Blackberries

I love Autumn. 

 

I love the crisp chill in the air.  I love going for walks in the countryside in my wellies.  And most of all, I love blackberrying.

 

I love that, for those who have a few hours to spare, there is an abundance of delicious blackberries waiting in the hedgerows to be picked and enjoyed.  For free.

 

Yesterday, I spent a very enjoyable afternoon doing just that.

 

There are so many parables I could draw from the experience [and perhaps I will in another post], such as looking in the right places and taking a different perspective on things, and having to fight the thorns for the fruit. 

 

But what really struck me yesterday was the shape of the blackberries.  When I was little, I used to enjoy trying to pull off each of the drupelets [apparently the technical term for each of the little bobbles] to eat them individually.  It is a fiddly and messy business but, if achieved, can be quite satisfying.

 

All of the tiny seed-bearing bobbles joined together around the soft core made me think about what the church should be like. 

 

We are all unique individuals with our own roles to play.  We each have a 'seed' within us which will grow and develop and produce a flourishing plant.  But we are all joined together around the 'core' - the central person of Jesus.

 

Paul explains how we are all joined together through Christ -

 

"You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body.  It’s exactly the same with Christ.  By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives.  We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything."

 

[1 Corinthians 12:12-13 MSG] 

And he continues to explain how we are all linked together and affected by each other -

 

"The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t.  If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.  If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance."

[1 Corinthians 12:25-26 MSG]

 

The church isn't a club for religious people to hang out at on Sundays.  The church isn't the building.  The church isn't the pastors, or the vicar, or the worship leaders. 

 

The church is you and me joining together through our shared faith in Jesus and sharing our lives together - the hurting and the healing, the joy and the weeping.

 

 

 

Working on Believing

I've just finished reading 'Room' by Emma Donoghue.

 

I only got it out of the library yesterday and I have hardly put it down.  It is one of the most beautiful and mesmerising books I have ever read.  It is about a five-year old boy, Jack, who has grown up in a single room, without ever knowing anything of the outside world.  He believes that everything he sees on TV is just 'TV' - it's not real.  But one day, his Ma tells him that there really is a world outside.

He struggles to take this in and to believe that it is real.  And he says, "I'm working on believing."

 

Isn't that true for all of us?

 

Aren't we all working on believing and growing in trusting?

Believing in God.  Believing in His goodness.  Believing in His faithfulness.  Believing He really does care and He really does know us.  Believing He has a plan to bless us and prosper us.  The list of things we are working on believing could stretch on and on.

In the Bible, there's a story of a conversation Jesus had about believing with a man whose son had suffered from seizures since he was little.  The man told Jesus,

“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

[Mark 9:21-24 NIV, emphasis mine]

Everything is possible for him who believes.  I don't believe this.  Yet.  But I want to.

We are all working on believing.  And God will help us if we ask Him.

Toasters

I was ravenous when I got home from work today and popped a couple of slices of bread in the toaster.  Minutes later, I had all the windows open, the extractor fan on, and was frantically flapping my scarf at the black smoke which was filling my flat.

 

The blackened toast lay abandoned in the bin.

 

I then spent a chilly hour sitting with the windows open, the smoke making my eyes sting, trying to get rid of the smell of burn.  I can still smell it in my hair now.

 

Toasters are funny things.

 

Getting the settings just right is so much harder than you'd think.  The bread is either only slightly warm and crispy, or is instantly cremated.  It is difficult to find the middle ground with a toaster.

 

It is difficult to toast and avoid burning.

 

All of this made me think of Moses' first encounter with God: he was minding his own business shepherding his flock, when he encountered a bush that was on fire, but wasn't burning away to nothing.

 

"Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.  He led the flock to the west end of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Horeb.  The angel of God appeared to him in flames of fire blazing out of the middle of a bush.  He looked. The bush was blazing away but it didn’t burn up.   Moses said, “What’s going on here?  I can’t believe this! Amazing!  Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”

 

[Exodus 3:1-3 MSG]

 

Contrary to my toaster experience, this bush was on fire and was 'toasting', but wasn't burning.  No black, eye-watering smoke in this story.

 

But what's it all about?  Why is there a bush that's on fire, but not consumed by the fire? 

 

Is God displaying His pyrotechnic skills?

 

Or is it about something bigger?

 

Fire in the Bible is a symbol of God's holiness and purity - a holiness that belongs to God alone.  A symbol that He is different from us and separate from us because of His pure goodness and love. 

