the first thousand

“Get a secure fortress”

He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26

Thanks for the gift of a secure fortress (273)
Thanks for paying the price (274)
Thanks for doing the work (275)
Thanks for the inheritance (276)

Some of the things I wrote about yesterday sound like the Great American Dream, but how or why we might go about them would not mirror Hollywood experience.

*overcome evil with good*
can you name a movie that does that?
*encourage one another and build each other up*
any sitcoms do that?
*acknowledge God in everything*
but it’s politically incorrect to even mention G*d
*godliness with contentment is great gain*
now there’s an advertising gimmick
*guard your heart*
song lyrics are more about breaking hearts, aren’t they?
*do everything without complaining or arguing*
not on kids’ tv, they don’t

Thanks God, for giving direction (272)

After chatting with friends the other night about what is worth putting effort into, what is worth being intentional about, what is worth spending your life on, I have been pondering what we are teaching our children through the memory verses we recite.

Society tells us it’s good to get rich, be successful and even famous if possible, buy label clothing, mortgage a house, drive an unpaid-for-car, put a holiday on the card, be entertained, be academic, be slim, be green….
 
According to some of the verses we’ve chosen, what does the Bible tell us to get?

• Get a secure fortress
• Get life
• Get ambition
• Get patriotic
• Get something for yourself
• Get working
• Get imitating
• Get thinking
• Get transforming
• Get walking (with the wise)
• Get denying

Thanks for the gift of these things to think about over the next few days (271)

my thoughts move slowly

I’ve crept on a little from yesterday’s eternal anticipation

I’ve been pondering it

For thirteen and a half years now there have been tears in my life every day. Baby tears, toddler tears, childhood tears, crocodile tears and sometimes mama tears.
Imagine a day without tears.
I can’t.

Neither can I imagine a day without turmoil.
A day without a harsh word spoken.
A day without conflict.
And I don’t mean world wars or international disagreements.
I’m just referring to bickering.

I cannot envision peace.
But I have to try.
We are called to live at peace with all men as far as it is possible.
How will we do it if we don’t try?

What does peace look like?

Gift 270

Thank God for the gift of anticipation (269)

I’m looking forward to going to a girlfriend’s place to meet with others for dinner and conversation tonight. I’m looking forward to meeting them again for brunch in the morning. (We should just stop being so grown-up and have a sleepover eh!)
I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.

And as I wrote the first sentence, a thought popped into my head. Not an unusual thought, seeing as it’s something I try to keep amongst the foremost of my thoughts, but it *has* been a bit obscured by daily realities recently. It was a thought spoken by God.

Are you looking forward to eternity with Me?

Then I spoke. Shouldn’t the sense of anticipation be heightened beyond understanding for THAT reality?

Not wanting to downplay the importance of meeting with very special friends….but it’s bit like getting excited about a sip of water when there’s a swimming pool full of the finest wine just around the corner.

So I will savour this sip, be refreshed by it, and look forward to the eternal toast.

Thanks God for the gift of stimulating conversation the other night. 264
Thanks for the good-natured bantering about pop-psychology. (yes it’s a gift to have friends who understand where you’re coming from and put up with it - 265)
Thanks for the tangents on sarcasm and communication and goals and our family upbringing and real prayer and motivation.
Thanks for the discussions of definitions of *better* and *successful* (266)
Thanks for the further insights into our friends’ lives (267)
Thanks that they expected me to blog about it (26 I took that as permission!
How To Be A Better Person (one of said friends ran a workshop for 250 15-25 year olds entitled thus……..we were intrigued to hear what he had to say…….I can only remember nine of his ten points, plus a pile of other ones we discussed afterwards)

1. Be generous (with time and money and encouragement)
2. Be creative
3. Intentionally involve different people in your life (different to yourself)
4. Find a mentor
5. Have a sense of humour
6. Don’t be scared of failing; give things a go; laugh at yourself
7. Do what you say you’ll do (don’t just talk about it)
8. Learn to listen
9. Surround yourself with positive people
10. …..

It really was a pop-psychology talk, wasn’t it?
But was it bad advice? Good advice?
What would YOU have said?

K10 discovered today that he quite likes to cook now.
Thanks for this Gift 263 - for the gift it is to him, and the gift it will be to me

256 sunny days

257 Easter holiday

258 owning a house

259 being able to buy paint - tinted paint, what’s more (I remember painting our first house white, because it was cheaper than coloured paint!)

260 a hardworking hubby

261 with willing helpers

262 all come together on the same two days resulting in a job completed for another half-decade or so

He is alive!

**ALIVE**

He is alive!

a dark tomb

today we planted seeds in the garden; carrots, beetroot, radishes, turnips and onions. We placed them in their dark little ground-tombs and covered them up.

waiting waiting waiting

waiting for new life
waiting for the tombs to release the life that promises to burst forth from them

unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot bear life

(”I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” ~ John 12:24)

Gift 255