Born on September 11

Speak to anyone about 9 - 11, and everyone will know what you are talking about immediately. In fact, many of us could tell you exactly where we were when the first images of that fateful day came through. It will forever be etched in our memories.

Without trying to minimise the pain of all involved, I wanted to write about something different today, even though a suitable topic would be on the 9/11 tragedy. In noting other events that have taken place "On This Day" in history, I notice that DH Lawrence was born on 11 September 1885. Lawrence is best known for his novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Despite being very controversial at times and a little mixed up in his personal life, there are many interesting thoughts that have come from his pen. Take these as an example:

Ours is an excessively conscious age. We know so much, we feel so little.

In every living thing there is the desire for love. 

Man! The only animal in the world to fear.

What strikes me is that these words ring true 100 years later. We live in an age where people are afraid to show their emotions, yet we all desire to be loved and to KNOW love. Human beings have also continued to be dreadfully good at destroying one another and God's creation.

All of this reminds me of Solomon's words of wisdom.

Proverbs 13:15 - Good judgement wins favour, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction.

Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 27:20 - Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.

 

Thoughts??

 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

 

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/d_h_lawrenceead more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/d_h_lawrence

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/d_h_lawrence

Jesus Sighs

I know that the shortest verse in the Bible says, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). However, this last Sunday our lectionary reading reminded me that Jesus seemed to accomplish a lot in simply Sighing!

"He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”)." - Mark 7:34

It was as if Jesus said an awful lot in just taking a breath. In some ways we do the same. A sigh can communicate a lot. Katy Stenta reflects on this when she writes: 


“Jesus sighs. What a human sound. My husband and I sigh, we sigh in happiness, exhaustion, hopelessness and worry. When in doubt, we breathe. When I’m in a good place I turn my breath into prayer, breathe in the Holy Spirit, breathe out the stress. But oftentimes my sigh is just a expellation of air, a sound of my complete and entire humanity, an expression of those feelings and thoughts I’m having trouble putting words around.” – Katy Stenta

If you ended up "sighing" today, please remember that God understands, even if others don't.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Christ for all

I love the statue of Christ the Redeemer, which stands over the city of Rio De Janeiro. It speaks to me of God's 'wide' embrace and love for all his people. Whatever you are dealing with today and whatever you may potentially have to deal with this week, may Christ's love carry you through.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:16-19

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Be still ... rest... Shalom

In his wonderful work Prayer, Richard Foster shares a lovely story of how God spoke to him during a Retreat he went on. He had gone away expecting to be busy preparing and working, but he felt the Spirit giving him a different agenda. He sensed that God wanted to teach him a new Sabbath Prayer.

As he drew closer to the Lord, he heard these words:
"Be still...
Rest...
Shalom."

And so he embraced these 3 thoughts and they were LIFE-GIVING. It is may prayer that they would offer you and I the same gift today. In the stress of your life, pray these words:

"Be still... Rest....Shalom."

Hebrews 4:9 - "A sabbath rest still remains for the people of God."

Living in Grace
D3LM3

How rescuing an injured bird taught me valuable lessons

A few weeks ago we rescued an injured bird and this little 'gift' taught me so much about God's love and being 'adopted' into the family of Grace. I am sure you have your own family stories that you will be able to relate to our experience.

You will have to read the full article on this site if you want to find out more.

Take care and God bless
Living in Grace
D3LM3

Non-performance in a Performance Driven World

Our world is mostly a DRIVEN world. We are driven to perform, to earn, to love, to produce, to keep up, to change, to invent, to DO. This has consumed us in such a radical way, that we don't know how to slow down any more. What is worse is that we now believe that God measures us according to this same standard. Yet, if we make a careful examination of the scriptures we will note that this is indeed NOT true. As Richard Rohr so rightly points out:
 
"Sabbath might be saying that at least one seventh of life must be about non-performance and non-egocentric pursuit, or we forget our life’s purpose." - Richard Rohr

What do you think of this?
How are you doing on this front?

Exodus 20:19-20 -  I myself am God, your God: Keep my statutes and live by my laws. Keep my Sabbaths as holy rest days, signposts between me and you, signalling that I am God, your God.”

Living in Grace
D3LM3

What is helping you?

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." - Hebrews 6:19

When the storms of life come, we will all need something to give us strength and keep us firm and secure. What are you turning too when you encounter these tough times? Paul mentioned that they were able to put their HOPE in the person of Jesus - that sounds like the best idea of them all.

“Pray, and let God worry.”- Martin Luther

Living in Grace
D3LM3