 

But the bush doesn't burn up; it is on fire, but is not consumed.  It's a symbol of how we can experience and approach God's holiness and love and not be consumed, because Jesus has made a way for us to reach God. 

 

Instead of burning up, and ending up blackened and in the bin, the more of God's love and 'fire' we experience, the purer we become.  The more like Him we become.

 

Handbags

We've been talking this evening about what Jesus meant when He said that He had come to give us a "full life" [John 10:10].

 

What does it mean to be filled and fulfilled?  Is it a permanent state, or a changing one?  Do we need to be regularly 'topped up'? etc.

 

We talked about what a full life looked like - knowing who we are (identity), knowing why we're here (purpose), knowing where we're going (security) - and what we can so easily be tempted to 'fill' our lives with instead - wealth, job satisfaction, family, friends, relationships, material goods etc. - the things that promise to satisfy, but always leave us wanting.

 

We talked about our capacity to be filled as well.  Does it change and grow and stretch as we change and grow and stretch in our faith?  Or is it fixed?

 

I have an amazing ability to fill whatever size handbag you give me.  Be it small or large, I can guarantee I will fill every inch of it with things I need to have with me.  I can't explain it.  I think perhaps I see empty space as wasted space.

 

But it got me thinking about this idea of being filled, or having a full life.  As we grow more in our relationships with God, perhaps He gives us a bigger capacity to be filled, so that we never tire or grow weary of walking with Him.

 

He gives us a bigger handbag.*

 

In Isaiah, God told His people to be prepared to be stretched so that He could bless them with a full and rich and abundant life -

 

        "Enlarge the place of your tent,

        stretch your tent curtains wide,

        do not hold back;

        lengthen your cords,

        strengthen your stakes.

        For you will spread out to the right and to the left."

 

        [Isaiah 54:2-3 NIV]

 

Sometimes in order to be filled, we need to stretch ourselves out and show that we're ready and longing to be filled.

 

We need to enlarge our hearts and empty them of the things that clutter our lives, without truly filling them.

 

In short, we need bigger handbags.

 

 

 

* Or manbag, if you'd prefer.

 

 

 

 

Bath Time

I listened to an article this evening about how taking a bath is becoming less popular: most people these days opt for a shower or a modern 'wet room'. 

 

The main reason being baths are too slow for today's fast-paced life.

 

But that is exactly the reason why I love taking a bath.  I love having time to myself when I know I won't be disturbed or interrupted by phone calls or texts or emails or notifications.  I can spend an hour or so reading a book or listening to music with a glass of wine.  And I leave the bathroom feeling completely relaxed and rested, having taken time out from the busyness of life.

 

And the reason it is so relaxing is because there is no rushing about it. 

 

There is no such thing as a 'quick bath'.  A bath should be indulgent and lengthy.  When the Romans used to take baths, they usually lasted for several hours.  They were long and relaxing and restoring.

 

The Bible talks about God providing this kind of restorative rest for us:

 

         "The Lord is my shepherd;
         I have all that I need.
         He lets me rest in green meadows;
         he leads me beside peaceful streams.
         He renews my strength."

 

         [Psalm 23:1-3 NLT, emphasis mine]

 

Sometimes we judge our successes and our worth on our busyness.  If we are always rushing somewhere or other and are constantly flapping about because we have so much to do, we sometimes feel more important.  We can get to thinking that the world might stop if we did. 

 

And we think this about God too.  We can think that He will value us more, or be more pleased or impressed with us if we're one of those people who is constantly doing something for God/the church/others.

 

But this verse says that God lets us rest.  It is His desire that we take time out so that we don't burn out.

 

Perhaps it is not that baths are too slow for our lives, but that our lives are too fast for baths.  Perhaps we need to slow down and give ourselves more time and space to relax.

 

As for me, I'm off to run a bath...

 

 

Layers

I have just finished making a pass the parcel and it has brought back many memories.

 

The anticipation as the parcel makes its way towards you.  The question of whether to hold on to the parcel for the chance of getting to unwrap it, or to pass it as quickly as possible on to the next person.  The fear if it is one of those parcels with dares inside it.  The excitement as the paper gets thinner and thinner and the sweets in the middle seem ever closer.

 

I love unwrapping things and the idea of doing it layer by layer always intrigues me as the anticipation and excitement builds with each layer.

