JUST A MOMENT

2014 IN REVIEW

Posted on December 30, 2014

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about1,500 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 25 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

DIAMOND DIMENSIONS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond

Hidden, deeply in the earth, unseen, silent
Under extreme pressure, for quality formation
Unknown, remote, being intricately shaped
Being prepared for a future adventure.

Quietly being moulded and shaped in obscurity
Fashioned intricately decade by decade
Moving seamlessly towards discovery
Being refined for future investment

Breaking into reality, surfacing for usefulness
Cutting, sawing, polishing for delight
Mounting with care, artistically displayed
Being appreciated and valued by all

Radiating real brilliance and colour
Continuing to be enhanced, refracting His Beauty
Reflecting the radiance of Redemption
Being a diamond for Jesus.

By DAVID

 

CREATION

When God made the earth and sky
The flowers and the trees
He then made all the animals
The fish, the birds, the bees

And when at last He’d finished
Not one was quite the same
He said “I’ll walk this world of mine
And give each one a name”

And so he travelled far and wide
And everywhere he went
A little creature followed him
Until its strength was spent

When all were named upon the Earth
And in the sky and sea
The little creature said, “Dear Lord,
there’s no name left for me!”

Kindly the Father said to him
“I’ve left you to the end
I’ve turned my own name back to front,
and called you, Dog, my friend.”

Author Unknown

OH THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR ME

Oh the love that Jesus has for me
Is deeper than the deep blue sea
Is higher than the heavens I see
That is the love of Jesus

Oh the love that Jesus has for me
Is all around in everything I see
The flowers and the butterflies and
birds up in the tree
That is the love of Jesus

How can I thank Him for the love He has for me?
I’ll love everybody and I’ll try my best to please
For Jesus is a special friend and one I’d hate to lose
That is the love of Jesus.

 By  JAN

This is being set to music as a children’s hymn. Anyone interested to see it please contact janelford@hotmail.co.uk

CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT

A Poet and hymn writer, having written over 150 hymns, Charlotte Elliott

[1789-1871] was a member of the Church of England but sadly did not enjoy good health.

One day a visiting Swiss Evangelist and hymn writer Cesar Malan, asked Charlotte if she was a Christian and, rather upset, she bristled, tersely replying that she would rather not talk about it; the Evangelist apologised.

However, Charlotte brooded on this, and in time it proved a turning point for her. Meeting Cesar Malan again she confessed that ever since he had spoken to her she had wanted to come to Christ, but she did not know how to find him.

“Come just as you are,” he told her.

Pondering his words, Charlotte decided to write a song for those like herself who were weak and feeble in body. Characterised by a tenderness of feeling and a simple deep devotion, she wrote “Just as I am,” one of the greatest loved hymns sung today.  By Jan.

Having the Courage to do Nothing

Posted on November 3, 2013 by meghantschanz

I have been thinking a lot about courage lately and all that it entails, the still small moments where you decide to do the right thing when no one is looking. Or even the great big moments like asking someone to marry you or skydiving.

There a million moments everyday that require courage, from getting out to bed on a cold morning to sharing your precious art to a group of people, knowing that someone could easily tear it down.

Most courage requires doing something, it means stepping out from a crowd or choosing to speak on behalf of someone who isn’t popular.

But recently I have discovered a new kind of courage which requires intentionally doing nothing. It’s pure, unadulterated trust and it’s a whole new animal.

For a doer like me, just “being” seems an entirely new concept to me. I’m really good at combatting my fear by doing something. I’m always the first one to jump off a cliff or say something that everyone is thinking but too afraid to say.

In times of stress or anxiety my default method is do more and work my way into relaxation. After I get all of my work is done then I can relax. But here is the thing, work never seems to end, making rest really hard to come by.

I’ve found myself working and working, becoming more on edge all the while. I’ve been too afraid to stop, because if I stop then everything will fall apart.

This “I must work” mentality has spread, it’s not just in the area of my work, it has spread to my relationships with others and even my relationship with God.

I felt of no value to my friends unless I was offering them some awesome advice or doing their dishes or writing them a note. And with God I felt
like I had to read set amount of pages in my Bible and spend at least 30 minutes praying for others.

Even though I was getting everything done, I felt further from rest that I had ever been. It was then I discovered that I need to muster up the courage to do nothing.

Sometimes the greatest amount of courage is to do nothing at all, it’s to trust and to stop striving. To slow down and breathe deeply of the world around you instead of rushing through to accomplish the next task.

Real courage is to be misunderstood and not to desperately justify your actions, but to let Christ be your defense.

It’s listening to God’s voice above the lies and choosing to believe that you are of incredible value. True courage is finding your worth in Christ, and not what the world says of you.

This past week I have decided to live out of true courage. The courage of letting God be my strength when everything in me wanted to be my own strength.

When my to-do lists were threatening to drown me, I would go kayaking and ask God what he thought of me. I would ask him to renew my perspective and to remind me that life is really all about love anyway.

I would ask him to pour out his love until it overflowed and you know what, it did. Suddenly work stopped feeling like work and more like a love song to my Father.

Things got done without me stressing out about them. When I finally had the courage to let God be God and stop trying to do everything on my own strength, I discovered that God was very, very much in love with me. No matter what I did.

Suddenly the world was so much more beautiful and I knew, deep down in my bones, that everything would work out.

So this is my prayer and my hope: that I may always have the courage to do nothing and live in the overflow.     By Meghan Tschanz

http://paintedorange.org/2013/11/03/having-the-courage-to-do-nothing/

 

AN UNDIVIDED HEART

 

http://www.crystalshop.co.uk/

Lord, grant me the wisdom
to have an undivided heart.
One totally given to You.
One with crystal clarity,
fully engaged in obedience
to You

Lord, grant me an uncluttered mind.
There is such a flood of options,
all seeking to catch my attention.
Brush out all the peripheral material
and create space for clear thought.

Lord, grant me an unshackled spirit
vibrant with energy
to pursue Your purposes.
Released and free to serve you
with vivacity and joy.

Lord, grant me an unlimited vision
to see potential on every side.
A world vision, rich and complete,
to see “Your Will done on earth,
as it is in Heaven” Amen.

David – UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerridae

Circles

The river surface reflects the willows
Shifting gently in the breeze;
Pond skaters skitter over the water,
Miracles of surface tension.
Circles ripple in the water as they move,
Circles which spread and interlock,
One circle changing another,
A kaleidoscope of changing patterns,
Like the ripples of our lives.
Let the circles of our lives, Lord,
Touch others with your love.

Gillian Tettmar Jan 2014

DON’T LET ME BE A MEMORY

I am in the air you breathe
I am in the woodland trees
in the land of fields so green
I am everywhere, unseen

I am in the winter snow
in the cold North winds that blow
in the summer breezes warm
in the heat of thunderstorms

I am in the gentle rain
in the clouds and in the sun
in the calm or restless sea
does it make you think of me?

I am in the plants you grow
through the seasons’ ebb and flow
in all creatures great and small
all you see, I’m in them all

I am in the night and day
in the sunshine’s warming ray
when you look around and see
does it make you think of me?

You, my child, are in my world
Am I in your heart and soul?

If I am, remember me, don’t
let me be a memory

©Jan Elford – October 2009