Super-people..

There are times when I really did wish I had super powers! I mean, wouldn’t it be great to have that one thing that made you truly unique and special, like in The Incredibles, the family all had something special… to stretch, dissapear, light fires, run faster than the wind, have super strength… but wouldn’t it be great too, to have regular everyday super powers- to have insight into what’s going on, big picture, strength and stamina to get a large job done, and kept up to date, or prepare extraodinary meals super quickly, or have incredible insight into people’s character and understand the forces at play in different people’s lives..

I think the one I would choose at the moment would be to have the ability to carry others through times of great trouble and adversity, to be the best friend and support possible in whatever way that was needed. But to be perfect in any one thing, let alone everything, isn’t possible in this fallen world, and while we have each been called to do all we can, it doesn’t mean we have to do everything, no matter how much I, or others may want to. I am reminded of the verse… my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, that it was Jesus who came to seek and save the lost, to bind up the brokenhearted, to bring wholeness to people, not us. Yet in it all, God gives us a part to play, no matter how fallen, broken and sinful we are. We are given second chances, and in God forgiving us wiping away our sins, so we can go out complete, loved and knowing we are part of his great design and plans, that he has good things for us to do…!

With that too, would need to be the power to take the times when I am not treated the way I would like to be treated, and try to treat others, to see past it, and continue to be full of grace...:)

...Another happy place...:)

I have been working on an assignment with a challenging topic over the last week, and couple that with it being my first of this degree, made for an interesting time! The assignment ended up fine, I hope- will see when I get the marks back, and I learned alot too! Tis a great topic!

I had a morning of working on it a few days ago, and I knew I would just be distracted if I stayed at home to work on it, so, to me, the obvious place to go, was a cafe! So, off I went to the local cafe that just buzzes, with great latte's and breakfast menu to get some work done. It got me thinking though- why was that the obvious place to go to work.... and it's something I do quite a bit, and have done more over the years... and realised... cafe's are happy places! They are often full of people talking, fellowshipping in some way, they want, and choose to be together to share that time, it's a place of enjoyment! A happy place!

So, cafe's are a great place to be among people, yet get work done that just plain needs to be done... hmm... now, where are some other happy places...???

One, I realised today, too, was a garden with great garden furniture...:) when I move, that, for me will be a priorty:) fun to know that I will be able to sort some 'non-essential' (in terms of practical' yet, essential in other ways items:) just need to find a place that sells, or gives away cheap garden furniture:)

Wanted

As you know, I have been trying to get my head around a few essays over the last few weeks- one being on Forgiveness!

I watched the movie: Wanted, last night and talk about the opposite of forgiveness in one movie!! Vengeance as far as you can go...!!

Good movie... violent... not no forgiveness throughout it all. And interesting to see where all the vengeance in their movie led them to! Now, how do I say all that in an essay...:)

The four loves, by CS Lewis

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it careluf round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become uncreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.... The only place ourside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers... of love is Hell.

God's beauty

I am reading a book at the moment that spending lots of time talking about God's beauty, and how it's expressed, and how we, as people, can see it. I went to a church service last night, where the passage spoken on, was Ephesians 1:1-10, which is a passage so full of God's beauty, it astounds me!


The book I am reading talks a bit about the beauty in women, which got me thinking about some of the amazingly beautiful women I know. While they are beautiful in different ways on the outside, it's their inner beauty that really makes them shine, and thoroughly enhances their outer beauty! I am rather blessed to know, and be friends (or sister to) with them!


It goes beyond that though too, to God's family and the beauty there! I went to another church this morning, and was struck, yet again by the beauty the radiates out of the family of people who are there!!



So, will keep a continued look out for God's beauty, in people, places and events! He's an awesome God:)

Shattered dreams

I have been home today reading through great stacks of books, doing research for one of my essays... the problem is that I get sidetracked, or skim them, or just don't get a chance to really get stuck into what I need to in order to get the heart of what I am trying to learn, or understand more. There are just too many good things to read and learn:)

Anyway, I have just skimmed through, what looks like an awesome book- one I would like to buy and read... sometime when I have more time! It's by Larry Crabb, and called Shattered Dreams, and looks at how God can take us through really challenging times to bring us to a new place. There are so many ways of looking at this topic of suffering, and many, many examples of how God deals with challenging times in the bible, yet all the time, maintaining that he loves us and loves to bless us, and be in close relationship with us.

He touches on a passege from Jeremiah that I just love. We have been talking about this concept recently at college, of digging our own wells, rather than going to the Well with Living Water that only Jesus can provide.

Jeremiah 2:13 says... 13 "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Pretty powerful picture..

And he finishes, by saying... The journey to joy takes us through shattered dreams. That's the lesson of Naomi's story(the Book of Ruth).
A new way to live is available to us, a way that leads to a joy-filled encounter with Christ, to a life arousing community with others, and to a powerful transormation of our interior worlds that makes us more like Jesus.

The well of positivity!

What an awesome idea!!:)


http://www.wellofpositivity.com.au/

A new God- willed heart..:)

Ezekial 36: 24-28 "'For here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I'll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I'll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that's God-willed, not self-willed. I'll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You'll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You'll be my people! I'll be your God!

How beautiful is this passage, and the promise it contains..! I love the picture of the water cleansing us, and the picture of a stone heart, being replace with a heart that's God-willed.. not self willed! What a wonerful gift!

This is something that has come up in a few contexts over the last few days, and so many passages have since come to mind, as well as topics, thoughts and ideas...

The main one that has really struck me, is the story of the woman at the well who meets Jesus. We all seek answers, happiness, satisfaction in something, but here, Jesus recognises the thirst this woman has, who is seeking Life in things that ultimately don't satisfy, because they aren't found in a walk/adventure/journey/relationship with Jesus.

Ahh... to drink deeply again of that living water, and not be distracted by other wells of water that just don't satisfy.....

I was pointed to a couple of quotes yesterday, and was really struck by their simplicity, and effect!

'hurt people, hurt people'.... I can't remember who said it, but wow, so true...

'Pain that isn't transformed is transmitted' Richard Rohr

As I think through the topic of forgiveness, and the amazingness of the gift it is to be forgiven (by God and others) and to forgive... am struck again by the wonder of love God has for each of us..!:)

Giving and forgiving

I have been trying to speed read through a book I would much rather read slowly and enjoy… but there we go! It’s called Free of Charge, by Miroslav Volf, and is n Giving and forgiving. It’s got much in it, and while I need to return this copy to the library tomorrow, I am tempted to buy it anyway..!

So, for your reading pleasure, here’s a few tidbits for you to enjoy!

Forgiveness is a special kind of gift. When we give, we seek the good of another, not our own good, or at least, we don’t primarily seek our own good. The same is true of forgiveness. We forgive for another’s sake, though we too may benefit from the result. But there is also an important difference between giving and forgiving. We give when we delight in others or others are in need; by giving, we enhance their joy or make up for their lack. We forgive when others have wronged us; by forgiving, we release them from the burden of their wrongdoing, offence, transgression, debt. And that’s what makes it more difficult to forgive than to give.

What is God’s relationship to forgiveness? It’s similar to God’s relationship go giving in general. Briefly, God is the God who forgives. We forgive because god forgives. We forgive as God forgives. We forgive by echoing God’s forgiveness. So to understand our own forgiving, we need to start with God’s….