Category: Grace

Tasting

What Does Life Taste Like, Anyway?

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Can We Ever Taste The Trees Up Close,

The Cold Fog,

The Distant Shore,

The Clear Moon?

As God’s Works For Us!

Isaiah 63:7

I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favour to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

1 Peter 2:3

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

…

Words of Grace For Today

We can observe 93 billion light years of universe, though we estimate the universe is more than 7 trillion light years huge.

Why did God create all this?

Before creation it was only void, emptiness, and we can anthropomorphize that God easily could have been lonely. But lonely for such small creatures so capable of evil as us? Really!

The earth’s diameter is only about 13 km, and it’s circumference is 40,000 km. In other words from here to the opposite side of the earth is only 13 km, straight down through the core and back up. Or we can travel from here to the opposite side and back in about 40,000 km. That’s only 42 billionths of one light year. In other words we live our whole lives within 42 nano seconds of a light-year.

Why would God create the entire universe, just for us to exist? Or did God? Maybe we were an afterthought, or a mistake, or a side-effect. (The juries would then be out on whether we are a good side-effect or a bad side-effect or even a deadly side-effect.)

Like a medication that tastes bad but is supposed to do us good, except it turns our stomach so that we cannot hold it down: Maybe that is the kind of side-effect we are in God’s plans for the universe?

Except

when we have tasted how marvellously good God is to us, forgiving us, loving us, renewing us, and sending us out with a purpose grand enough to take more than all the life we have to give, then

we, small as we are, can do none other than go out

recounting the gracious acts of God for us,

for us all.

So it is we go out also into this day, whatever it may bring.

Follow?

Follow, Obey … ?

Hope Like Hell

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Can We See The Way

That God Calls Us To,

This Day.

Deuteronomy 13:4

The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Follow, Obey, and Live!

It’s great to follow a wonderful leader.

One who give us good life in following!

If only we can find one, identify one, and know with surety that we are not wrong.

Is it possible not to be wrong?

Can we be 100% sure of anything?

Not at all.

Not at all.

The question for us always is, since we cannot

since we cannot so much …

Then there is only trust.

Trust that God will provide all that we need,

trust that God is and always will be faithful,

So that we can meet the challenges of each day,

especially today?

Green

Growth?

Monday, August 21, 2023

Rain Brings Green Growth

or?

Jeremiah 24:7

I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Colossians 4:3

At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison

…

Words of Grace For Today

Green.

Green growth.

Green growth of life

Green Spring rains

Green Spring rains cleansing

Green Spring flowers, grasses, trees, …

Green Spring sprung rains renewing what was once dying.

Green Spring sprung rains renewing .dying .. hope for life to continue well

or

Green growth of envy and moulds.

Envy and moulds that cover and choke spreading spores that can destroy us from the inside.

Green.

Will we grow green to renew hope in us and around us?

Yellow

Bright Shiny Yellow, Or?

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Can We See The Light?

Can We Be The Light?

Genesis 1:3

Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.

Ephesians 5:9

for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Yellow,

Coward,

Denying Reality,

Shaded from Courage

and Love Gone Forever.

…

Yellow

Light and Warmth

Of Hope-filled Reality

that looks courageously forward

into the future of love, hope and faith.

…

which

will we be a part of today?

RED

Red Fried

Blood Red?

Saturday, August 19, 2023

See The Fire

That Will

Destroy Us All?

Jeremiah 12:3

But you, O Lord, know me; You see me and test me—my heart is with you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

Ephesians 4:15

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

…

Words of Grace For Today

The day of slaughter,

violently terrible

and deadly

bloody

red.

…

Red Roses,

Red Enough.

red

of passion

that transforms

life from meaninglessness

chaos, void, and … confusion

to purposefulness, order

fullness, and …

wisdom.

…

Seeing red?

Which red do we see today?

Blue

Blues.

Blew It Blues

Friday, August 18, 2023

Blue Sky, Missing the Point.

Two Birds Fly

With Grace.

Psalm 119:2

Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,

Matthew 5:19

Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Blue

Blue Blues

Blue Dark Blues

Blue Dark Blues because we’ve blown it.

Blue Dark Blues because we’ve blown it, and it is the most important thing in all of life, the most important thing in all of everything that ever was or ever will be.

Deep, Dark, We-Blew-It-Biggest-Time Blues!

If ever there were a more hopeless situation it could not be known: Happy are those who keep God’s decrees and seek him with their whole heart, for God is the source of happiness and all that is good in life – BUT not one single person can ever keep God’s decrees and seek him with their whole heart. No one has. No one does. No one ever will be able to. Except Jesus.

For the rest of us, we are doomed, and there is no better reason

to not only sing the blues (for we’ve lost out on happiness and life and goodness, totally)

but

to be the blues,

stuck in the blues,

lost,

alienate from God,

in the blues forever.

…

Except

that

God’s work in Jesus Christ to demonstrate that God extends Grace to us all,

forgiving us for not seeking God with our whole hearts and

breaking God’s decrees though we would do otherwise

which Grace turns our forever-blues into hope

that never ends and does not disappoint.

So it is that Blue is the colour of hope.

So that singing the blues is an act

of hope, even though we

blew it big time today

like yesterday and

tomorrow, So

God’s Blues

Carry us

onward

blessed

Purple

Rules and Rulers

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Purple Blossoms, Precious,

OR

Weeds

Run Amok?

Judges 8:23

Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.’

Matthew 23:11

The greatest among you will be your servant.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Purple.

Purple rules.

