Forgiving Ourselves

Photo by Alex Green from Pexels

We talked in our last blog about the importance of forgiving others.  But what about forgiving ourselves? Ah, now that’s a different thing altogether, isn’t it? Most often, the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. How many times have we gone to God lamenting our past sins? And often there is someone who likes to remind us, and inform others of them. To say nothing of the devil who has ages-long experience in dishing out guilt for past sins and the likelihood of future failure.

It’s hard to live with yourself when you know you have hurt someone with harsh careless words. Or it may be something done years ago that still comes back to haunt us. Or what about the shame of continual struggles with our thought life or things googled and watched over and over that have detrimental affects in our lives?

It’s not easy to forgive ourselves, get up and move on when we keep tripping over past sins or when we feel disappointed and disgusted with ourselves for succumbing to our weaknesses – again. So how do we effectively forgive ourselves so that we can function as forgiven, healed and whole people.

Creation declares God’s glory

Well I’m back after a month or so to continue our series on finding out about God from his creation. My focus has been elsewhere, and I’ve been busy, but now I’m ready again to continue blogging.

Order & Interdependency (connectedness) 

Just as God created the galactic worlds to be ordered and connected and to work harmoniously, so also he has created interdependence among life on earth.  Everything flows in an ordered manner. Order occurs when everything is in its correct and appropriate place. Sustained order is needed so that the whole of God’s creation flows and works together in a balanced manner.

Ecosystems are communities of living and non-living things that work together.  An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or a lake or as small as a tree or a puddle.  The water, water temperature, plants, animals, air, light and soil all work together. If there isn’t enough light or water or if the soil doesn’t have the right nutrients, the plants will die. If the plants die, animals that depend on them will die. If the animals that depend on the plants die, any animals that depend on those animals as a food source will die.  All the parts work together to make a balanced system!

When Life Gets You Down – Look Up

The Heavens Declare:  God’s grace and favour and faithfulness 

When life’s big questions puzzle us; when life gets us down and we can’t make sense of our circumstances; it helps to pause and look up.   Literally.  Look up to the sky above. 

We are taking time over several blogs to look up and around us; to contemplate God’s creative work. For in his handiwork we see his splendour and majesty, and gain glimpses of the nature and character of God himself.

The Psalmist David found this helpful and wrote about the inspiration he saw there.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words;  no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,  their words to the ends of the world  (Psalm 19:1-4)

We have looked at how BIG God is by considering how vast is his universe. Then we considered his constant and DEPENDABLE nature revealed in the heavens and his awesome POWER. Today we shall ponder how this big dependable and powerful God is also gracious and faithful to all his creation.

Missing the Glorious Messy Human-ness of Church Community

 

If there is one thing this global pandemic and sheltering at home situation has highlighted to me, it is the need for us as humans for community.  These past several weeks is beginning to take its toll.  I just want to go shopping and walk around my neighbourhood without mentally measuring the distance between me and others.   I feel like I’m treating people like lepers.  I want to rub shoulders with strangers, hug my mum and get on a plane and cling-hug my children and grandchildren.

I’ve often said that I could easily become a hermit with intermittent catch-ups with friends. ….Ha.Ha….. If anything these past few weeks has taught me is that the opposite, in fact, is true.  I need people in my life with intermittent times of aloneness.

My main community involvement these days is my church family.  And I’m missing the physical interaction of gathering together with the people I have developed relationships with over the past 10 years.

Online church is just not the same.  I am thankful for technology which enables us to keep in contact, but I long for the connection of being face to face in the same room with people I have come to know and love.

Finding the song in your heart

I paused outside the bathroom door and smiled.  I listened as my husband George hummed a song that I didn’t recognise.  He was obviously enjoying the shower, delighting in its warmth after working in the garden.  This was his moment alone.  Contentment.  Satisfaction.  At peace with the world.

Earlier in the day it had been a different story for he had been grumpy.  World politics; my forgetfulness and the saucepan boil over; the speeding car in our quiet neighbourhood – he had not been a happy chappie. So to hear him now humming contentedly his song was such a pleasant turn around.  All was at peace again.

And what a difference it made to our day; to the atmosphere in our home; to the quality of our life.  I was so grateful he had taken the time to sort out his feelings and dig deep to find the song in his heart.

As we welcome another year – and a new decade – let us remember that finding the song in our heart each day will make for a more joyful outcome in every area of our lives and in the lives of those we share life with.

