Carousel

Life is like a carousel: Sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down, and sometimes you just go round and round. Just remember, enjoy the ride.

The following is a quote from (The Locket Trilogy #3) by Richard Paul Evans

“”She smiled in remembrance. ‘I still come here a lot. Whenever life gets overwhelming, I just sit here and watch it go around. It takes me back to when the most difficult decision I had was figuring out how to make the quarters last until Dad came back. Maybe I like carousels because they’re so constant. They always go to the same place. And they never change. You know, I’ve probably ridden every animal on there.”

This is a comment written by Katie found here The Carousel (The Locket, #3) by Richard Paul Evans (goodreads.com)
God is like that for me–the constant in my life whenever I am overwhelmed, or life gets stormy. God is my refuge, my solid rock, my fortress, my strength, my comforter, my anchor, my firm foundation. God is the same yesterday, and today, and tomorrow. Everything else in my life can change in an instant but God is always the same and will always be there for me. I know that I am never alone and that I will always be loved.” 

Just Like a Tree…

I am not sure how old this tree is, but it sure caught my eye when I biked past.

Be blessed like a “tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.” HOW?

Chippewa Creek photos by N. Armstrong

Delight in the law of the Lord,
and meditate on his law day and night.

Psalm 1

Tea Time

Like indigenous smudging, taking time to be still and to listen. An intention. Boil water, warm the pot, prepare the tea, let it steep, stop, sit, pour, sip. Enjoy, you and Jesus, together.

(D)Anger

Anger? Buried? Call on The Power Source.

Oil My Shield

Shields needed to be oiled? I always thought they were metal and just got banged up in battle, bent and scratched. Then I noticed that shields could be made of leather and if they were well oiled, it meant that the offending swords were more likely to glide off the shield and thus the person with the shield could carry on living and fighting that much longer.

Metal shields might rust so oiling them would be a good thing to do. Wooden shields needed to be oiled to keep them strong and to last longer.

Holy Spirit anoint and keep my shield of faith oiled so I am ever ready and able to deflect the arrows the adversary aims and shoots at me.

• 

  Leather shield
  https://image.izettle.com/product/1600×1600/AMBT0Fx6EeiuV6VlumEqJg-6bZ_wKgmEeqQTaIQGsLffg.jpeg

• 

  Wooden shield
  https://i.mmo.cm/is/image/mmoimg/an-product-zoom/viking-shield-69-cm–an-600039-2.jpg

Metal shield image is from

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R971f0285b417b0b0403e4ef007f952f9?rik=Ac0Fh0EgHtN4tg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fstatic5.depositphotos.com%2f1012327%2f519%2fi%2f450%2fdepositphotos_5191135-stock-photo-medieval-eastern-shield.jpg&ehk=8LDAw0BnAn%2b8B29PjlvD1f%2bWGxebW%2bXVwglylyCzQi4%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw

Have the Jones’s Over

I grew up on a street where we shared the lawnmower and snow blower with each other. We need places to share and live with less stuff, but what we really need and desire is: community. We don’t need to keep up with the Jones’s, we need to have the Jones’s over for tea! Commune-y-tea?

Launderer’s Soap, My Heart’s Only Hope

Not as catchy for a song about being purified, but while reading “For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap” in Malachi, I thought about Brian Doerksen’s, popular song Refiner’s Fire.

I started to sing not “Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire”,  but “Launderer’s soap, my heart’s only hope”.

The image is not as grand as a fire purifying my heart, but I do choose to be washed and scrubbed and tossed and spun and lathered and agitated and rinsed and spun again and then hung out to dry in the Son, to be holy, and set apart for you, my Lord.

Launderer’s Soap…my heart’s only Hope!

Mangy Manger

Just a mangy manger,
Trough made to feed.
In a mangy manger, born,
all I’ll ever need.

King of Glory, worthy,
of all pomp and majesty,
placed in a mangy manger
to simply set me free.

How do I get my head around it?
It’s meant for hearts to know.
I’m the mangy manger,
where His Spirit longs to grow.

Fluff up my mangy manger,
Full of filth I try to hide.
Lovely, gentle Jesus
Come take Your place inside.

Enjoy a Merry and meaningful Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lobbing Balls and Love

• Life coming at you in all directions?

Can’t keep all the balls on the go?

Take a swing, one ball at a time. Swing front hand with thanksgiving or take a backhand shot of forgiveness and watch that ball fly over the net of expectations.

Keep lobbing those balls and soon you will be a pro!

‘Love’ in tennis means zero. Maybe it’s not all about winning.  Love conquers.

It’s Only

It’s only 1 kilometer, 1 slice, 1 sip, 1 click, 1 peek, 1 time, 1 lick.

“It’s only 7 km.” my husband and I said as we inched our way further and further north. “It’s only 39 km.  Let’s go.”  We kept driving and then realized that we could eventually end up on the west coast of Canada by saying “it’s only”.

‘It’s onlies’ can make the world of difference; 1 smile, 1 verse,  1 prayer, 1 thank you, 1 scrap of litter, 1 hug, 1 kind note, 1 helping hand, 1 yes to God.  ‘It’s only 1 bite’ got us into this mess. Thank God for His Only, who has gotten us out.

Nancy