 

Sometimes I think God reveals aspects of Himself to us layer by layer.  If we were to experience all there is of God in one go, we wouldn't be able to cope.  We see stories in the Bible of people not being able to look directly at God because it is too much.

 

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 

But," he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

[Exodus 33:18-20 NIV]

 

As we listen to talks or chat with others about the goodness of God, we begin to develop a deeper understanding of who He is.  We begin to peel back more layers of His character.

 

And as we read the Bible, we experience the same thing.  The Bible describes itself like this - 

"For the word of God is living and active."

 

[Hebrew 4:12 NIV] 

 

That's how we can read the same passages in the Bible over and over and find something different each time.  That's how we can keep walking with God and not get tired, because there is always something new to discover.

 

There is always something new to uncover and reveal, because we are not learning finite facts, but are entering into a relationship with a living God.

 

There is always another layer.

With and Within

I've just had one of those washing machine disasters you always dread.

 

I put a load on earlier this evening and have just taken it out.  It was mostly pale clothes, but I had a couple of scarves that needed freshening up, so I popped those in too.  One of them was pale blue.

 

Now everything is pale blue.

 

I know what you're thinking.  It was a silly mistake, I just wasn't thinking as I put it all in earlier.

 

I'm amazed by how much of my washing has been affected and by how everything has been permeated by a subtle hint of blue.  But what is most amazing is that the scarf itself is still a beautiful dusty blue.  It doesn't seem to have changed or faded at all.

 

It has changed everything else, but hasn't changed itself.

 

I have been thinking about the word 'Immanuel' over the last day or two - 'God with us'.  I always thought that this name referred to the idea of God coming to be with us through Jesus.

 

But that's something that happened in the past and doesn't always seem to relate directly to me.  And 'us' is very vague and very big.  It is an all-encompassing word.

 

Whilst the Bible makes it clear that Jesus came and died for the whole world, sometimes I want to know that He came just for me too.

 

I was reflecting on this earlier and I think that rather than seeing Immanuel as meaning God with us, it is more helpful to see it as meaning God with me.  Or even, God within me.

 

Paul writes,

 "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

[Colossians 1:27 NIV]

  

In the same way that my blue scarf has permeated and coloured all of my other clothes, a relationship with God through Jesus colours all of our lives as well.  Every aspect is influenced and affected as His love flows into our lives and changes them.  And as we receive His love, we become more like Him.

 

In his song 'Everything', Tim Hughes sings -

 

      "God in my living, there in my breathing

      God in my waking, God in my sleeping

      God in my resting, there in my working

      God in my thinking, God in my speaking

      Be my everything, be my everything

      Be my everything, be my everything
 

      God in my hoping, there in my dreaming

      God in my watching, God in my waiting

      God in my laughing, there in my weeping

      God in my hurting, God in my healing

      Be my everything, be my everything

      Be my everything, be my everything."

My clothes are now evidence of the presence of my blue scarf in the washing machine - they are evidence of scarf with us, or scarf in us.  In the same way, as we grow in our relationship with God, our lives will become evidence of that incomprehensible truth: God with us.  God with me.  God within me.

 

Repainting

When I moved into my flat nine months ago, I took with me lots of paintings that I had done in the past, with the intention of putting them up somewhere.  Whilst I have done this with some of them, there was one that didn't seem to 'fit' in any room.

 

This was primarily because the sky in the picture was a really deep, vivid blue and the colours, in general, were quite bold.  The colours in my flat are quite subtle and subdued and it seemed garish in every room.

 

I had left it propped up  against the wall in my spare room and there it seemed destined to stay.  Until a conversation with a friend about it earlier on in the week, which drew my attention to it again.

 

We tried it out in each room, and it still didn't really 'go'.

 

Until yesterday morning, when I decided to repaint it.

 

It is still the same landscape and the same image.  But the sky is now a pale dusty blue and the harsh colours are softer.  The whole painting looks much gentler and calmer.

 

Before, it was dramatic and tense.  Now, it is peaceful and tranquil.

 

And it goes.

 

I was really pleased that I thought to repaint it, and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

 

And I found it really therapeutic, too, that idea of repainting the past.  The process of taking something old that didn't fit in any more, something which I didn't like as it was, and repainting it, making it new.

 

It is so easy to think that we are stuck with things that can't be changed: mistakes that we have made in the past, or lies that we believed, or people that we pretended to be.  We think that they are fixed and unchangeable.  But there is always the possibility of repainting the past.

