Is my heart like an Orange!

Sometimes, The Lord has to grab my attention, the sometimes, being, when I am up to my eyebrows in something else; and no matter how hard He is whispering, I don’t hear. Like Thursday. My mind was on keeping an appointment and Quiet Time was definitely finished for the morning, well as far as I was concerned it was,but plainly the Teacher had other thoughts. An orange, big round, juicy, sweet appeared on my mind’s T.V. screen and in glorious 3D.

The Lord had all my attention.

Cut in half this orange revealed itself to be good, sweet and wholesome, through and through.

Just as my heart should be.

But is it?

Do I harbour bitterness? Am I sometimes just a tiny bit sour?

I carried those questions with me for the rest of the day.

I also recalled my Teachers words,

‘A good tree cannot bear bad fruit

‘Each Tree is recognised by its fruit’

‘A goodman brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart’

‘The mouth speaks what the heart is full of’

Back in my childhood big oranges like the one pictured were pricy and my parents had four of us children and so consequently a big round Navel orange was a treat. One afternoon as we were carrying a precious orange each home, my sister dropped hers and unfortunately a large, unfriendly dog pounced on it and made off with it. He was too big to argue with. Sadly Rosie lost her orange. A share in someone else’s orange isn’t quite the same as your own.

Peter the fisherman warns us to ‘watch out’ because there is a devil about. (1Peter 5.8). It is so easy to let ourselves get a little careless when it comes to watching our heart, but we should; after all our heart is what we are offering to God.

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‘Pottering’

I have re-discovered the gentle art of pottering. My schedule is a long one with many priorities; the number ones, two, and threes being the tasks that I undertake for others, all very interesting and all unpaid work; what I tend to notice is that the list is getting longer and the number twenty somethings, the chores I like to do are getting farther and farther away from the top of the list. Until, a couple of days ago, when despite a deluge to rival Noah’s flood I decided to consider the lilies of the field. ‘Just have a little ‘potter’ the whisper came, recalling that even the Lord Jesus found it necessary to take the odd recreational departure from His schedule, I thought why not and instead of tackling the first number one, I turned the list upside down and started with those little jobs, that would never get done. Plainly they were niggling away at my sub-conscious somewhere because I feel that my joblist is not half so burdensome; without setting targets, deadlines it is much shorter and I am much happier – liberated. I don’t know where I found these words but they are so good.

‘The years of my life, the days of my years, the hours of my days,

They are all mine.

Mine to fill quietly, calmly, But to fill completely, up to the brim.

This should teach me

The Lord does not lack a sense of humour, as I was musing, His Spirit whispered “Psalm 104”  So I turned to Psalm 104 and read about the Lord’s blessing of water in a dry and thirsty land. It really is a most beautiful Song of Praise, the psalmist sees our lovely Lord wrapping himself in light as it were a garment; and riding in His chariot the clouds on the wings of the wind.  In the bible translation I use, water is mentioned 10 times in the first 16 verses and it is verse 16 that speaks straight to my heart.

‘The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the Junipers.’

I don’t have one single Cedar of Lebanon in my jungle although they were introduced into England in 1680 – but if I had, I would be pleased that it was well watered and as a tree of the field (Isaiah 55.12) I clap my hands with joy because I feel well-watered.’

Rainy, blue days

I am thinking that I am getting older, I suppose it takes everyone awhile to acknowledge that. Today I have made a decision, just the one and that is to take some time out for myself. It is true this summer is definitely rained off… The ground is waterlogged, the side paths down to the bottom of the churchyard are beginning to resemble bog more than path, and snails, slugs and the like are super abundant; but no butterflies. Not a single flash of white or blue hovering around the luxuriant Budelia whose branches heavy with rain are threatening to cut off the pathway winding down my garden. Really, it should be easy in such circumstances to consider myself grounded and take a home retreat. In reality that is not what I find. The washing basket is demanding attention, there is always the odd corner in need of a dust, and the phone does n’t take a day off. So, here I am weary, rained off, determined not to notice that I am getting older and about to plant out Lupins and Primulas, lovely blue ones and wishing for a flash of blue … Just a tiny hint of a butterfly wing on a rainy day, thinking to myself even the boldest little Bird is huddled up in its nest

Listening is not so easy

Been helping my little friend William prepare for his confirmation, this coming Sunday, 8th July.  William is just 11 and asks a lot of questions, some quite difficult to answer, but we have been thinking of Jesus our Good Shepherd, and, thinking of ourselves walking a long the road with the Lord and the 12 disciples.  We concluded that listening is not so easy when you’re amongst a crowd of friends all with a lot to say.  We can be so talkative, so wrapped up in the latest gossip, or clowning around as friends do that we lose sight of the tour guide up in front, we fall behind, turn the wrong corner and hey, we become the lost sheep!  Oh yes,the Tour Guide has been talking to all of the party all of the time; calling out directions and pointing out the sights, but we have just not heard and now we are lost.

Hello this is me,

A very busy church warden and maid of all work, who finds that time spent just listening to the quiet and gentle whisper of leaves in the trees provides me with a space to listen.  Like very many christians I believe that the Lord speaks to us today, but finding that still place where we can hear what He has to say, is not so easy.  So I am hoping that this page will become a space where I can both listen and share the things the Holy Spirit is whispering to me today, and make the acquaintance of other busy, but eager to listen people.