I am loved…..

How many of us know we are loved? Really truly loved for who we are not what we do, loved for how we are not how we would like to be.

Love is such an immense subject with so many angles and facets and I couldn’t possible encapsulate all of it in a blog post. But love is what makes the world go round they say, love is blind, love changes everything.

This week saw my colleagues and friends help me say goodbye to the job I’ve held for four years. They threw a leaving party for me on Friday and I was truly overwhelmed by the love people showed. It wasn’t just the lovely gifts they gave me, which were amazing, or the cards they wrote but the effort people made to be there and tell me how much they’ll miss me.

I am sad to leave but it seems the right thing to be doing now for me and I hope I’ve been able to show love to those I’ve been responsible for. I’m not talking about about schmaltzy romantic love but the kind of bonds that form in small close knit teams.

The kind of love that thinks of others first, the kind that goes the distance, stands in the gap, encourages the fainthearted, sticks by you through the ups and downs; the kind of love that weeps when others weep and rejoices when there’s something good to share.

I’ve been lucky enough to receive that kind of love as well as give it. I will be the same person when I go to my new job and plan to carry on being there for people like I already have been. The love will have to show itself in action not just words, it will take time to build new relationships, to create trust and openness.

There is so much I could write about love but I take my role model from the One who loves us all unconditionally, who loves us and accepts us as we are, not because we’re good enough but because He is. Love came with skin on in the person of Jesus, came to find those who needed to know they were loved beyond measure, despite what they had done or who they were.

Love hung on a cross so that we might have the chance to discover how deep, wide, high and long grace is, a love that is endless and given freely. I know I’m loved here on earth by friends and family but I know too that I’m loved for all eternity, freely and unconditionally, with out limit.

Sound too good to be true? Well see what the greatest chapter on love says.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance…… Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13

That’s the kind of love I want to show. I am so deeply grateful for all the blessings and the love I have been shown by those around me. If that’s the kind of love you’re looking for then come to the source of all love and ask Him to show you how much you’re loved.

With love

Alice

Still waiting…..?

Following my last blog post I’ve been waiting some more and thought about all the times we do wait for something that we believe is really worth waiting for and how sometimes the best is saved till last.

Every year thousands of people queue for the Prom Concerts at the the Royal Albert Hall. The “prommers” stand out in all weathers for hours on end waiting for the chance to get in to see amazing concerts performed by world class orchestras and artists for a small price. Their endurance and camaraderie are legendary and I have a good friend who has been a faithful prommer for many years.

I was fortunate enough to visit the proms for the first time last year, something I’d waited to do for decades. We didn’t queue but had booked seats because I can’t stand for long. Having caught the bug I was determined to go again this year, particularly if one of my favourite works was being performed.

Delighted to find it was, I joined the online booking system and waited for the bookings to open this morning. Yet again I had to wait. Although from the comfort of my own home, I queued electronically for two hours waiting patiently for the chance to get tickets for this special event. Clearly much less arduous than it is for the faithful prommers but equally rewarding.

Happily I was rewarded in the end and have my tickets winging their way toward me. I thought about all those who have waited and waited for something they really want, something they believe is worth waiting for. All those who won’t compromise and hang on for the prize they seek, who wait in the face of opposition or ridicule, who don’t give up on their dreams despite the effort needed to hang on in there.

The list of characters from the Bible is endless, Abraham and Sarah waited for a son, Moses waited to see the Promised Land, David the shepherd boy waited for a kingdom to name but a few. People who waited for their dreams to come true.

By any other name that’s faith in action, faith in something we hope for but do not necessarily see. Faith like that swung into action when the wine ran out at a wedding feast. Jesus mother, trying to help the embarrassed host, pleaded with Jesus to do something. Eventually He performed His first miracle and turned water into wine.

The host, amazed at this incredible event, served his guests, who, delighted by a vintage tipple, asked their host why he had saved the best till last. We can wait and wait and wait and wonder why we keep going. When God finally shows up with the answer we wonder why He took so long but then often discover He has saved the best till last.

God waits for us too, waits and waits and waits for us to discover Him and His love for us, a love that waits patiently till we realise we need to come to Him. His patience is infinite and He’s in it for the long haul.

Don’t give up, hang on on there, I hope what you’re waiting for will be worth it and you will discover that the best has been saved till last.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

With love

Alice

What are you waiting for?

How good are you at waiting? Waiting for someone, something? Waiting for life to change?

How often have you heard someone say “if you’d just waited….”? How many misunderstandings have occurred because we didn’t wait to hear someone else say what they meant?

There are all kinds of things we wait for, a letter in the post, the kettle to boil, a birthday celebration, the phone to ring, for someone to ring you back, to speak to someone on the end of the phone after waiting for ages ( a rare occurrence in these automated days). We wait in queues, in the supermarket, the post office, for the bus, the train.

In these technologically driven days we wait for programmes to load, apps to download, the  whirling circle to bring up the internet page we’re waiting to see, we expect it all so instantly, we wait for the document to open, the document to save, the e-mail to leave our outbox, the e-mail to arrive.

