to do. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice. Not grit my teeth and get through it, but rejoice and be glad in it.

Thank you Lord, that I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

Colours and Moods

I’m surrounded by wallpaper pattern books as we try to decide how to redecorate a bedroom and the dining room. Neither has been touched for over 25 years; suffice it to say, it’s time.

So many designs; so many colours. I thought I wanted something dramatic like black and white with a vibrant splash of red somewhere, but now I find myself drawn to shades of antique blues, rosy pinks and pale golds. Each colour creates a mood. Would a darker wall make for a warmer glow for a candlelit dinner in the dining room – provided I remember to light the candles!? Or would it make the room just feel dismal in this northern country where the sun doesn’t shine as much as we’d like? 

That’s why I’ve got a yellow kitchen, hallway and conservatory – trying to maximise the weak sunlight. 

Geometric or floral? Striped or dotted? Plain or embossed? 

Does it really matter what’s on the walls of our home? Not really, and yet ... God made this world full of beauty and diversity and colour and shape. He didn’t need to make a giraffe with a ludicrous neck, or an elephant with a ridiculous trunk, but he did and it adds to the richness of life. He didn’t need to make each individual unique, every fingerprint a one-off, every personality different from every other personality. But he did, because he is the God of the massive, and the God of the minute. The God of the vast expanse and the God of the tiny detail. And I think he looks at us and delights to see us explore our own inner creative possibilities.

What we put on the wall maybe doesn’t matter so much as the process through which we go as we consider all those choices, and try to come to a compromise with each other. 

I praise God that we don’t live in a world that is just fifty shades of grey.