Whatever He Says

I had spent Wednesday upstairs, emptying, cleaning and organizing cupboards, while from the kitchen below the distant whine of an electric screwdriver drifted up--new cupboard doors were being attached to our still sturdy, old cupboard frames. The bathroom cupboards were next to be renewed once the kitchen was finished. Without thinking, I emptied the contents of a clear plastic jewelry organizer onto the bathroom counter-top, so that I could wash and dry it--and instantly the chains of four necklaces formed a pile that became tangled around each other and two red coral earrings. More haste, less speed, I thought, with a sigh. I  tried letting the chains loosely fall apart in my fingers, as much as they would without tugging. Mum had taught me how to do this when I was a child, and I remembered how n o matter how tight the knot in a thread, or how hopelessly knotted a chain was , somehow,  she was always able to undo it; just one of her special talents! I  managed to...

It was the week in which Canadians celebrated the 50th anniversary of our flag and David Stewart and his bride Xiaoqian Liu, celebrated their love by getting married on Valentine's Day. It almost felt as though a Divine event planner had been at work in bringing all these things together. From different cultural backgrounds, their wedding bore testimony to the power of love to overcome obstacles, and the importance of young couples being surrounded by family, community and prayer. David and Xiaoqian's wedding was both cross cultural, blending Chinese and Canadian traditions; and counter cultural in that the  focus was on getting married, not "the wedding," although that was lovely.  The reception hall in the church basement was decorated with Chinese lanterns, fans, lovely floral table centrepieces and origami birds.   The bride wore red; the traditional bridal colour in China;  symbolizing good luck, happiness, vital...

By Belinda Yesterday morning I retreated to the solitude of our north deck and sat in the steamy heat of Saturday, reading, reflecting, and hanging out with God for a few minutes before starting my busy day in earnest.  Just as I was putting my books away I had this thought about a passage I wasn't even reading: 1 Corinthians 13--commonly known as "the love chapter," and often read at weddings. Since, according to 1 John 4:8,   God is love , I wondered how the passage would read if I substituted "God" for "love" all the way through. I reopened my Bible and read it like that and it was cool to see a "quality" personified. So here it is with the word "love" replaced by God--just for today. 1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV) 13  If I speak in the tongues [ a ] ( A )  of men or of angels, but do not have God , I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  2  If I have the gift of prophecy ( B )  and ca...

By Belinda "Handsome is as handsome does" is an old proverb that I grew up with in England. It means that actions, which speak to inner character, are far more telling than outer beauty... I love nice clothes and have always rationalized my overspending in that area of our budget as a "small weakness." I can trace my passion for shopping back to my childhood where there was no money for frills, including pretty clothes. We had our school uniforms and good shoes but other new items of clothing were so rare that I can remember every item of clothing in my wardrobe between the ages of 12 and 16, when I started work. But that is all so long ago! On my trips back to England to visit Mum and Rob, I always looked forward to spending time in Marks and Spencers, Next and Dorothy Perkins and always came home with several new items of clothing. In October I was back in Alvechurch again and this time was different. I focused on Mum and being everything to Rob that h...

Friends I'm sharing a post from the archives this morning. It's about perspective, and so much about love is about perspective, don't you think? I loved reading this again. Hope you do too. Happy Valentines Weekend! Belinda By Joyful Fox I have a friend who has made many choices that define her life. She and her husband have a home-based business and they have two children. These are both decisions they made together. While she and her husband were dating, he had a fall - an ordinary fall for reasons that weren't so ordinary. One thing lead to another, and he was diagnosed with MS. She said, "This sounds strange but we really thought we could beat MS". My friend shared that they did many alternative health treatments - vitamin regimes, acupuncture, and massage, to name a few. They did everything in the hopes to slow down the progress of his illness. Later in our conversation she said, "It is really fortunate that his MS has stayed mainly in his legs....

By Belinda I have a cold and my brain feels fuzzy but I am on vacation and can rest and sip chicken soup and cups of tea. I read and reread a passage from James because I am finding it hard to focus and process the words I am reading. At about the third reading the meaning sinks in fully and I reach for my pen... James 2:8-9 (Amplified Bible) 8 If indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well.(A) 9 But if you show servile regard (prejudice, favoritism) for people, you commit sin and are rebuked and convicted by the Law as violators and offenders. Favouring the rich over the poor is the opposite of the royal law, which is to love without discrimination of any sort. The verses that follow remind the reader that if we keep the whole law, but stumble at one point, we are guilty of breaking all of it. With the law it is all or nothing, and since it can never be "all," we being human, fal...