Purple rules over others.

Bishops

Royalty

Pharaohs

Presidents

Prime Ministers

Premiers

Governors

Druglords

Warlords

Despots

Bullies

Power gone amok!

…

Purple

Purple is precious

Purple is soft

Purple is comfort

Purple is a spectrum

Purple is God’s colour of grace

Purple is exquisite.

…

Purple is the colour of lord and servant turned right-side up by God’s Word calling those who would lead to be servants, not rulers.

What kind of servants of Christ will we be, will others experience us to be?

Will we live out the Holy Spirit’s gifts enabling us to be

a precious spectrum of comforting colours

for all around?

Black

No Hope?

Do Not Lose Heart?

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

As In Every Photo,

In All Views Of The World,

Black Plays Freely.

First Chronicles 29:15

For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.

2 Corinthians 4:16

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Black.

Black absorbs all light.

Black blocks out all light so none passes through.

Black is the colour of

void

stillness

hopelessness

sightlessness

shadows

grief

death.

There is life like a shadow that is so fleeting one cannot but watch it pass, or like a shadow that grows and grows, coming toward one until all everything is no more as if consumed by a black hole.

And there goes hope, out the door to the far end of the universe beyond imagination.

Or

Black.

Black holds all light.

Black shades the burning heat of all light so none passes through.

Black is the colour of

fullness

calm

hope amid the burning storm

relief to the eyes

shades

waiting for rebirth

promise of life.

…

While we live our bodies deteriorate. Some say after the age of 24 our bodies start to die. Some say the warranty is up at age 30. Some say …

… well all the someones say everything that is said.

And if our minds

do not succumb to the wear and tear of life, dropping our awareness to minimum levels and below, so that we do not even know our own families, which is a horrible thing to anticipate,

then we may experience the full impact of our lives continuing on despite the deterioration of our bodies and physical abilities,

and find delight.

…

Black.

Black is the colour of all that was before creation, of God in the universe alone, together three in one, lonely … it would appear … for company even with us imperfect, sinful humans.

Black is a colour given by God, to us, and in all times, black or not, God revitalizes our spirits, calling us to live out God’s grace (exercised for us) for others.

So even when it appears there is no hope, God

…

God recreates hope for us.

Remember

To Speak … Truth

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

When Our Vision Is Narrowed By Worry and Self-Concerns,

Like Not Seeing a Crossing Tracks’ Origin and Destination,

We Miss Other’s Needs, Paths, and Opportunities.

Proverbs 31:8

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute.

Hebrews 13:3

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

…

Words of Grace For Today

When we know ourselves to be defined by God, our identity not dependent on us ourselves or those around us …

Well then the world seeks us out for the peace we offer,

and we

cannot

help

but

remember

and

speak,

Remember those in prisons, concrete or imaginary, with bully guards or made of rumours, of body or of spirit, by wars exiled out of home or by poverty kept from surviving healthily if at all,

and to speak

for those who are not given voice to speak and be heard,

for whom the world has no time or compassion

or imagination

of their precious worth

to us all.

So today

we remember and speak

in prayer first

and then

in our actions.

For God remembers us and speaks for us,

with grace

and steadfast love.

Who

Who Are We?

Who The [Hell] Are We Anyway!

Monday, August 14, 2023

They ask about us:

are we palatable, like tasty berries?

Or are we more like poisonous berries,

bright and deadly?

Proverbs 16:7

When the ways of people please the Lord, he causes even their enemies to be at peace with them.

Matthew 5:44-45

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

…

Words of Grace For Today

In the tumult of today’s world,

when even mother nature seems to be angry with us, challenging our ability to adapt and survive even more extreme weather and destructive storms,

when wars erupt unjustly (as always) leaving people caught between death, destruction, and displacement,

when there are so few honest people who provide truth as a measure of who one is to them,

in the tumult of this world

how are we to know who we are?

how are we to find peace, with ourselves, our world, and with others who wish to do us harm?

Today we measure mostly who we are looking within our selves, an inside view, established by ourselves. This leads to a detachment from others and from community, and more and more people are ‘lost’ to themselves and others. This in turn allows people of power to use, abuse, and denigrate others. In the extreme assembling one’s identity mostly from within leads to narcissism.

In Jesus time people mostly measured who they were by looking outside themselves to what others thought of them. It allowed for distinctions made by powerful people to denigrate the masses as less than significant except to serve the powerful. In the extreme this leads to co-dependency, as we would call it, for those who assemble their identity nearly all from others.

Through history we humans have swung this way and that, between codependency and narcissism, finding our identity mostly with difficulty.

Always, no matter how we assemble our identity, there are ample paths to tear apart anything like peace for ourselves and those around us. Narcissists and codependents wreak havoc for themselves and people around them. Wars are begun by them, easily and often. Sometimes the wars are global, sometimes against a community, sometimes within a family, often within one person. Disruption and destruction reign.

Where is peace to be found?

How can it be that even our enemies will find peace in our presence?

This is only possible when we allow the Spirit to build our identity based on who God says we are: simultaneously pitiful sinners and, miraculously, saints.

God’s peace flows around this kind of people, known by their love for others, even for their enemies. Peace flows with their love like water from the rock in the wilderness as Moses led the people out of slavery into the wilderness, their offspring lead by Joshua into the Promised Land; our ancestors.

Today who will we say we are?

Who will our actions say we are?

How will people know us?

Will they encounter God’s Grace and Peace through us?

Pray the Spirit inspires us to be a bit of a miraculous saint even this day.