Reduced Visibility

I find driving when it's snowing really quite relaxing. 

 

Not when there's snow or ice on the roads, but just when it happens to be snowing.  I find the falling flakes completely mesmerising as they drift to the ground.  I'm not sure why, but I find it quite calming and soothing.

 

Of course, there is the fact that you can't see very well and therefore have to drive at half the speed you usually would.

 

Every time I stopped at traffic lights, I enjoyed pausing to look up and watch the flakes falling. But as soon as we started moving again, I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the tail lights of the car ahead and let them guide me through the darkening streets. 

 

The Bible advises this in a spiritual sense too,

 

       "Look straight ahead,
       and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
       Mark out a straight path for your feet;
       stay on the safe path.

       Don’t get sidetracked;
       keep your feet from following evil."

 

       [Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT]

 

 

Rather than allowing ourselves to be distracted or mesmerised by things on the sidelines, we should keep our focus fixed on what lies before us.

 

And although there will always be distractions, although we won't get to see things clearly, although we won't get to understand and see things the way God does yet, we will.

 

"We don’t yet see things clearly.  We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!"

[1 Corinthians 13:12]

 

 

 

Empty

Today I feel exhausted and fed up.  I feel empty.

 

My heart feels heavy.

 

Jesus said in Matthew,

 "Out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks."

[Matthew 12:34 AMP]

 

Whatever my heart is filled with - whatever your heart is filled with - whether love, or anger, or envy, or frustration, or grief, this is what overflows and spills out into our words and our actions.  This is what spills out into our lives. 

 

Perhaps that is why the writer of Proverbs urged us to guard our hearts, as they are the wellspring, the source, of all life [Proverbs 4:23].

 

If I am not regularly spending time with God and letting His truths soak into my heart, all I will have to offer - all that will 'flow out of my heart' - is what I can muster up myself.  And on a day like today, that is not very much.

 

We need to keep returning to God and to His Word, to be filled up again and again and again, so that we overflow with His love and grace and acceptance and mercy.

 

For no one else has the words of life.

 

As Simon Peter said,

“Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."

[John 6:68 NIV] 

 

 

 

MOT

I've been thinking about my car's MOT today and about how important it is for our vehicles to have regular 'check-ups', to make sure that they are safe and reliable and roadworthy.

 

In the same way, it's important for us to give ourselves regular 'MOT's too. 

 

We need time and space to examine our hearts and our minds and to see what state they are really in.

 

So often, we rush through life meeting deadlines and completing projects and we don't give ourselves any time at all to stop and reflect on what's going on in our lives.

 

We need to take time to reflect on what has happened in our lives and what we've learnt and how we've changed and grown.  We need time to consider how our skills and gifts have grown and to question how we've been using and developing them.  We need time to reflect on what God has been showing us and how He has been shaping us.  We need time to look into our hearts and see what's there.  And sometimes, we need time to attend to what we find there.

 

The Bible tells us to

      

        "Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
        that’s where life starts."

 

        [Proverbs 4:23 MSG]

 

Our hearts are the driving forces behind our lives: they reveal our deepest desires and direct our actions.

 

If the heart is where life starts, we need to be aware of what's going on there.  We need to be aware of jealousy or bitterness or resentment.  We need to be aware of disappointments and desires and dreams.

 

We need to make sure that we give ourselves time to reflect on the state of our hearts and to act on what we find.

 

We need a regular, honest, purposeful MOT.

 

 

 

Beautiful and Useful

I read this today during my lunch-time perusal of twitter:

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

[William Morris]

 

If I could be anyone in the world, one of the top five contenders would definitely be Cath Kidston: designer and creator of all things fabulously floral and vintage.  Just standing in the shop or browsing through the catalogue makes me feel better.  I am hopeful that, by the slow and steady purchase of many of her gorgeous products, I might - over time - become her, through some sort of osmosis.  I will keep you posted.

 

Don't her products meet both of Morris' requirements: they are both useful and completely beautiful.  Yes, many would argue that a peg bag or a scrubbing brush need not be festooned with flowers, but why not?  Why not enjoy things that are both useful and beautiful, as William Morris urges?  Isn't this the best of both worlds?

 

As I was thinking about this at lunch, I got to thinking, not so much about what I fill my house with, but what I fill my heart and mind with. 

 

How much of that meets those two criteria: to be either useful or beautiful?

 

A lot of the clutter in my heart is neither useful nor beautiful.  It consists of left-over junk from past experiences.  Negative words which have no truth, but which I continue to speak over myself.  False hopes, ruined hopes, past hurts, bad decisions, regrets, grudges.  The list could go on.

 

And these things serve no purpose.  They simply sit in my heart and fester and rot and they stop me from appreciating what is beautiful and good and true.  They taint my vision of the world.

 

Regardless of how all of these things got into my heart - whether by my own mistakes, or someone else's- it is my responsibility to deal with them: to sift out what is useful or beautiful and to keep a tight hold of it.  And to throw out the rest.

 

What is in our heart matters, because it is the source of all life.  Proverbs instructs us,

"Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts."

[Proverbs 4:23 MSG]
 

And David prayed,

"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [...] Create in me a pure heart, O God."

[Psalm 51:6,10 NIV] 

  

Whist I can't yet afford to furnish my whole flat with Cath Kidston's beautiful and useful products, I can choose to furnish my whole heart with that which is both beautiful and useful.