Thanksgiving

I know it’s been six days since Thanksgiving was celebrated in America – (or is it 5 days –  we lost a day travelling home to Australia!)  Anyway, while everyone is thinking about Christmas, I’m still stuck in the afterglow of that wonderful American tradition – Thanksgiving Day.

Why is it, I wonder, that we haven’t embraced this yearly observance in Australia?  After all we are adopting other less beneficial practices like Halloween.  And, I’ve even noticed these past couple of years, businesses are promoting Black Friday sales, which is the big trading day sale held the day after Thanksgiving in America!  Why is it that we are willing to skip the thanksgiving part and take on the tradition of the indulgent buying frenzy?

The attitude of thanksgiving is such a beneficial practice and one that is too often neglected. We have so much to give thanks for. Purposefully pausing to be grateful though, should be a daily practice, not just a yearly event.

Beauty in the Garden of our Hearts

Spring is in the air here in Australia.  The buds are beginning to bloom in our gardens as the warm weather emerges to subdue the chilly days.  The leaves on the tress are unfolding, creating shade for the hot days ahead, and the birds are singing, even chortling, their songs of praise. What a lovely time of the year!

Last week the women’s group from our church met together at the home of one of our ladies to welcome and enjoy the beginning of Springtime.  Bette and her husband Harvey work hard to keep their garden pristine.  We wandered around the garden and were blessed by being encouraged to take cuttings home for our own gardens.

While some collected cuttings, others, like myself, collected photos. Capturing the exquisiteness of the garden with its canopying trees, flowering shrubs and individual blooms, made me marvel at God’s creativity and appreciate the love and dedication with which Harvey and Bette tend their garden.  They have created a beautiful haven in which to retreat.  Thank you Harvey and Bette for sharing your garden with us and allowing me to use the photos on my blog site. 

Just as Bette and Harvey have been tending their garden for many years, so God has been tending faithfully to the hearts of each one of us who have invited him to do so. He is creating in us a masterpiece, a thing of beauty, through which to display his glory.

Mothering – a difficult and important job

 

With my mother and my daughter

With my son and grandchildren

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mothers Day – Yes, it’s that time of the year again when we turn our thoughts to honouring our mums.  Of all the jobs we undertake in life, mothering is the most important and challenging. What a responsibility!  To take a brand new life and embark on the task of raising that child to be a healthy contributing member of society.  And, as Christians, we add the mission of raising them to love and honour God.

Of course we read all the books on parenting and have a plan in mind – which usually entails doing differently some things our parents did which we consider unsuitable nowadays.   After all, we’re prone to point our fingers at our mothers to excuse our own shortcomings and struggles. If it weren’t for their poor parenting skills I’d have turned out better!!!

No one needs to tell us how important mothering is and we think we are prepared for the task.  It comes as a shock to find out just how complicated mothering really is.

The Whip of Hurry

The whip of hurry.  I first came across that phrase many years ago when my children were small and I remember how it impacted me then.

It came to mind yesterday as I sat leisurely with my early morning cuppa on the 10th floor of a hotel in Brisbane.  Our room looked out over the Brisbane River and the William Jolly Bridge.  At 7am the city was buzzing with life.  Cars – buses – trains – trucks.  All hurrying their passengers off to somewhere important.  As I forced myself to look down from my vantage point (I don’t do heights well) I saw cyclists and pedestrians rushing purposefully into their day.

Nothing else moved.

Not even a breeze to sway the treetops and limp flags or ruffle the water surface.  There were tall buildings everywhere and mountains in the distance –  all sturdy and fixed and unmoved by the prospect of what the day might bring to those hurried humans.

A friend-full fortnight

We returned a few days ago from a two week visit to Perth for our “grandma/pa fix”.  It had been six months since we’d seen our grandies and we desperately needed a top up on our hugs and kisses and snuggles.

“Have a great day at school” I ventured to my grandchildren as they picked up their school bags and headed for the car.  “You have a good day too, Grandma” replied my grandson.  “I sure will” I replied “I’m meeting a couple of girlfriends for morning tea, then Grandpa and I are having lunch with other friends”.

“Oh”, he responded matter-of-factly, “you are going to have a friendful day”

I was amused with his quaint pleasantry and smiled thankfully because I knew I had the title for my next blog.