Dear Readers, Susan usually posts on Fridays, but is away in Orillia for a couple of days on training. So, I share these brief thoughts: 2 Corinthians 5:15 (New International Version) 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Lately it seems so clear that all that we are supposed to be, is an expression of God's love. It all seems suddenly so clear and simple. Even in Matthew 9, which tells about Jesus visiting the home of Matthew the Tax Collector for dinner, he makes that point. Matthew would have been despised in the Jewish community for his service to the Romans and exploitation of his brothers. Jesus didn't try to hide his relationship with Matthew and furthermore, at his home he was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of similarly shady, fringe folks. His disciples surely wondered about the road down which their leader was taking them. In response to their confused questions, he gave them...

2 Peter 1:3-9 (New International Version) 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. These inspiring words from 2 Peter tell us that fai...

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. I pull over my hands and arms the twin sleeves of compassion and kindness. May these sister virtues flow through the embrace of my arms and the touch of my hands in this good day. Over my shoulders may the garment of Christ be a cloak of humility. His back stooped to wash dirt encrusted feet, and endured the cruel sting of Pilate’s flail. His shoulders bore the cross for me; shall my shoulders not bend too, in service and sacrifice? Around me I gather the warmth of his gentleness, patience and forgiveness; may my heart be filled with his grace and forbearance, always remembering that I have received these gifts in unlimited meas...

Song of Solomon 2:4 (New International Version) 4 He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Writing a reply to an email I find myself harsh. I second guess myself; edit, reword, soften, remember...breathe. A sudden surge of anger at something catches me off guard, adding pressure to an already pressured day. A question asked once too often and I reply discourteously to someone who does not perhaps notice the subtle rudeness of my reply. But I know, and my heart is grieved. Who is this hot-head that lives in me still? If I make more room for Christ, surely what flows from me will naturally (or "by nature") be love. I will have no fear of harshness. No need to repent of sudden sharpness in my voice, in spoken or written word. The verse today says, "His banner over me is love." Self referentially I always thought that it pointed out how much he loves me; how much he loves us. I wonder if I have that wrong (not about his loving us, but what t...

Playing for Change: Song Around the World “Stand by Me” I found this version of Stand by Me on Raspberry Rabbit last week and have wanted to share it ever since, if only for an excuse to listen to it again. I absolutely love it for its brilliant musicianship. Stand by Me, is one of my favourite songs, and it speaks to what I wrote about yesterday: We all need someone to stand with us, to be "for" us at some time or another. Lean on Me, another of my favourite songs has a similar them. "Standing with," somebody takes courage. Often it involves some risk. It might be inconvenient and involve sacrifice. It might take us out of our comfort zone. I look around at my friends and count myself very blessed. All of them are the kind of people who would stand with someone and have the courage to go against the flow. It is one of the things that I love about them and I include my dear Paul in that group. I don't think there is a conformist in the crowd. They are a passi...

The flood of emotion hit me suddenly and unexpectedly. I was driving to an afternoon meeting, the heater blasting my feet with hot air and Chris Tomlin's song Love , from his CD, Hello Love , blasting my ears with hot music. The moment triggered a strong memory of Mum's presence in the car seat beside me when she was last in Canada in 2003. I was on my way "somewhere," and she was with me; utterly content. My CD player in that moment was blasting out a new rocky arrangement of Amazing Grace and I was enjoying the music; and having Mum by my side. Mum's 32 years of transatlantic visits came to an end with a stroke in 2003, days after returning to England from Canada, but I have so many memories to treasure. They are concentrated essence of pure joy. The anticipation of each visit was part of the joy as the countdown began about six weeks before her planned arrival. By the time I went to the airport, I would barely be able to contain my excitement. I would imagine...

I sit, bible and prayer journal in hand, in the corner of the Nikolettes Gym. Parents are in the viewing area and several gymnastics classes are going on simultaneously. Girls on beam, bars, vault, and floor- learning skills, strengthening their bodies, gathering body awareness and balance.  I look at all these beautiful girls, made in their Father's image. I see blond ringlets, and curly wisps of auburn and chocolate. There are thick masses of long brunette and deep asian dark. There's indian dark beauties and fair, freckled, irish red-heads. I look into eyes of blue, green, and brown and I wonder about the soul of these precious girls. What do they know of You, creator of them, giver of life? What do they know of Your love and righteousness? How will this culture they live in deceive them into believing success is outward beauty? I think of a line Marilyn Munro shared so many years ago. "They'll give you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul....

