ripples in time

As i listen to the wind and see the sun streaming in through the curtains i wonder about the wind and sunbeams that we create in time. Are we a warm wind bringing in sunbeams to people's lives or a cold wind bringing in the ice of time. What makes the difference in our lives. How will those around us think about our effect on them, on our society. What ripples does one person make and how can those ripples make a profound difference in the lives of those around them. Looking out my window i see the sunshine having a brightening influence, a warming influence, allowing plants to open up and bloom. The plants as a result affect their environment around them in a positive way. In Luke 10 Jesus talks about eternal life 'Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus, 'Teacher, what do i need to do to get eternal life?'...He said, 'That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence-and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself'' (the Message). How we affect our environment and those around us depends on the nutrients changing our lives. Life is produced from love. The ripples in time that last are the ripples from loving God with our passion... and loving our neighbor as we do ourself.

Underneath the Dead Leaves

As spring comes and i remove the dead leaves from the surface of my yard i find life underneath them. All kinds of plants are already green and filling my garden with freshness. Often i miss this green as i walk through the busyness of my day. As i look out into the grey transparency of morning fog there are only vague images of reality. I live often as only an image, not knowing how i fit into the fabric of the structure of society. I have trouble lifting the dead leaves from around me looking for life. I find that i don't always take the time for others and am becoming like the dead leaves covering up the vibrancy of adventure in a world filled with opportunity for meeting needs. Living in this world neccessitates lifting the leaves, breaking through the sludge on the surface to find reality in the wonder of life.

Back to Wonder

Wonder creates an attitude of hope, excitement, and enchantment with a desire to explore the unknown, to delve deeper into the mysteries of life, the mystery of God. How do we gain that sense of wonder in a world desensitized to the wonder all around us? In the routines of a world filled with the busyness and dispair of decisions and care where is the time for the solitude of wonder? How do we take the moments within to create the wonder within? Looking outside the confines of culture and mold, looking into the intricacies of nature and creation, looking beyond the garments of pride and self centeredness, looking through the facade of the day, looking and listening in solitude and silence, looking and listening among the battle and noise, looking to see the wonder slip in. How will my attitude to life create a sense of wonder in me and those around me as i journey on into today?

Dancing with Time

In life we experience change on the journey. Sometimes the path is clear, sometimes the path is hidden. Like a mist swallowing the landscape around us the future is there to swallow us on the journey. We are made to dance with time. As we become more adept at cultivating change, the dance changes. As we learn to keep step with the music of time our character changes. God is teaching us how to dance, molding us to the music of time. Change is inevitable. We are made for change.
Our attitude becomes vital to our dancing in time. Being out of step with the music often takes the form of not recognizing the purpose of time and of the dance. Being out of step with the music often means we are unable to adapt within ourselves to the changing beat. Our attitudes become out of step with reality. The journey can be miserable or it can be joyful all depending upon our attitude.
What does the dance look like? How am I flowing with the music? Am I out of step with time or is time a tool in my growth? What lies ahead of me on the journey? Am I prepared with my attitudes?

inbetween creativity

Life is often lived inbetween and this is where we create our attitudes. In our culture of busyness there is always a need for balance, for solitude, for silence, for time to digest and process our thoughts and meditations. When this is absent, we become obsessive, we become agitated by the smallest things, and we become stressed. There is a need to come away from all our busyness. We often think of the method of coming away is by entering into another form of busyness, such as, going to a movie, watching a video, playing some sport, going on a travel vacation or enjoying some hobby. This is good, but not as good as the regular practice of using the inbetween times for your own encouragement, thought processing and stress resolution. The inbetween times are the times or spaces we are inbetween our regular activities and programs of life. If we looked at it using the seasons it would be the space between the seasons of life. So how do we use these spaces for our benefit? We use them as spaces of solitude and silence where we can get away by ourselves for the purpose of defining the busyness around us and processing our emotions, the incoming information, our purpose in life, our spiritual being, our relationships. Whether it be walking from activity to activity, or driving, or washing dishes, whatever the space between looks like, it is useful space for our personal meditation and awareness of ourselves. This space throughout our day gives us time to get in touch with ourselves and where we are at. It is surprising how much space in a day we can use of these inbetween times to nourish and re energize our soul. It is these inbetween times which form our attitudes and help us walk in wholesome relationships. Learn to take these times and make them an essential time for processing the world around you!

