Post No 10: “Get Wisdom”

WordPress said, ‘Now write Post Number 10’ and my brain asked, ‘But where is number 10, going to come from?’  As the writer of Proverbs (chapter 4, v7) says, I need to get wisdom, I need to get wised up.

Years ago, I planted Sage, Salvia officinalis, s. salvatrix to give Sage it’s Latin handle, in my garden.

Wise folk know that Sage is a shrubby herb, producing purple, pink or violet flowers during the summer and that it has far more uses than the making of Sage and Onion stuffing for the Sunday Roast.  They know that the name ‘salvia’ is from the latin, salvare which means to be in good health,  this herb has for a very long time signified immortality, hence s, salvatrix – Sage the Saviour.  So effective this plant’s medicinal properties that even the Romans had a proverb:

“How can a man die when he has Sage in his garden.”

Sage is noted as being good to help the nerves, good for the liver and digestion, its leaves are antiseptic and antifungal;  altogether a good plant with many beneficial uses that can be found in any good, ‘Herbal’ – but it is wise to be warned and always consult a qualified medical practitioner before taking any herbal remedy.

Before embarking on this blog, I was advised that learning WordPress was a steep learning curve. Wise advice. At this point of time, I honestly don’t know if I shall ever become proficient— but the joy is in the learning and the getting of  the wisdom.

Oh yes, there is wisdom to be found on WordPress.  Reading the other blogs gives me pleasure and is opening up pathways in Wisdom’s garden I have never walked before; I am enjoying the walk.  Thank you to WordPress and its bloggers for sharing your wisdom on all kinds of topics. What a loss to the world if the healthy secrets of Sage had not been shared and passed on….. and likewise those things you choose to share.

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding” (Proverbs 3:13), and here I am at post no. 10 still aspiring to ‘get wisdom’ to gain understanding and hearing the whisper of the Spirit in the words of other people in a new way.

 

 

 

 

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Daisies are our silver

Daisies are our silver, Buttercups our gold;

This is all the treasure we can have or hold.

Once upon a time, I used to sing this and once upon a time. my town was a village with a church on a hill top like an island surrounded by farms and small holdings.  The houses were few and scattered, roads and lanes narrow.  The last Tudor house was demolished in the 1960s, the last Georgian one a decade later, I pass beneath the shadow of the surviving wall and gate posts every time I walk up to the church, still on the hill top, the 4th building on one site. Sometimes I wonder; about days long gone, swallowed up by modern housing estates and far too much traffic and sigh.

Yes, I know from local archives exactly where that lady cousin of Henry VIII lived the one renowned for her dancing steps that gave my little street its name, but her house and the well stocked ornate fish pond that provided fish for Fridays and Lent have long vanished.

Nature, however has dug in with greater tenacity, the remnant of the hedgerow and burgeoing brambles spill on to the footpatch and evoke, for me the past. Those school holidays spent picking humble Blackberries for baking in Apple and Blackberry pies.  In these days when items with a high price tag are the only things deemed worthwhile who notices the blackberry bramble?  We leave in times wealth, and, for some, times of poverty; with food banks collecting basic food stuffs to help families in need.  Perhaps not so very much has changed down through the centuries since the First Norman Church was built on the hill top.

My friend is a proud grandmother, happily her grand daughters want for nothing.  She recalls the surprise on little faces when, whilst on holiday she suggested that they pick blackberries as they walked down a country lane. They owned Lap tops for school homework, and more toys than they will ever play with, but these little girls had never picked blackberries until now.  Afterwards both expressed their delight and enjoyed the pie Grandma made.

“The best things in life, are free” my friend replied. Picking blackberries has now become an annual event for these little girls.

Jesus said we would always have the poor amongst us, I hope you and your loved ones will never know what it is to want, recalling that Simon Peter did. Do you recall that standing at the gate called Beautiful one day, he said to a begging, lame man, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.” Acts 3;6

FORGET ME NOT BLUE

I did the prayers this morning, that’s what folk call making the Prayers of Intercessions in our little church and the part which folk appreciate most about the intercessions? Why that would be the list of Names.. For a small church such as ours this is a long list; some of the Names have been there a long time, even, in a few instances, years. In addition to the carefully typed out Names there are more requests written up in the “Prayer Book” which sits on a small table just inside the porch door, ready for the use of visitors; and then there are the other Names, whispered in the Intercessors ear just as Worship begins…..

No one likes to be forgotten, no one likes to be ‘out of sight/out of mind’

I manage to catch Mrs W by the elbow to ask if her brother-in-law is making progress, now, following heart surgery. Before this, no one had known his Name so I had been simply praying for “Mrs W’s brother-in-law. Now, she tells me, his name is Jack, and yes, Jack is doing just fine. We exchange smiles, and unknown, unseen by her, I see and feel the tiny blue ribbon pinned to my collar.

“Forget me not blue” the invisible ribbon is the colour of tiny Forget Me Not flowers.

At home I muse on blue ribbons that say “Forget me not” and remember that the colour
blue was commanded by the Lord to be used in the making of the curtains for the Tabernacle and priestly garments, I remember the two onyx stones engraved with the names of the Sons of |srael which Aaron was to wear on his shoulders as their memorial before the LORD, so that the LORD might remember them….

Does the Lord forget?
Is the Lord absent minded?
I don’t think so.
But I am.

It’s me who needs the rainbow, the rainbow which when ever it appears in the skies, he will see and remember his everlasting covenant between himself and all living creatures. That is the Covenant I need to remember in these days, and to honour my part in keeping it with God and all living creatures; in these days of global climatic changes, surely I need to remember?

The colour blue reminds Israel, Christian and me that we are called to be, for the Lord, a kingdom of priests and a Holy Nation, to carry on our hearts and in our prayers all people, all living creatures.

The Lord says, that if our mother should or forget us, he will not… We are engraved on the palms of his hands…. I ought not forget….

The sign of the little blue ribbon was given so that I would remember both to pray, carrying the Names [on the list) to value them for what they are, precious to God. Pinned invisibly it is a whisper from another place, “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord” (Deuteronomy 6v12). I will not forget,

Going for Gold

Rainy days, sunny days, Olympic Days,London 2012, this summer is going to be an unforgettable one.

I would not want to forget the things learnt from the athletes of all disciplines and all nations. Through the media of television we have watched and followed their progress, listened to their stories of trials and loss. Many times we have heard, that their inspiration and incentive to press on towards what seemed to be an impossible prize has come from a loved one who has finished their earthly race. Many, many thanks have been poured out to those who have sat with and cried with them in loss, injury, disappointment.

These 3 things, courage, endurance, persistence appear to be common denominators.

Are n’t these the qualities of people of faith?

Without these qualities gold, silver, bronze,or, the finishing line for that matter, are unattainable.

And, likewise neither are our spiritual aspirations; even an answer to simple prayer requires of us that we keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. Yes what we ask will be given, what we seek we will find and the door will be opened to us, but like an Olympian, like a champion working towards that medal we need every ounce of courage, that we can find and to that courage we need to add endurance to hang in there when the going get tough and to persist in hammering away in our God given disciplines, day after day, after day.

I need to remind myself and remind myself often that my Heavenly Guide is my Coach, or as some like to say, my personal trainer and that I should not take his instruction and advice lightly, above all I need to realise that He is encouraging me,and urging me on to see me win an unfading crown, and so what, if He seems to scold sometimes, is n’t that to keep me running within the rules, above all the Lord is

LOOKING for qualifiers and winners, not tactical players, cheat or bad sports, the disqualified are life and the world’s true losers.