Psalm 32:7 (New International Version) 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah Love prodded. I resist the pull to old ways, I wrestle. But Jesus is defined by love. It is his very essence. And so I open my Bible to a passage I have lived in of late: 1 Corinthians 13. Today I read it wanting so much to be the love that I read of. After all, love that cannot be tested, is no love at all. Love... Is patient, where I can be so impatient. Is kind, and cares for the other person more than for self--another area in which I need to grow. Keeps no record of wrongs. When I feel accused I am tempted to rehearse past hurts. Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I fight the urge to hide, but he is my hiding place (Psalm 32:7). How appropriate are the words at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 in verses 11-12: 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I b...

I stowed my luggage in the overhead baggage compartment and sank into my window seat on the aircraft. The friendly man who sat next to me introduced himself, as did the woman beside him, but I was glad that they were soon in conversation with eachother. I had lots to think about on my way home from England. We were soon airborne and flying at a lower altitude than normal to avoid turbulence. I looked at the land far below; at rivers, lakes and a patchwork of fields and communities, as the aircraft slowly moved across them like a giant bird. How peaceful and quiet the world looked from that angle! The week I left for England I had been thinking about the ongoing work of God in our hearts; how he softens and shapes us, sometimes painfully, but always lovingly. My friend Susan gave me a book to read on my journey to England called, A Treasury of Great Moral Stories~ The Book of Virtues for Boys and Girls , edited with commentary by William J. Bennett. It might seem like an odd choice for ...

1 Corinthians 14:1 (New International Version) Follow the way of love... It is the beginning of winter; a new season. Outside it is raining in the early morning dark and a chilly 4 degrees. Soon the cold will deepen and the rain will turn to snow. In our northern land it is inevitable. In my heart there is a new season and I feel it just as certainly as the turning of the year; but there is no chill in my heart, only glowing embers intensifying in warmth and love, fanned into white heat under the breath of the Holy Spirit. For I am a captive of Love and Love has me at last; all of me. Much has happened over the past weeks and I will be writing about it more in coming days, as God helps me to put it into words. It is hard to adequately express the depth and sanctity of my deepened understanding of his love. Oh, how I love him. His beauty enthralls me and I am drunk with love. The words of the Song of Songs are mine: Song of Songs, chapter 1:7 Tell me, you whom I love, where do you graz...

Heavy dew blankets the grass, glistens in the sun. Water pools on deck-boards waiting for sun's warmth to burn off wet. It's the end of summer, Labour Day Week-end and morning dawns, cool. Green grapes are blueing, ripening on the vine. A gentle reminder that the lazy days of summer are gone. Autumn beckons. Children's laughter echoes across the water and they frolick, enjoying this last week-end before school doors open once again. New beginnings pregnant with potential and possibility dawn on this September morn. God calls. He speaks. "For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar (the Lord of hosts is His name). And I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, 'You are My people!'" Isaiah 51:15-16 NASV We are His. He lives in us. We have good news and His love to share. "How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who b...

I've been thinking a lot lately... about thinking. There is a common adage which says "I think, therefore I am". This packs so much in a single statement. The way I choose to unpack it today is to realize that how I think, becomes who I am. In her beautiful blog yesterday, Joyful quoted from 1 Corinthians 13 and I would like to refer to the verses just prior for this post... " If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. I Cor. 13:1-3 I have found lately that I can control my thoughts as one would change a channel on a T.V. I find myself slipping into ungratefulness or criticism. Thanks be to God that He prompts me through the Holy Sp...

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek it's own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;... I Corinthians 13: 4-8 NASV I received in my inbox this week a picture of the ocean. Waves extended to the horizon, yet close to shore, they churned in white foam. Various shades of blues and whites were captivating. On the beach were 4 persons holding hands, two female, two male of various ages. One was Asian, one European, one American and one was African. In bold black letters, written in the surf were the following words: IF YOU COULD FIT THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE WORLD INTO A VILLAGE CONSISTING OF 100 PEOPLE, MAINTAINING THE PROPORTIONS OF ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING ON EARTH, THAT VILLAGE WOULD CONSIST OF 57 ...

The suspense is palpable as we turn each page. We sit, we three, on the couch, I in the middle, and on either side a girl, with long, silken, summer-sun-kissed hair. Their skin is the colour of the brown eggs in the grocery store; the kind you pay extra for; even though the insides are the same as the white eggs; but I digress. Both have eyes the colour of chestnuts and Victoria has a delicate sprinkle of freckles over the bridge of her nose that looks as if an angel flicked a paint brush laden with burnt sienna, as a finishing touch when God was making her. I pause in my reading of the book, as I often do, to ask a question. "What do you like best--movies or books?" Without hesitation, with eyes wide and bright, they shout out, "Books!" "Why books?" I ask. Tiffany-Amber said, "Because movies are so...predictable." And Victoria added, "Yes, and books allow you so see so many more pictures in your mind." Oh, I know. I know exactly what t...