Be still...

Found this verse a helpful way to focus on God during the past few days.

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am
Be still and know
Be still
Be

Psalm 46 v 10

After this morning at http://www.yeovilcommunitychurch.co.uk/ (Talk is not on line yet, but will be soon, I expect) thought I'd put it on the blog:
Quote of  the week


When we can see the image of God where we don't want to see the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.  "Everything Belongs" Richard Rohr

Stevie Wonder....

"If Your Love Cannot Be Moved"
(feat. Kim Burrell)

You can't say we shall and not fight through hell
You can't say we will and not dare to deal
You can't shout out peace and then vanish in the crowd
You can't ride the storm without some effect
You can't steal the spoil and not pay the debt
You can't wave a sign that spells "evil" and feel really proud
You can't sing a song with no melody
You can't say we're one without unity
You can't form a line if you're sacred to stand alone
You can't pray for grace and then smack her face
You can't speak of hope and then crack a joke

You can say you're there but time knows how much you've grown
Put a face to your somebody

Can you say your name?
Or would you rather stay unknown?
Can you show your face?
Or are you fearful of it shown?
Can you feel your heart?
Or does it beat for you alone?
Lift your glass up high
Say that your truth will never lie
If your love cannot be moved

You can't look at me and not see yourself
You can't say "for them" and not for who else
You can't truly bless and not bless the good of all
You can't serve the rich and desert the poor
You can't hear their cries and just close the door
You can't say you're down and not take it to the wall
You can't benefit from one's detriment
You can't find the serum and not cure the sick
You can't free the slave to enslave them differently
You can't see the right only from your sight
You can't see the wrong and just go along
Or is that the way you would want your fate to read
Put a face to your somebody

Can you say your name?
Or would you rather stay unknown?
Can you show your face?
Or are you fearful of it shown?
Can you feel your heart?
Or does it beat for you alone?
Lift your glass up high
Say that your truth will never lie
If your love cannot be moved

You can't make a pledge and then slip the script
You can't say the words and not move your lips
You can't be confused and still say you understand
You can't be a friend but not through thin and thick
You can't be a click but in danger split
You can't evenly share and then grab the biggest hand
You can't say you do but then show you don't
You can't say you will and make sure you won't
You can't want for change and not do what you need to do

You can't give up all and then take back all you give
You can't live to die but you can die to live
Or is that too much to ask of the you in you?
Put a face to your somebody

Can you say your name?
Or would you rather stay unknown?
Can you show your face?
Or are you fearful of it shown?
Can you feel your heart?
Or does it beat for you alone?
Lift your glass up high
Say that your truth will never lie
If your love cannot be moved.

If you want to hear him sing it:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWjGkM0nVhQ

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Ave verum Corpus KV 618 - The Vienna Choir Boys

On Sunday my son left home, the final bird to fly the nest (Am I being too dramatic?) That morning I awoke to this music...and the tears flowed.

No matter how excited you feel for your children, how eloquently you talk about it being the right time etc, something rises up that overides reason...It's a mother thing that starts in the womb....at least that's my take on it...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart   - Ave verum Corpus KV 618 - The Vienna Choir Boys

Minor keys are probably not advisable at times like this!

Incidentally, he's having a great time!

Carpe Diem

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. ~ Mother Teresa

This morning,  from where I stood....

 Psalm 57:7-11 New International Version (NIV) 

⁷ My heart, O God, is steadfast,
   my heart is steadfast;
   I will sing and make music.
⁸ Awake, my soul!
   Awake, harp and lyre!
   I will awaken the dawn.

 ⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
   I will sing of you among the peoples.
¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
   your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
 ¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
   let your glory be over all the earth.

Each new day is a gift, how quick we are to just launch into it without a thought. So how shall we begin? Being thankful is always a good start. We are alive, we get to live the adventure today! So...the challenge in this fast-paced world is to s-l-o-w   d-ow-n and look and see and appreciate each other as well as practice "living in the moment"  and savouring it instead of a cursory glance as we whizz by. We can learn more than we realise from the difficult situations we face if we ask ourselves some searching questions, nothing is ever wasted.

Let's walk into our days with eyes wide open, with minds alert, hearts softened and hands ready to help.  Let's see what the day holds...and then as the sky darkens through its various shades of deepening blue, let's end as we began, by being thankful.


"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this."

— Henry David Thoreau

Flowers from the boys!

 The facebook status of one of our sons:

Would love to congratulate and thank his parents for the 30 years of marriage they celebrate today. 'Matthew 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.'

I reached for my hankie....

The three boys sent us these, classy or what?!!

Lilies and Roses with a small pearl in each centre, for our 30th...

And the Lilies are perfumed....

 

After my previous post which included our song The dh has his suggestion of the song which takes us into the next chapter, posted on his facebook page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqOMuR5Z530


and then the card...

So just to say thank you to everyone who has commented and helped us celebrate 30 years, I'll shut up now!

You're still the one...thirty years on!

 Thirty years on....


Our Song......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtc-TH0Iv4


10 things I would tell my "newly married" self, 30 years on:

•  Your marriage will go from strength to strength, there are adventures to be had!

•  Marriage is not 50:50, sometimes it is 90:10 on either side due to outside influences past or present and the time will come when you no longer need to "unload your issues" at ridiculous hours of the evening

• "This too will pass"- 120 hour working weeks when you spend evenings and weekends alone with small children.

• Enjoy the fact that you both have very different personalities and learn from each other! 

• Don't talk to him when he is reading in bed....

• Always feed him before you tell him something that will cause irritation, when he arrives home.

• He has totally  different "love languages" from you, try and remember that (constant note to self)

• Map reading in cars will cause major stress if you are the navigator....but Sat Nav is on the horizon!

• He will introduce you to growing stuff, dogs and chickens and you will tell him about India....

• He will always love you, just the way you are and will encourage you to become who you were made to be!

Who knows what the future holds, the next 30 years?!

One thing is certain, our marriage has never just been about us.....

"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

Ecclesiastes 4:12

God has always been our third strand...without His transforming work in our lives, I wonder where we would be today?