 

The Bible says,

"God rewrote the text of my life

when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes."

         [Psalm 18:24 MSG]
 

 

I gave up a few hours to repaint the sky on a small canvas.  But God gave up His Son, so that anyone who wants to can be repainted too.

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

 

[2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV] 

 

 

Nothing is Wasted

Is there anything that epitomises Autumn more than an apple crumble?

 

The soft and sticky sweet cinnamon-spiced apples topped with crunchy crumbs of crumble - delicious!

 

I made one this evening after I realised that I had a fruit bowl full of apples which were a little bit past their best.  I didn't want to throw them away and waste them, but they were fluffy and floury and didn't taste at all nice on their own.

 

However, in the crumble, they were absolutely delicious.

 

It is easy in life to throw things away when they seem 'past their best'.  Things that seem dried out and past it and of no use anymore. 

 

But the Bible says that God uses everything for our good:

 

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

 

[Romans 8:28 NIV, emphasis mine] 

 

Rather than throwing out the things in our lives which seem too far gone, God can use them to develop our character and to make us more like Him.  In His hands, nothing is wasted.

 

I think the words of this song are absolutely beautiful: 'Nothing is Wasted' by Jason Gray -

 

"The hurt that broke your heart
And left you trembling in the dark
Feeling lost and alone
Will tell you hope's a lie
But what if every tear you cry
Will seed the ground where joy will grow

And nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted

It's from the deepest wounds
That beauty finds a place to bloom
And you will see before the end
That every broken piece is
Gathered in the heart of Jesus
And what's lost will be found again

Nothing is wasted
Nothing is wasted
In the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing is wasted

From the ruins
From the ashes
Beauty will rise
From the wreckage
From the darkness
Glory will shine
Glory will shine."

Hand-made

Today, I finished a patchwork cushion cover that I have been working on for at least a year.

 

There was a real sense of pride in my work as I finished and I am really pleased with it and with my achievement, as I wouldn't normally class myself as one of those people who's good at sewing. 

 

When I had finished, I couldn't wait to try it out and see what it looked like: on my bed, on my spare bed, on the sofa etc.  I was excited and I wanted to use it and I wanted to tell other people about it.

 

It's not perfect: some of my stitching isn't quite straight and some of the squares are different sizes or overlap slightly, but it is a labour of love. It is unique and individual and personal and it is something in which I have invested a lot of time and energy.

 

It is hand-made and it is something to be proud of.

 

And as I finished, it made me think (in a very small way), of how God must have felt after He had created each one of us. 

 

The Bible describes us as being designed and personally hand-crafted by God, stitched together by Him:

 

          "For you created my inmost being;
          you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
          I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
          your works are wonderful."

[Psalm 139:13-14 NIV]

 

And at the end of the creation story, the Bible says,

"God looked over everything he had made;

it was so good, so very good!"

[Genesis 1:31 MSG]

 

God looks at you and me and sees us as being so very good.  Not because we behave well, or do as we are told; not because we are without fault or flaw; not because we never make mistakes or because we are perfect.  But because He made us. 

 

We are hand-made by the hands that hold the world.

 

 

Time Sensitive

I received a piece of post today which had the words 'Time Sensitive' stamped on the envelope.

 

It got me thinking about how most things in life are time-sensitive.  Or about how most of us are sensitive about our time.

 

There is never enough of it.

 

There are always things clamouring for our attention and our time: emails which are flagged as 'urgent' (usually with capitalisation for added effect); deals and offers which are only available for a limited period; and letters which remind you of how sensitive the issue of time is.

 

To ask someone for their time, or to be asked to give your time is a big ask.

 

We've all been caught out by the line, "It will just take a minute of your time", only to find ourselves nearly an hour later in the same conversation, or in the same meeting with no discernible end in sight.

 

Time is a precious gift.

 

No wonder we are sensitive about it.

 

The Bible encourages us to make the most of every opportunity and not to let our time be wasted and taken up with meaningless things:

"Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness [...] So watch your step.  Use your head.  Make the most of every chance you get.  These are desperate times!"

 

[Ephesians 5:11, 15 MSG]

 

The most important thing we can do with our time is to spend it on getting to know God and understanding who we are in Him.  The Bible says,

"It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for."

