A Poem of Praise

JuJoJan 14 January 2022.

The word for today is “freckled.” I thought of writing about my family, most of whom are freckled, but instead, a poem came to mind from my school days.

Pied Beauty 

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.

Source: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)

Gerard Manly Hopkins (1844 -1889) suffered from a depressive disorder which today might be labelled bipolar disorder or chronic unipolar depression. Yet he was able to write such a positive poem of praise to God. He could see the beauty in creation from a unique angle.

I thought about this today as we walked home from the caravan place where our motor-home was being sealed. God is a God of variety. He does not make identical or standard anything. We are all unique and He deals with each of us in a unique way. Sometimes the very inclusion of opposites adds depth to His creation.

St Paul understood the essence of this. He wrote,”

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NIV)

… and “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10b NIV)

When I got home, I noticed my petunias. Magnificent in their stripiness!

My Prayer

Father, I notice contradictions in myself. Please give me the grace to accept myself, contradictions and all, the way You accept me. Amen.

The Alpha and the Omega

JusJoJan 8 january 2022

In the interests of variety, I am not going to start this post, “In the beginning.” I was tempted though, because both the Old Testament and the Gospel of John start with the words, “in the beginning.”

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NIV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5 NIV)

In other words, Jesus is the centre of it all. He is the originator, the reason, the very light of life. Any world view that makes Man the centre of it all, is not Christianity. Yet we, born in sin, are wont to see everything with ourselves at the centre of the universe. When I was a little girl, I sometimes wondered if I was the only real person in the world and everybody else was a figment of my imagination only there to serve my interests.

When I became a Christian, I had to take my focus off myself as the centre of my life and put Jesus there, on the throne. They make it sound easy, those evangelists. It is not. My daily struggle is to remember who is king of my life. My sinful self has a habit of sneaking into the throne room and climbing back onto the throne.

Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13 NIV)

Life, like the Bible, begins with God and ends with God.

from Pixabay

My Prayer

Lord Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, as I journey each day with You, may my life become less of me and more of You. Amen

The Alpha and the Omega

“The end of the world has arrived!”

Image by icheinfach from Pixabay

This was the theme of many social media posts at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Not long after came a batch of talks by various pastors and scholars showing how this was not the end of the world.

Most of this frenzy has died down recently (or maybe I’m being more selective of what I choose to watch and read. I’m wary of social media.)

In either case, Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.“(Rev 22:13 NIV)

Jesus was at the beginning of Creation (John 1:1-12) and He will be with us at the end of the world.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b NIV)

Even if it is the end of the world, if we walk with Jesus, we don’t need to fear. Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives.

My Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, Keep me trusting You so that each new day can be a new beginning. Amen.

This post is part of JusJoJan and Streams of Consciousness Saturday.

Castles in the Sand

We are staying in a beautiful beach house at a time when leisure travel and accommodation is not permitted, by dint of a medical certificate. The beach in front of us has been largely overtaken by fishermen. When we’ve come here before, it’s been as part of a family group. Now it’s just us. We miss the grandchildren. Where’s the fun of having all this beach sand with no grandchildren to build sandcastles with? So we had to become like little children and build on our own. Once we got started, we actually had fun.

Later in the day, a group of fishermen and their families came down to the beach. A boy of about ten attracted our attention. He was wearing bright red shorts and doing cartwheels along the sand. Later, he took off his shorts and ran into the sea, his brown body glistening with salt water. After his swim, he ran along the beach. When he came to our sand castle, he stopped, examined it carefully then ran round and round it before running back to the fishing group. I was impressed by his sense of joy, fun and enthusiasm.

When Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 18:3 NIV,) I always thought He was talking about the unwavering trust of a child, the unconditional acceptance. Now I think He also meant that joy, that fun, which children find in everyday life. Nobody who has ever watched a little child delight in a ladybird, or even a snail, can resist the wonder of innocence. I think heaven is going to be a fun place, a place where we can just enjoy all the things God has for us.

We don’t have to wait for heaven. This beautiful earth that God has created for us, is full of things that inspire wonder and appreciation. Instead of rushing past them, or looking at all the things that are wrong with the world, wouldn’t it be fun to experience God’s gifts “new every morning?”

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Lockdown Day 35 Work

Tomorrow is Worker’s Day, a public holiday in South Africa and in another 65 countries around the world.

It seems ironic that it is also the first day of the lockdown easing to level four from level five. This means that over a million workers will be free to go to work in certain sectors. Will they? On a public holiday? I doubt it.

During this time of lockdown, we realise what a privilege it is to work, to have a job, not only to earn a salary but to feel you have made a contribution.

In the beginning, after God worked to create the world and all in it, He saw it was good and He rested from His Work. Then He entrusted the care of the world to us, to people. That required work. All we do to build society, to teach our children, to build homes, cities, roads, infrastructure, banking systems, to serve each other and so on, all require work.

The Bible gives us some pointers about work.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23)

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8)

If we regard our work as part of our lives and as a gift from God, we will treat it as any other part of our lives. We commit it to God. As the fruit of the Spirit grows in us, our working life should also demonstrate the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control of Ephesisans 5:22.

For those of us who are retired, our work does not cease. We are in a position to help others, especially our families. We have more time to wait on the Lord and follow His leading. Whatever we do, whether employed or laid aside, let us do it all for the glory of God.

The Gathering of the Waters

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so…….the gathered waters he called seas. Gen 1:9-10 (selected)

The sea is ever changing, like an actress in a play. At dawn her gauzy pastels float in tranquil, calm array,

Then, energised, she dances, whipping waves to foaming froth,

She spreads the beach with shimmer and spume-embroidered cloth.

She tumbles with the sea shells and flirts with fiery fish. She’s pushy or withdrawn, according to her wish. She’s regal as a queen, transformed by golden ray,

Then takes a bow to curtain calls before the end of day.

From backstage you can hear her when the curtains block the light, The murmurs and the whispers or the thunders in the night.

My Father’s Garage

My father died in Port Elizabeth nearly nine years ago. His garage is still as he left it.

We are visiting from Randburg and I as look around the garage, I realise you can tell a lot from a place where a person spent time. A blade-less fretsaw hangs against a wall evoking memories of beautiful fretwork pieces my father created.

On the cement floor is his microscope, giving a clue that he was a metallurgist and an intelligent man. The shelves hold bits and pieces neatly stored in bottles giving testimony that my father was an orderly man.

In the same way, we can look around creation and deduce characteristics of our Heavenly Father.

A beautiful sunset speaks of His glory,..

.. a roaring waterfall displays His power..

… and all around is evidence of His love of beauty, even in places we don’t think to look.
Our Father has a sense of  fun. One only has to look at some of the creatures that inhabit our world to realise that.

I have only mentioned four characteristics of God I can see in His creation. There are many more. I’d love to hear what you have discovered.