In the Beginning

  “Then God looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good!” Genesis 1:31

  It’s been a while! Life has been busy with the renovations. I've been doing my part in helping it get closer to completion. There is still much to do to finish it off in the way of details, but the heavy groundwork has been completed. I am so pleased with how everything looks.

  In the mean time, despite not blogging, I have been able to stay connected to God. During quiet evenings, I’ve spent time drawing, deep in the contemplative prayer that makes the art such a blessing in my life. He has already given me the next image to work on which ties into the series we are doing at church.

  That’s been amazing as well on so many levels. It’s called “Origins, the story of everything that matters.” (It can be found on the Meeting House website.) We are exploring the creation story.  I am astounded that much of what we learned over the last two weeks ties directly into the tapestry drawing I posted the other day. Affirmation is a wonderful gift.

 

  Despite not writing, I have felt close to God as I learn the incalculable value of human company. (Smile.) Last night at home church, I sat on the couch between two men—one well known and one a stranger. Not long ago, this is the last thing I would have done!

  I can only confess that this was a God moment because some time during the last couple of months, something has been released. Or perhaps something has shifted. Or maybe it doesn’t matter if I know the how or when because all I need to say is, “Thank You, Jesus.”

  Small beginnings can lead to great things.

  Thank You, Lord, for small beginnings.

  AMEN!

Being Grown Up

  “Then he (Jesus) said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

  A lot was accomplished over at the house. The drywall joints have been taped in the addition, the old walls got a skim coat of plaster to smooth out the orange peel texture that’s caused by multiple coats of paint. It’s easier than trying to sand them smooth. This needed to be done so they would match the new, smooth drywall. I started installing the supports for the shelves in the pantry and did a bit of sanding where needed.

  Much can be accomplished in eight hours.

  By the time supper rolled around, I was very hungry. My friend laid out a spread fit for a queen:  oven roasted peameal bacon glazed with maple syrup and mustard. It was served with fresh, garden tomatoes, roasted potatoes and carrots. The first mouthful of potato with a dollop of sour cream was heavenly! I closed my eyes for a moment to savour the earthiness of the potato, the herbs they had been dressed with and the tang of the sour cream.

  It was an “ah-ha!” moment.

  I looked at my friend and said, “When you eat to fill the soul, food has no flavour…” I paused to think about this for a moment then added, “When you are very hungry, boy, it sure is good!”

  Lord I confess that I have used food to fill a spiritual need. Thank You for giving me the power to overcome compulsive eating habits.

  The Lord is doing a work in my heart around those eating habits. It’s time to stop making excuses as to why they were so bad and be grown up about this. (Forgive me Lord for dodging responsibility.) The new kitchen will enable me to be successful in continuing to eat properly like I have been doing here. Eating properly balanced meals with protein has kicked the peanut butter cravings to the curb.

  Mostly, I have been processing the idea of poverty thinking and how it permeated my attitudes about food. Even to the point I was reluctant to use the stove during the prime time billing hours. (Hydro costs more from 9-7 daily except on weekends.)

  And this heart thing is a wakeup call. Things won’t change unless I change them.

  You know something? Being twenty-seven pounds lighter makes a huge difference in my energy level. Thank You, Lord, it really didn’t require any sort of sacrifice on my part, just eating better has made a difference. A big one I might add. Thank You that chocolate cake is still on the menu! AMEN!

Momentous Changes

  “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person onto the right path.” Galatians 6:1

  God is good. I needed to hear this message because of events of the past week.

  While I can’t go into details, suffice it to say that I was challenged to firstly, stand up for myself then secondly, call someone else out on their wrongdoing.

  This isn’t something I do easily and I am left wrestling with a bit of second guessing around my actions and words. As my friend reminded me, this isn’t of God because it is rooted in insecurity and a lack of trust in God that He would be with me through the entire process. He gave me the words to both challenge and encourage the person I had to call to task.

   Overall, it went well. I will continue to work with this person to help them overcome the behaviours and attitudes that makes them very difficult to love. I know God has them in my life for a reason and maybe this is it. I do know my heart is in the right place despite my initial anger about the situation that led to all this. God replaced this anger with hope.

  I guess, and this applies to all of us, even me, it’s often easier to lay blame on someone else for the way we are, for the things we do and say, rather than owning it. But here’s the thing, until we take responsibility for our actions and choices, nothing will change.

 

  Only then can the next step be taken: surrendering our mistakes, our sin, to God. He has a bottomless well of forgiveness. AMEN!

 

  PS: The house is coming along in leaps and bounds. I am heading over there today to do some mudding and taping of new drywall, hopefully to have it done by the weekend. Then I can paint. It looks better than I had imagined!

  There’s another side to all this. Finally seeing the finished product has infused a whack of confidence in my own ability to make the right choices. While it’s not paint colours, I have to give thanks to God because this confidence has helped me do what I needed to do regarding the person I just wrote about.

  It’s a tapestry moment. AMEN!