Farmers wait for crops to grow, rain to fall, the sun to shine, the price to go up. Mothers wait for babies to be born, for toddlers to toddle, for teenagers to get up, for those who’ve left home to come back. Sweethearts wait for loved ones, the sick wait to get better, the anxious wait for news. Workers wait for the weekend, the lonely wait for company, the lost wait for directions.

We spend so much of our lives waiting for something. When the children were younger we waited for them to get to the next”phase”, when they got older we wished they were young again. We couldn’t wait for them to leave and now we ‘d give anything to have them back so we knew where they were and that they were safe.

I’m not always good at waiting, especially for my computer to do its stuff, ask my daughter or my work colleagues!!!! We can waste a great deal of time waiting for the wrong things and we can ruin things by rushing in where angels fear to tread. Sometimes it seems we can never get the waiting right.

Sadly in our driven culture these days people just want instant gratification at the touch of a button, and they can have it but what are they missing out on?

Only today I sent a text message that didn’t arrive because I had the wrong number. But when I found the right number I realised I didn’t want to send the message, it might have caused more harm than good. Thank God for the chance to wait to hear from this person rather than go in with two left feet. They’ll never know!

Over the years I have learned, often the hard way, that a little more patience would have been so much better than my impulsive hurrying to end the wait. I have learned too that waiting for the right thing at the right time can bring about a positive change in me. I have discovered to wait for God and with God can be such a blessing.

I have learned that in accepting that waiting is essential there is a peace, a peace that passes all understanding, a peace denied the worried and the hurried, a peace that can keep us calm even when things around us seem out of control.

What are you waiting for at the moment? What are you fretting or worrying about? Is it perhaps a time to accept that waiting is the right thing, the only thing? Or is this a time to stop waiting and get on, move forward, grasp something that is rightfully yours, seize the day and all that?

Jesus said“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27

If you want to know that kind of peace ask the Prince of peace to give you His peace that passes all understanding to either wait or to move. That peace is a gift that can’t be earned but is freely available to all who seek it. Its yours too for the asking.

With love

Alice

Sorry……

As I write this my fingers are dirty from gardening, scratches on my arms bear testimony to the struggle to get rid of some of the weeds and undesirables in the front garden flower bed. There is a trug full of stuff fit only for the compost heap and a pile of snails blinking in the sunlight, wondering what’s happened to their moist warm home under the burgeoning weeds now removed.

Its a lovely breezy sunny afternoon and just the right sort of day for gardening, we’ve bought compost and some new plants and other paraphernalia. My daughter and I have worked in companionable effort, removing the old, dead or dying plants and weeds and rescued some nearly drowned cornflower seedlings we planted a few weeks ago. 

So what’s this to do with sorry? Well you know how hard it is to say we’re sorry for things sometimes, our pride gets in the way and we don’t want to lose face or back down and admit we might have been in the wrong. Don’t want to accept we may have hurt or upset someone.

The hurt festers, the pride festers and before you know it you’ve got a whole patch of weeds in your soul. When we don’t say sorry and ask the other person to forgive us we get cluttered up. When we don’t say sorry the other person may be mad at us, stop talking to us or cut themselves off completely.

There are families at war where unforgiveness and hurt has grown weeds on both sides. Where things are so overgrown and toxic that no one has any peace.

I find it hard to live with that kind of tension, although I don’t find it easy I try to say sorry and not let the sun go down on an argument or bad feelings. Yesterday I was unduly snappy with my nearest and dearest. I swallowed my pride and made my peace at bedtime. I didn’t want the weeds  to grow overnight in my soul.

So our garden is getting there, we’ve made some progress, cleared some weeds, cleared the air. Pulled up the darn things by the roots which went down deep. Do you need to make peace with someone? Have you got roots of hurt that go down deep, are you battling with your pride, refusing to say sorry or refusing to forgive?

Jesus said sorry for us all, for once and for all on the cross. He made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be forgiven for all the things we’ve ever done. He died to make our peace with God.

Years ago I realised my life was a complete mess, I kept battling the same problems and finally came to the end of myself. I knew that I had to make my peace with God and ask Him to forgive me for all the stupid mistakes I’d made and for all the things I’d done that might have hurt other people. The relief was immense as I filled ten very tear stained pages of an old exercise book, pouring out my heart and my hurt.

I continue to make mistakes, we all do, I mess up and regret it but now I know there is a way to be free. I need to be willing to say sorry and I need to be willing to forgive. Neither is easy but it makes a huge difference. Not just to me but to others. If you want that kind of peace, want to be free of your past then you just have to turn to the One who can set you free. “Ask and it shall be given unto you” Dare you ?

With love

Alice

A port in the storm

Time is flying by and another weekend is hurtling towards me yet it doesn’t seem like a week since I last wrote. We’ve had a week of continual heavy rain, strong winds and generally miserable weather. Storms and sunshine, grey skies and blue ones, typical April weather.