Raindrops

Yesterday the rain fell. Yesterday the sun shone. Yesterday the rainbow filled one wholes section of the sky. Today the rain is but a memory playing on the background of my busy mind and i"m wondering what i learned in the rain. One question that keeps niggling is the idea of how many raindrops will get me soaked. One raindrop has hardly any effect on making me wet. Even a few do very little. But as more fall i tend to get wet. It seems there is strength in numbers. People are kind of a bit like raindrops. One person can have some effect on your direction in life. Several may have more of effect. When there are many it is a lot less likely for you to go any other direction because you will be swimming against the current.

mystery and routine

Mystery is a concept that we deal with on a daily basis and it takes hold of our minds. We are enthralled with every kind of mystery, the largest ones and the smallest ones. Mystery can lead us to choices that make us more godly or to choices that take us away from God. We always want to know, to find, to discover, to feel, to experience what is not known, what is mystery. In God's Word, He wants to take us into the mystery of His Being, to discover Him. He wants us to discover who we really are and what our purpose is in life. He wants us to be alive to His mystery. In our world we are faced with all kinds of mystery which draw us away from God when we choose not to follow Him. Our self centeredness takes us onto trails which lead to pride, excitement, and finally emptiness in losing the wonder of God. In losing touch with this wonder we become slaves to our own desire for mystery, whether it be in power, in materialism, in sexuality, in subterfuge, in obsession. Where God wants us to have freedom in discovering His mysteries, we choose rooms with bars in discovering the common mysteries of our lust. In not reaching out for the newness God gives every day we reach into the desires of our daily culture. In not reaching for the Word of God, we end up reaching into our selfish heart to take the world's offerings for building our foundation. How are we building into our character for eternity? How are we at journeying into God's mystery and leaving the world's routine behind? How are we becoming renewed in the mystery of His Kingdom? When you step outside your door today what mystery awaits your inquiring mind?

Sanctuary

Sanctuary, a place of refuge or protection, is sought after space in a world of confusion and activity. Who are the people in your life who provide a space of sanctuary? Who is it that you feel safe and protected around? Who is it that you can be yourself around and feel you are able to say what you feel, able to question, able to share your most intimate thoughts? Where is that place of safety, hope and love? Where are you able to express yourself most honestly and most openly? In the Bible the idea of sanctuary is expressed in the being of God. Psalm 46 states 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble...' In the New Testament God's presense is evident in His people, the Body of Christ. Sanctuary then becomes, not a place, but a people. This is where sanctuary is found, in the people of God. This is where there is safety and protection. This is where you can be who God made you to be. This is where you can share who you are and find acceptance and love and joy.

continuous rain

Bird voices pierce the sound of continuous falling rain and the echoes of yesterday haunt my errant way. There is intimacy in the rain. Rain clothes the landacape with a blanket of freshness, freeing the earth to breath anew leaving the dust of time to dilute and run off into the void. We often sit in silence and listen to the earth dancing in the music of the rain. We often sit in silence wondering if the dreams encountered in the rain are real or illusionary. We often sit in silence. What does the silence bring? What hopes are alive in the silence? What direction does the silence take? Who do we go through the silence with on our journey through time?
The rain is filled with purpose. Working together the raindrops unite and reveal the wonder of life. One raindrop has so little impact, but many raindrops working together change the world around them. What impact on change do we have on our journey through time, like the one raindrop or the rain?