Delighting in the Divine
Yes to freedom, yes to play and yes to celebrating the moment!
Delighting in the Divine
Yes to freedom, yes to play and yes to celebrating the moment!
All tagged celebrate
It is my thirty-second birthday this week. That comes as a surprise to me because I have been thinking I am thirty-two for several months now. It might be something to do with the Peruvian habit of always referring to the age you are going to be next birthday when you are asked how old you are...
Last week I talked about developing faithfulness in others but did you know that celebrating Thanksgiving can be a way to encourage ourselves to be faithful in our relationship with God?
Thanksgiving, when engaging with actual thanksgiving, is an act of remembering and God had a lot to say to the Israelites about remembering and forgetting: ...
One fact about me: I hate surprises.
More than hating surprises, I hate surprise announcements in group settings! I feel so awkward and never know how to react. Honestly, my first reaction to any announcement is never overwhelming joy and excitement. I never feel like jumping up and down. Generally I feel like I have just been hit by a truck and my face probably looks a mixture of sea-sickness and a bunny in headlights. Living in a Facebook-email culture, being British and culturally emotionally reserved, I feel like I am not trained in face-to-face group announcements with people close to me, where everyone is looking at everyone else to see how they are reacting. They make me want to run far, far, far, far, away, not jump up and hug the person who has just made the announcement...
This morning as I got out of bed, the balcony door had been left open and in slid a crisp, inviting, fresh morning air. I took it to be an invitation from the Lord to go outside for my quiet time and meet Him in Creation.
Daniel and Kaleb were already up so I asked them if they wanted to come with me and together we walked the four blocks down to the sea front. I know it sounds idyllic, but it really is not...
Is it just me who has been frustrated when the fruits of the Holy Spirit don’t automatically appear in my life at all times?
Although I do believe that the fruits are gifts of grace and cannot be earned, sometimes I fail to recognize they are also part of the process of becoming more like Jesus and often require faith to walk in on a daily basis...
Yesterday an old friend of our community came and apologized to Mark. He had heard some things about us and had withdrawn his friendship to our community for a long time. He came to ask for forgiveness for having withdrawn and for having judged us. His apology touched us and saddened us. Not because of what had been said about us - we knew those things already and had dealt with them, but rather because this is what happens throughout Christ’s bride and creates divisions everywhere.
Today, on Christmas Eve, as I have finally stopped after an exhausting last couple of months, and realized all the presents I haven’t had time to buy and the preparations I haven’t done, I had a couple of hours this morning to hit the local shopping centre.
But I decided not to go...
