Whatever He Says

It was just over a week ago that I looked at the massive amount of emails piled up in my in-box at work and decided that I had to do something about them.  Over the next several days I spent time sorting; responding;  filing and deleting-- until finally--pristine, dazzling white space stared back at me from my computer screen. Ever since that splendid moment of triumph, I have waged a daily battle to hang on to it. Partly because it has been such a busy summer at work, I found that I had no energy to write. I was even beginning to wonder if my well of inspiration had dried up--was my season to write, over? It felt to me; not only about writing, but about a few other things too; as though God had pressed the "pause" button.  Just like my father, who in gentlemanly fashion always walked on the side closest to the traffic when we were out together, and when were about to cross the street, put his arm across my chest like the barrier at a railroad crossing, holding me...

By Belinda I've done a lot of pondering as I approached my latest age milestone. First I had to get my head around the fact that this impossible number applied to me. How is it even possible? But it is! I confess I struggled with it at first, but then I realized what a privilege it is to be here today and healthy. Lord, I thank you for this, another day of life; a day in which my bones are clothed with flesh, sinew, muscle and nerve, and in which myriad unconscious processes of brain, central nervous and other systems, enable thought and movement. Today I am fully alive, body, soul, and spirit. I rejoice in the gift of life and the One who ordained that I should "be." I spent some time reflecting on the woman in Proverbs 31. I love all the qualities I see in her, this woman rich in all the things that matter. I care about appearances as much as anybody, I have to be honest, but I care about something else much more: Proverbs 31:30 (New International Version) 30 C...

I am in Kotsy's, a local diner, waiting for a friend I'm meeting for breakfast. I think she's forgotten, or maybe I got the days mixed up. I am enjoying being out and about earlier than usual, and the early morning sunshine streaming through the window. Having some extra thinking time is not such a bad thing either. I figure she's not coming so I order a modest toasted bagel with cream cheese instead of the artery busting Early Bird Special I would have ordered if not alone, wondering why it should make a difference. I conclude that I must be a social eater. I think about yesterday morning's CBC radio program, Fresh Air, that included an interview with the curator of the Kingston Penitentiary Museum. Among other interesting facts, he said that in the 19th century, the prisoners were ordered to observe a rule of silence. There was to be no conversing at all with other prisoners, and with the guards they were to use as few words as possible. The idea was to give the p...

The book is a treasure: Home Tonight~Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son By Henri J.M. Nouwen (A guide to Finding Your Spiritual Home) Some books, you hold them in your hands and you just know that you and that book are going to be intimately acquainted. When I found this one, wrapped in tissue for my birthday last week, a gift from my friend Irene, I was so excited. The book cover is a warm orange, fading to gold in the centre, and the pages are thick and irregularly cut. It feels good in the hand. Inside the front cover flap, is a small reproduction of the Rembrandt painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son. I have loved the heart of Henri Nouwen ever since I first began to read anything of his that I could lay my hands on, many years ago. I love his vulnerability and honesty; his willingness to just be real. His courage in doing so has dared me to be open about my weakness, and taught me that vulnerability brings freedom, and usefulness to God. This morning, altho...

Isaiah 26:8 (New International Version) 8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. In this time between times--between the crazy crunch of Christmas and the unfolding of a new year, I quiet my heart before the One who lives outside of time. This verse from Isaiah captures and expresses my heart's longing for the year to come. His name and renown is the desire of my heart. I wrote on Saturday of Matthew Kelly’s rule of the Sacred Hour and how I wanted to build that into my life. One reader left a comment that she would love a Sacred Ten Minutes ! God knows where we are in our lives. I remember how I cherished moments when Mr. Dressup or The Friendly Giant were on when our children were small. They were my sacred moments back then. Now I have no good reason why I could not have a Sacred Hour and if I don't, I have to be honest and say that I have chosen other things instead that are literally worth less. I...

Saturday morning and it is raining hard, tapping on skylights and cascading from gutters. The hills are shrouded in a curtain of mist. It is the perfect morning to cocoon. I enjoy the quiet of the house; a stillness unbroken from the inside by even the hum of dryer or distant chatter of a program on T.V.. Yesterday children and grandchildren filled the house. Shreds of wrapping paper and empty boxes surrounded the Christmas tree. Carols played on the stereo in the background, mixing with the sound of children's voices, laughter and play, and the murmur of conversation. It was a wonderful day. But I cherish the post-celebration hush that descends. It is a time to reflect; to ponder the old and listen for the new. As I washed Brussels sprouts and rolled out pastry while preparing for our family Christmas dinner, I listened to an audio book by author and speaker Matthew Kelly. I heard him speak at the Lead Like Jesus conference I attended in October and found him a dynamic speaker so ...

Today I am... Happy and Honoured ...to have received a card from some of the people with disabilities supported by the agency I work for, thanking me for the big party on Monday night. The reason I treasure this card is that they read our hearts and knew how much we wanted them to have the BEST time. There were so many hugs and thank you's as they left for home. The truth is that we had to turn staff away who wanted to come even though they weren't working. That was because we already had 100 people coming. It truly is the BEST party! Celebrating ...a special friendship. Thursday was Susan's birthday. We have laughed and cried our way through to the solid gold of a true friendship that will last for eternity. I am grateful for her heart of pure goodness. Remembering in Prayer ...Ang and Frank, who went to Sick Kid's Hospital with their son Nicky on Monday night after the big party. Frank and Nicky are still there, while Ang came back to be with their other children. It...