[Ephesians 1:11 MSG]

 

It is in Christ that we find our meaning and our purpose.  It is in Christ that we find our identity and our acceptance.  It is in Christ that we find God's love and grace and forgiveness.  And it is in Christ that we find the strength and the peace to live each day and to love others. 

 

Now that's a time-sensitive issue.

 

Full stops

"I've never really used full stops, Miss.  I've never needed them."

Such was the highlight of a recent conversation with a Year 7.  Instead of correctly separating his sentences with full stops, each page was a never-ending sentence, littered with commas, for which the reader needed one huge breath to complete.

 

Rather than providing useful pauses and breathers to divide up the information, everything ran into itself and tripped over itself.  There was too much information and not enough time or space to process it.

 

In writing, full stops are essential for the reader.  But sometimes in life, we can focus too much on the 'full stops'.  We get distracted by the next pause, the next break, the next significant marker in our lives  - If I could just make it to the weekend. This time next year, things will be better. When I get a better-paid job, I'll be happier.  When I meet someone.  When I get married.  When we have kids. etc.  We think that our lives will be complete and we will find significance and meaning when we reach these milestones.

 

We look to the horizon and wait for our fulfilment.

 

But as Connie says in Mona Lisa Smile -

"The horizon is an imaginary line that recedes as you approach it."

 

If we are always looking to the next 'full stop', we will miss what is happening in our lives right now.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

 

[Matthew 6:34 MSG, emphasis mine] 

 

We need to stop looking to the 'full stops' in our lives as markers of success and achievement, and instead make the decision to live right now and take on the attitude of Paul:

"As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do."

[Philippians 1:22 MSG]

 

Our lives are ever-evolving stories, not just a collection of full stops.  We are meant to live between the punctuation marks.

 

 

Painkillers

Yesterday, I wrote about how my left shoulder had seized up.  Today, it has been much looser and I can turn my head without turning my whole body.  But it is still stiff and sore. 

 

A lot of the pain has been eased as a result of some very strong painkillers, for which I am very grateful.

 

They have dulled the pain to a mild tenderness and inconvenience, rather than a throbbing and nauseating ache.

 

However, whilst the painkillers have dulled the pain, and things seem to be getting better, painkillers can be deceptive.  We can think that we're healed and recovered, but they really only mask the pain.  Sometimes we can be tempted to try using those muscles again - lifting heavy objects, exercising again, etc. - because they feel as though they are healed.  But when we do this, we can end up causing ourselves more pain and greater injury because we're not really healed.

 

Painkillers numb the pain, but they don't really get to the heart of things.

 

In life, we can sometimes take emotional or spiritual painkillers, too.  We can find ways of dulling the pain and hiding the ache, so that we don't have to endure it. 

 

it is always easier to take painkillers and to mask the pain, rather than to expose it and endure it, in order to heal it.

 

But things can't heal properly unless we expose them and acknowledge our need for healing. 

 

And when we do, God promises to step in and to heal our hurting hearts:

"If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there."

[Psalm 34:18 MSG]

and

 

         "He heals the brokenhearted
         and binds up their wounds."

 

         [Psalm 147:3 NIV]

 

But in order for our wounds to be healed, we need to stop taking the painkillers that numb the pain and acknowledge it instead.

 

These are the words of the chorus from 'Healing Begins' by Tenth Avenue North -

 

       "This is where the healing begins

       This is where the healing starts

       When you come to where you're broken inside

       The light meets dark."

 

 

 

DIY

I have done something to my shoulders.  I'm not quite sure what, but I can't turn my head too far to the right and it hurts to lift my left arm too high.  I think I've trapped a nerve, but I have no idea how.

 

It feels as though there's a very heavy weight on my shoulders - an oversized bag, or even a Jack-and-Jill style plank, supporting pails of water.

 

I have taken a medley of painkillers.  I have had a hot bath.  I have used a deep heat muscle rub and an ice-pack.  I have tried to massage it and have tried to persuade others to massage it.  I have wedged a hot-water bottle between myself and the chair, which I am precariously managing to keep in place.

 

All of these things have helped a little bit, but it is still very sore and very stiff.

 

All of this has made me think of the passage in the Bible where God talks to Jerusalem and tells them to get ready to leave their place of captivity. 

 

       "Awake, awake, O Zion,
       clothe yourself with strength.
       Put on your garments of splendor,
       O Jerusalem, the holy city.

       [...] Shake off your dust;
       rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
       Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
       O captive Daughter of Zion."

