Woody

The heavy woodpecker clung to a bendy twig on the larch tree. He clung upside down, determined to get something good from the pine cone above his head. It was like watching someone do stomach crunches or sit-ups. Up, down, up, down.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one watching him. When he had eventually loosened the pine cone enough for it to come away in his beak, he flitted to the fence post top, laid it down and started to peck at it once again. But not for long. A bigger bird swooped at him, the cone fell to the ground, and both birds flitted to a neighbouring tree. 

Neither benefited from the breakfast one had worked so hard to get.

Paul wrote that we should each look out not just for ourselves, but for each other, too. We were made to help one another. Then we are all fed. Then we all prosper.

Kindness and generosity of spirit: aiming for those traits today.

Free speech, deliberate love

The sun rose on another lovely, cold autumn day. It will rise again tomorrow, whatever the day is like. Day follows night and will until Jesus winds things up and we have a new heaven, a new earth. 

So how to live in the present? Jesus gave us a good clue: stay alert. If ever we needed to live life deliberately, and with consideration, now is the time. We need to be ready to speak out and step forward and watch out for the vulnerable. To make our voices heard. 

Long may we enjoy free speech but whatever happens, we always have access to freedom of spirit. I pray that all followers of Jesus, and all those of integrity, will show patience, kindness, self-control, gentleness, and love during these days. Through the power of the Spirit, may God’s love prevail.

The Cross is Everywhere

Channel 4 television in the UK has an identifier which involves a camera focused on a series of lines – be they power cables, telephone wires, whatever – until suddenly they coalesce to form a recognisable ‘4’. From what initially looks like just a spaghetti junction of lines emerges something with a meaning.

I looked out the window this morning at the bare branches of a tree and saw a Cross. As my gaze panned round the view, crosses were evident everywhere. 

The news these days is bleak, but when we pause and prayerfully take a closer look, we can sometimes glimpse a cross amongst the wreckage of lives and property. A selfless act of courage. A kind gesture. A humble word.

My elderly mother lives alone thousands of miles away from me. I can’t do what I long to do – drop by with her shopping, take her to the movies, organise a weekend away. I can’t even pick up her daily newspaper which is thrown onto the grass about 4 am each day and put it on her front porch.

But someone on her street can. And has been. Two women, one whom my mother has never even met, try to make sure they put her paper up near the front door for easy access. 

These women are answers to my prayers that she would have people round her looking out for her. I have never met either one of them. Linda and Michelle. 

When I look at the potential for violence in the big city where Mom lives; when I think of the severe drought affecting that area and the obvious ramifications which that could mean for peaceful co-existence; when I am tempted to tread the anxious hallways of the mind which all open from the central point of ‘what if...?’; I remember the acts of kindness shown by these two neighbourly women who don’t really know my mother very well and who don’t expect any kind of reward for their thoughtfulness.

There are others in Mom’s life with whom she shares deep and loving relationships, and who also go extra miles to bring her a smile or an ice cream. When I look at Mom, I see crosses all around. Love. Service. Kindness. Gentleness. Patience. Protection. Advice. Friendship. Love. 

The cross of Jesus trumps every evil, real or potential.

God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world. I will not be anxious, but will trust him to do more than I can ask or imagine in the lives of those I pray for today.

Come with Me

After his disciples had been out on their own doing some ministry, Jesus listened to the debrief and, seeing the crowd pressing in all around and the exhaustion the disciples were feeling, issued this invitation,

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (recorded in the book of Mark)

They jumped into a boat and headed across to the other side of the lake – by which time the crowd had anticipated their destination and arrived before them. Jesus graciously taught and then fed them.

It’s the kindness and concern evidenced by Jesus for his dear friends which I find so touching. He’d sent them on an errand; they’d done it and come back tired, though elated at the result. He knew they needed some down time – and they did get some, albeit only while on the lake crossing.

He looks at you and me today and notices how we are. He cares about how we are.

He issues the same invitation to us today. Come with me. Alone. Let’s have a little R&R. 

Do you ever do that? Slip away into a quiet room with your Bible? Head out on a walk into a lonely bit of countryside, where you can listen to him without distraction? 

Having a nap can be refreshing. But spending time with Jesus is not just refreshing. It’s restorative, rejuvenating, reviving joy from being in his presence.

I’m off for a walk now.