Titus 3:1-2 (New International Version) 1Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. "Whatever..." We hear the word these days as a dismissive expression, indicating a distinct lack of interest on the part of the speaker, in the subject at hand. This morning it caught my eye in Titus 3 but had the opposite effect. I had just read a note at the end of Titus saying that the letters of Paul to Titus and Timothy are his last writings and mark the end of his life and ministry. I am interested in what a great person has to say at the end of their life and so I was looking closely. Of course, this name and thrust of this blog is based on John 2:5, another "whatever " verse. "If I could leave behind only one piece of wisdom it would be to echo the words of Jesus’ mother, “Whatever He says to you, do it." ...

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (New International Version) 12May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. Paul and I, as I've mentioned here before, are reading a little book by a man named Watchman Nee. Watchman has been dead for thirty six years and he died in a jail in China, where he had been for the last twenty years of his life. The book, called, Sit, Walk, Stand, compiled from the spoken ministry of Mr. Nee, is only 78 small pages long but every morning I read some of it out loud to Paul, and we find enough in a few paragraphs to give us food for thought for a whole day. So this morning, as I drove north to Huntsville, over snow covered roads, tucked in behind a large red truck rumbling solidly along, I was pondering Watchman's words. I had to keep my ...

Genesis 37:28 (New International Version) 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt . Genesis 42:25 (New International Version) 25 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey... Some of us are in week three of The Marathon of Biblical Proportions and I have to say it's been fun doing this reading through the Bible with a relatively large group of people of friends and to have our pastor preaching from some of the passages we have "marathoned" our way through each week. The pace though, feels more like a daily sprint than a marathon at times, and reading 3 or 4 consecutive chapters a day is like watching a reel of one of those old black and white silent movies in which the people all seem to be running in fast motion. Fall behind a day and i...

The phrase captured my imagination. The first winter storm of the season was on the way and I was listening to a program on safe winter driving. A driving instructor mentioned teaching his students to maintain space between themselves and the cars around them. He called this, the “Living Room.” The Living Room can mean the difference between surviving or not, if something unexpected happens, but it wasn't surviving on the road that I was thinking about. I was struck by how we need to maintain living room in our lives, too. Living room; space; margin. There is so little of this precious commodity these days and it's one of the things I treasure in the days between Christmas and New Years; the luxury of some "living room." Somewhere, between the feasting, making of turkey soup, visits with friends and cleaning up of empty boxes and wrapping paper, I will find time to reflect and recalibrate; thinking time; listening time. In this time of solitude I find focus and clarit...

The house was cool when we came down to begin our day. Before breakfast I made a quick trip outside to put something in my car and was hit by a wall of heat--and it was only 7.00 a.m.--the cool was only on the inside. "Thank goodness for air conditioning," I thought. We sat across the table from each other sipping our coffee and munching on our cereal and Paul said, "That post you wrote a couple of days ago about the wedding--that was good." ( "Speechless"--July 4th) "Hmmm--thanks," I said, feeling blessed that something God flowed through me had meant something to him. And that started a conversation about the wedding attire in the story and the fact that none of us has any grounds to stand before God on our own merit. I'd just been reading in the January In Touch magazine by Charles F. Stanley--January, because it's part of the reading collection in the drawer in our bathroom--an article entitled, A Church full of Failures. The article...

It has been unbearably hot. I move more slowly on days like this--the energy seeming to drain from my body like air from a leaky balloon. But now it's evening and our last visitor has gone home after cell group. I should focus on tidying up the dishes--emptying one load from the dishwasher and filling it again--but something draws me instead, to open the side door from our large living room and step out onto the back small wooden deck and steps. I lower myself onto a step and it creaks as I sit. Drinking in the sights and sounds of the evening I think of the word "gloaming"--it seems to describe this pink, blue twilight; dusk. The old middle English word is made for the between time--no longer day but not quite night--a magic time-- lit tonight by the half moon hanging like a distant lamp in the sky. The maple tree sighs, "Shhhhhhhh," and shakes her leaves at me--a dog barks in the distance. Birds twitter sporadically and a passing car breaks into the world of...

Joshua 22:5 (New International Version) 5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul." Love the Lord your God Walk in his ways Obey his commands Hold fast to him Serve him with all your heart and all your soul I had just been reading and thinking about this verse and its implications when the phone rang. It was Peter, our son, checking in--trying to track down his dad. Since Paul was out getting my car back to its pre "battle-with-a-raccoon" state, I had the blessing of a few moments to connect with Peter. Conversations with Peter usually involve thoughtful exploration of ideas punctuated by frequent breaks to mediate outbreaks of war amongst two or more of his flock of four. He'd almost finished a thought provoking book that he said he'd like me to read and g...

Psalm 131:2 (New International Version) 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. This morning the sound of a telephone ringing downstairs woke me up. The brightness of the sun shining into the room let me into a secret--the morning was well underway--it was already 8.30! I had taken the day off to recover from the writers conference I'd been at for three days last week. I hadn't meant to spend so much of it asleep, although maybe I should have, having stayed up both nights away until 1.00 a.m. talking with my friends Bonnie and Susan. I took my morning coffee out to the small square deck on the north-east side of the house and sat in the shade, reveling in the luxury of unhurried time. A breeze riffled the leaves of our 15 year old maple tree. One of the small trees--mere twigs in 1992--given away by the government to celebrate the 125t h anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada-- it n...