 

       [Isaiah 52:1-2 NIV, emphasis mine]

 

I've always found the wording of this passage interesting: free yourself from the chains on your neck.

 

Free yourself from the chains on your neck.

 

Yesterday I wrote about sometimes needing the help of other people to come alongside us to help us to uproot things in our lives.  But sometimes there are things in our lives which only we can sort out. 

 

Sometimes we can wait for other people to help us and to pull us out of our difficult situations and put us on our feet.  But sometimes we are the only ones who can do it.  Sometimes we need to be active and proactive, instead of waiting passively for someone else to sort us out.

 

Sometimes we need to do it ourselves.

 

And as we step out and start sorting things in our hearts and in our lives, other people will come alongside us and help us.  They will encourage and support and motivate us.  And God will too.  But sometimes we need to be the ones who make that decision and step out.

 

We need to remove the chains from our own necks.  The chains of oppression and inferiority and guilt.  The chains of resentment and regret and disappointment.

 

There are some things that only we can do.

 

So whilst I can't seem to remove the physical feeling of 'chains' on my neck, I can choose to remove the emotional and spiritual chains.

 

 

Uprooting

This afternoon I am undertaking an essential activity: catching up on the second series of Downton Abbey, in readiness for tonight's new series.

 

In the episode I am just watching, Edith - one of the Crawley daughters - has taken up driving and offers to help a local farmer drive the tractor.  One of the tasks that she is asked to do is to help uproot an old tree trunk  (which is about two feet wide), by attaching a chain to the tree stump and then to the tractor.  As she drives away, the viewer has the satisfaction of watching the stump being yanked from the soil.  It falls sideways and the deep roots are exposed.

 

Sometimes we have deadwood and old tree stumps in our lives which need uprooting too.  Things which have taken root down in the depths of our souls.  Resentment and bitterness and regrets and hurts and wounds and lies.  Things which have taken hold and which have spread through our hearts.  Dead things which have no use or purpose and need to be pulled up.

 

Jesus said,

“Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots."

[Matthew 15:13 MSG]

 

And Paul talks about destroying these dead things in our hearts and in our lives, the things which prevent us from knowing God properly:

"We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God."

[2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NLT]

 

But sometimes we can't uproot these things by ourselves - we need the help of others.  We need someone with a metaphorical tractor to help us to pull out the things that are deeply rooted in our hearts.

I remember someone praying with me a while ago about some 'dead wood' in my own life and the person I was with said,

The wonderful thing is that someday someone will come and take that dead wood and fashion from it something beautiful.  This won't be wasted.

Uprooting is never the end of the story.  It is simply a new beginning.

 

 

 

Hibernating

I've been thinking about hibernation today, not least because I'm tired and it's been a bit of a grey day.

 

It's getting round to that time of year when it's getting chillier in the mornings and the nights are drawing in.  Soon the leaves will start turning from green to golden and animals will begin preparing for their period of hibernation.

 

I've been thinking about a different type of hibernation today as well: it occurred to me recently how infrequently I shut my computer down properly.  Instead, I usually save what I'm working on and set it to 'hibernate'.

 

I'm not entirely sure why.

 

I think it makes it easier when I turn it back on - I can carry on with my work without wasting time trying to find the different documents again.  It is easier 'pausing' things halfway through, rather than having to close them down and reopen them again.

 

I don't often properly shut it down.

 

And I realised that I don't often properly 'shut down' in my own life either - I don't usually give myself a proper break from things.  Even when I'm 'resting', I will often have my mind on other things.  I often pause halfway through a project, or a book, or a painting, but I don't have a proper break from it.  I'm still thinking about them or planning or musing.  I don't turn off my thoughts. 

 

And I don't often turn off my phone or my computer or my radio or my TV either.  There is always some sort of pull on my attention.

 

But rest is an important part of the rhythm of life.  If we don't take time to rest and recuperate and restore our souls, we will burn out.  Work should always be followed by rest:

        

         "By the seventh day

         God had finished his work.

         On the seventh day

         he rested from all his work."

 

         [Genesis 2:2 MSG]

 

Jesus made this a priority: 

"As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer."

 

[Luke 5:16 MSG]

 

I want to make this a priority in my life too.  To take proper time out to rest and to restore my soul as part of the rhythm and pattern of life. 

 

Sometimes I need to 'shut down' rather than simply 'hibernating'.