That’s much like life, life with its ups and downs, the eternal roller coaster some of  us never seem to get off. Life feels like a bad soap opera and the parts we play keep changing.

It has been a week like that for our family, serious illness has struck, others are undergoing powerful toxic treatment and then there was the death of a beloved pet. It seemed as if the storm clouds of life had emptied themselves over us and we were being blown all over the place.

So what’s your port in the storm, what anchors hold you when the gales are lashing your little boat? In the midst of the crisis the other night my granddaughter sent me a message from her phone asking me to get everyone to pray as a family member had  been rushed to hospital. I did just that and asked our church to join in. 

The reassurance that others were sharing the burden helped my granddaughter to settle, she knew who she could turn to and whom she could trust to handle the big things that were happening.

I am happy to say that progress is being made on all fronts and recovery is happening slowly but surely. People around me know I pray about everything and I don’t make a secret of that. I don’t know how I would cope if I didn’t have that to turn to. They sometimes put their faith in my faith and ask me to say one for them, or to “do my doings” as one friend puts it!

One thing is for sure, the storm won’t last for ever, it will pass sometime. There will be other storms and other crises but there will always be one anchor for me.

Jesus calmed the storm His disciples found themselves in, in the middle of one wild, dark night. When it looked as if the boat would sink and they would perish they woke Him up, scared and anxious. He simply said, “Peace, be still”.

I need Him to calm my storms, to stop the waves crashing over my boat, to be with me when I’m scared and anxious. He promises never to leave me or forsake me. It doesn’t mean there won’t be hard times ahead but it does mean I know there will always be my Anchor with me.

When we are faced with doubt and difficulty and fear clutches at us, we can cry out and  ask for help. The Stiller of storms hasn’t lost His touch. He’s waiting to hear from you. The words of this old hymn say it well.

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

Refrain

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love

With Love

Alice 

Time for a rest….

Its that time again, another weekend just beginning, another stretch of time, hours and minutes as yet unfilled and few plans made. Time is such a luxury for some of us, we never seem to have enough of it and too much to fit in to the time we have.

For others time stretches out like an empty desert, hours and days pass too slowly, no plans, no people to make any with, not much to look forward to.

How do we spend our time? Work is a necessity for most as bills have to be paid and food put on the table. Work claims some of our  best time leaving us with little quality time for anything or anyone else. Lately this has been the pattern for me.

We were made to work, rest and play but so often our work life balance is all out of kilter and something needs to change. If those of you who know me are reading this you will know that I am talking to myself here! But seriously all work and no play makes Jack and Jill very dull children.

The Creator of the universe rested at the end of His work, and saw that it was good. If He had to so do we. So this weekend I am going to try to forget the 9-5 and re-discover the joy of the natural world. I’m not going to set the alarm, I’m going to catch up with some of my nearest and dearest and I’m going to thank the Lord for all that He has blessed me with.

Jesus had some wonderful words to say about weariness.

^{Matthew 11 : 28} Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Do you need some of that gentleness and rest too.? Come on and sit down, stop, find some silence, some scenery, some people you care about who love you, whatever it takes to get some rest, some peace.  Whether its the weekend or the week let your soul find what it needs to refresh you.

With love

Alice 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qvMFlL62XA&feature=relmfu

Easter is for ….Love Actually!

A day of rejoicing, a cause for celebration and not just because you got an Easter egg! (You may not have been that lucky!)

It’s late afternoon and several children, and grown ups, are probably regretting the amount of chocolate they’ve consumed today. I’ve been watching my grandchildren on an Easter egg hunt on the beach. The point of the exercise was to dig to find the wooden eggs burtied beneath the sand and then redeem them for a real one.

There was much anticipation and excitement but with a limited number of eggs there were always going to be winners and losers. Digging began fast and furious, sand flying in all directions, it wasn’t too long before eggs emerged in the sandy hands of eager children. This was enough to spur some on to even greater effort, but eventually the effort of digging for no reward was too much and many gave up and got their consolation Easter eggs

As I watched this seemed like an analogy to me, how many of us try to find answers to the problems in our lives, or the meaning of our existence and become disheartened and disillusioned? Maybe we’ve tried religion, fortune telling, alcohol, drugs, serial relationships but we’ve still not found the peace we crave or the purpose we seek.

This is what Easter is all about, finding all that we need and all that we seek, a love so great we can’t take it in but a love that will never abandon us even if we run away; a love that hung on a cross so that we could be forgiven for anything and everything we’ve ever done. A love that is willing to take us as we are but a love so great that it will change us forever.

Maybe you’re reading this thinking “yea right, it’s OK for her to say that stuff but that’s not for me” Maybe you think you’re beyond redemption, too bad, too mad or too sad for the life Jesus promises. Listen up, here’s what the Bible tells us about how much God loves us.

John 3:16

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Making that personal it means God loves YOU so much that He was willing to send His Son for YOU. That’s love actually. I can’t prove it to you but why not reach out and take what He offers, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. No losers only winners!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xODpgyqGCYM

With love

Alice