So, so, so tired.
Too tired to think but not too tired to say thank you Lord for my work and play. May God be blessed through Jesus for all the many blessings of this life and the dawning of the next in the hearts of all who love Him.
Month: March 2019
Who shall stand?
Coming across this picture, I asked, ‘What is the little boy talking to you about Lord?’
I always seem to be asking the Lord questions, I treasure the answers, given and hold them close, pondering them often, as Mary would have kept her son’s questions and answers
I think Our Lord does the same with our questions and answers, holding them close, waiting the right time to answer.
Jesus Christ is still teaching, He is still the same, yesterday, today for ever.
When our yesterday’s are many, we have many treasures folded up in our memory, wrapped up in love, it is so wonderful to me, that Jesus sometimes surprises me by unwrapping my little treasure with me.
This time, He answered my question directly with just one word.
“Smoke”
“Smoke?”
Once again, I was a child, concerned that my room seemed to be filled with “smoke” that was how I named it. Fragrant smoke…. and I had felt dizzy.
“When “smoke” fills God’s House, no one can stand.” The Lord had said, “When many prayers are offered on the Altar ~ there is much smoke”
So now I remembered.
Incense is not offered in my Church, our services are simple, our church building is simple and has seen better days, it is in need of loving renewal, during its lifetime many prayers have been made, many answered, yet it is so unlike the the House which Solomon built:
“It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; and His mercy endureth for ever: that then the House was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.”
Many prayers much Smoke.
Trumpeters and singers as one, to make one sound.
I cannot imagine what such a little boy, might have thought when visiting Herod’s temple for the first time.
He doesn’t look old enough to have made his first Passover Journey up to Jerusalem, probably he would have been overwhelmed, and needed his father’s arms to keep him on his feet and from being crushed. I can imagine that and a few precious moments with Jesus the teacher gladly answering his questions and asking questions of his own. I catch a drift of conversation;
“So I may not do this next year, even when I am ten?”
“No. You may not do this when you are ten.”
The dreams and aspirations of children today are millions of light years away, to those of such little boys then. …
I can catch in my spirit’s ear, little boy Jesus asking Joseph the same question, “So I may not, even when I am ten?”
“You may not do this when you are ten.”
What I don’t hear is a stroppy murmur in reply.
I recall that Jesus was obedient to his parents in all things, and grew in wisdom and grace, and I recall that on His last visit to Jerusalem that as one, the people proclaimed “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord”
He made that last journey, in obedience to our Heavenly Father to offer the one, complete sacrifice for our sins, unlike the priests on that great day in Solomon’s Day, Jesus stands when the Heavenly Temple is filled with smoke.
Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Scriptures: 1 Chronicles 5. 13-14, Hebrews 5. 8-10 KJV
Absorbeat
May the power of your love, Lord Christ,
Fiery and sweet as honey,
So absorb our hearts
As to withdraw them from all that is under heaven.
Grant that we may be ready
To die for love of your love,
As you died for love of our love. Amen
Lent is late arriving this year, so by the time Easter arrives there will be no daffodils to adorn the church window sills, and the crocus which reminds me of the purple Lenten Frontals will soon have tucked itself out of sight until next spring.
Our old churchyard is decked out with crocus, daffodils, snowdrops right now, but the Bluebells are heads up, and the dark green shoots of wild garlic can be scented right now, although their buds cannot be seen just yet. I guess that by Easter the Eastern side of the churchyard will be a blue and white carpet, Bluebells and Garlic intermingling beneath the trees.
‘There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under the heaven’
Sitting at a craft table, painting small stones with the mums of the youngsters who were happily riding toy cars up and down the length of our Church Hall, I was asked,
“What are you giving up for Lent?”
Without waiting for a reply, my questioner, told me she was giving up chocolate. Hardly original, but then, most people who have no Church background have a vague sort of idea that giving up chocolate for Lent is what is done in Lent, and indeed, what Lent is all about. I tried to explain a little of what Lent was, and she was astonished to learn that pancakes on Pancake day were a tradition from early times to use up eggs and fat, etc. Soon three or four were chattering away, genuinely surprised that there was so much more than chocolate involved, and so much more to this mysterious Lent, than they had heard about.
“You know, I love just sitting still and being creative like this. I loved being away from home with my husband last weekend. We don’t get to see each other, and talk together that much, it’s all work, we work different times; and it’s all mobile phones and stuff that takes up all your time before you know it, you only intend to spend ten minutes on Facebook and next thing you know, a couple of hours have gone…” the first Mum said, then another joined in with a similar observation, life is too full, to busy, to chaotic and frantic. Where could God possibly get a word in edgeways, where was there time?
I wonder what Saint Francis, would make of chocolate, mobile phones, and Facebook and how would he explain Lent and Easter in days such as these?
How do we persuade people to pick up a Bible, let alone a prayer book? How do we even begin prayer conversations, when there is just no time?
“I need your tongue” Jesus once said to me.
My tongue, your tongue may be just what the Lord needs to get a word in edgeways,
And one thing more. The Lord Jesus needs our love, that His love working through us, speaking louder than words, may invite young and old, men and women, poor and rich, simple and wise to sit down in His shade, to come to His table and taste the Bread of Life. Come, taste and see how good the Lord is.
It is not so much what we give up for Lent but what we take up. All are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb: He needs many to deliver the invitations.
Lent is not a time for keeping silence.
Lent is a time for speaking.
Lent is a time for both sowing and reaping, Jesus says,
“Well, I tell you, look around you, look at the fields; already they are white,ready for harvest! Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that sower and reaper can rejoice together.”
Whatever you give up or take up this Lent, I pray that you also will know the power of His love, fiery and sweeter than honey. Amen.
Fresh Whispers 