Tapestry of Life

  "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

  Yesterday morning I was all set to do a post but Windows decided to do a major update that took up all the time I had. It was extremely frustrating but God knew I would need to do one this morning even more than yesterday. Today is the first part of the nuclear stress test so my morning coffee is taboo. By blogging I can hopefully ignore the caffeine cravings. (Smile.)

    It also ties in with this drawing.

  I tried to capture the idea of a tapestry of life. The hearts on the top represent the generations of people who have gone before us as well as our own lives. The books represent our stories. The clocks are the passage of time but also stand for divine appointments. The various drawing tools are God's. 

  The central image was my attempt to touch on everything in the universe from the wonders of the natural world to the evolution of human society. Science, medicine, art, music, invention and exploration are a small part of this world.

  The beauty of this idea has filled me with peace.

  What surprised me was after I drew the cross, I was inspired to set it on a pedestal representing the Jewish Law. It ties in with the entire idea of this tapestry, that all things converge so that we may live out God's plans for us.

  Aside from the drawing, I've been thinking about all that had to happen for me to be sitting here this morning, typing away. All the past choices, all the lives that have intersected my own have led me to be right here, right now. Even lives that have long since faded from memory are part of this moment! It's mind blowing, isn't it?

  But I also find it comforting to know that despite my choices, God has me covered. He's had me covered since before the dawn of time. It's why I didn't blog yesterday, right?

  So when a convergence of coincidences happen, when a storm of difficulty roars in, when sudden changes manifest themselves, when someone comes to mind, it's all God. He has a plan.

  (Smile.) Now if only I could learn to absolutely trust that plan!

How Great Thou Art

“O Lord, what great works you do!” Psalm 92:5

 My house is coming along nicely. I am able to start painting so last night after work I headed over to get started. The bathroom has been primed so has some of the kitchen. That means the paint can go on this weekend: the bathroom, the kitchen ceiling and the area where the cupboards are going to be installed.

  Everything looks better than anything I imagined even if it is still mostly in the unassembled stage. It’s much easier to visualize the space now walls are roughed in, the addition built, and the steps are turned. Oh, and the new floors have been laid except in the living room and bedrooms. That’s my job once the kitchen has been put back together and I can clear those spaces.

  There’s still much to be done in the way of installing drywall, getting it finished and putting back the railing around the stairwell. The tile still needs to be installed around the bathtub. The new door and windows in the addition, kitchen and bath have yet to arrive.

  I chose the new siding colour which has the exact same colours as the flooring. I guess when you like something, it’s something you like!

 

  I also saw the cardiologist yesterday. The stress test done a few weeks ago had mixed results. The good news is my heart showed no signs of arrhythmia when pushed. However, I had tightness in my chest and difficulty breathing towards the end of the test. This is symptomatic of a potential blockage in the heart. The cardiologist wants to check this out so he is having me do a nuclear stress test to measure the blood flow through the heart.

 

  Something else from the Disney movie, A Wrinkle in Time, touched my heart. It has me reflecting about all the things, all the generations past that have led to me being here, in this very moment in time. But it isn’t just my life that is connected to the threads of the past but the lives of those around me. Those threads created a cardiologist and the science he utilizes. Other threads created a master carpenter and his apprentice, a young woman who was influenced by other women in the trades.

  The threads of their lives are intersecting with mine and mine with theirs for a brief moment. They touch briefly before vanishing into the unknown future.

  What a beautiful image, a tapestry of intersecting threads that is made up of all the lives that have ever been and will be.

  Smile. I think I have my next drawing…

  O, Lord, what great works you do! AMEN!

The Light has Entered In

  “And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.” John 19:19-20

  I was watching a Disney movie, “A Wrinkle in Time.” As far as movies go, it was pretty lame. Definitely not the quality I expect from Disney. However, and I love this about God, there was a reason I wasted a couple of hours watching it.

  A main character was only able to speak in quotations. One of the things she said was this…”The wound is the place the Light enters you.” It was penned by the Persian poet, Rumi. I am not sure when.

 

  Immediately, a cascade of memories poured into my mind; the memories of events that have left me broken and scarred. I was surprised that many of these memories have lost their emotional charge. It was more like looking at photographs of someone else’s family. (Smile.) I don’t think there is any greater way to measure just how much the Lord has healed my soul because, not that long ago, a burst of memories like this would have sent me into a downward spiral.

  As I continued to ponder this incredibly profound word treasure, I remembered. There was One before me who had been wounded unto death so His Light could destroy the darkness in this broken world.

  Gratitude filled my soul. Had I not been broken, I would not know Jesus. Had I not known Jesus, the brokenness would have destroyed me. His Light has enabled me to rise above and beyond the hurts, the shame, the blame, the guilt, the rage. (Smile.) Most of the time anyways. There are still a few scars that have the ability to pull and tug and send lancing pain throughout this child of God.

  But that’s okay because I live under the promise that, one day, Jesus will wipe away every tear and the things of this earth will no longer matter.

  I think that says it all.