The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.
(Stephen Covey)
I have a serious problem with that statement – only because of all the things that I like doing and which are not priorities!
Interestingly, this was what Jesus was about during those forty days of temptation in the desert – before He became involved in the detail and pressure of His everyday ministry. And it was because of that preparation that He never lost sight of His primary objective and kept going to the end when He could declare triumphantly “It is finished!” At that point He does not appear to have been sad that He had never learned to play the bagpipes, read all of Shakespeare or purchased a holiday villa on the Riviera.
His priorities are interesting.
• Life is about listening to God and His directions – not the cravings of the flesh or the demands of the world
• The end result depends upon a good process – the end does not justify the means
• Everything to the glory of God – no sensationalism and personal glorification
The problem in Eden was that eating the fruit ‘seemed good’ – only it wasn’t. So much of what gets onto a schedule also seems good at the time. It is often only later that we realise that it wasn’t. Maybe Jesus really did have the right idea – just a little bit before Stephen Covey and me. And He still had time for Himself.
“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied , ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way !’
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night . And he led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”
———-
(Minnie Louise Harkins 1875-1957)
May God bless us all throughout 2014 – and enable us to walk forward with our hands in His, as He leads, directs and encourages us in accordance with His promise. Thank you for your company and support in our journey this year.
“I said to the man
who stood at the gate of the year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely
into the unknown.’
And he replied ,
‘Go out into the darkness
and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you
better than light
and safer than a known way !’
So I went forth
and finding the Hand of God,
trod gladly into the night .
And he led me towards the hills
and the breaking of day in the lone East.”
———-
(Minnie Louise Harkins 1875-1957)
May God bless us all in the year that lies ahead
– and enable us to walk forward with our hands in His,
as He leads, directs and encourages us.
Remembrance Day, observed in Commonwealth and other countries, is a memorial day on which to remember the members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty. Although originally focussed on those who died during the first World War it can also include the fallen of the Second World War and other major conflicts.
It is normally observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities in World War 1 which took effect “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” in accordance with the Armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919. The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
The First Two Minute Silence in London on 11 November 1919 was reported in the Manchester Guardian the following day.
“The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition. Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of ‘attention’. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still … The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain … And the spirit of memory brooded over it all.”
The figures for those who died during the two world wars are incomplete. However one source has them as follows:
First World War: 8.5 million military personnel
Second World War: 18.5 million military personal and 40 million civilians
There are many graveyards around the world where those who died are buried and also remembered. One of these in Libya was visited by the BBC’s Kevin Connolly recently. He commented “Here and there you find personal inscriptions whose brief words can hardly bear the weight of the sadness they carry”. One of these said simply but with enormous vision and great pain
Those words could have been said by God Himself as He watched His Son taken from the cross and laid in a tomb. We still have no true concept of the price that was paid or the victory that was gained. We too as His new sons and daughters have our own parts to live and serve in the mosaic of His victory. Not one of our lives is either insignificant or forgotten in His service. Each one of our lives is infinitely precious in His sight and His heart – and when the time comes these words could well be on His lips for each one of us.
Take courage for the journey ahead – the Way of the Lord. Remember with thanksgiving those who have gone before – and recall that there are also those who will follow on. Live this part of the story in the love, the light and the truth of our Lord.
My two year old granddaughter was with me yesterday. We were having a lovely time drinking air from tiny plastic cups and pretending to eat small plastic delicacies from little plates – mine was ‘bal-oo’ and hers was ‘pinkie.’ Suddenly, whilst she was busy making more tea and facing towards the large picture window, a very strong gust of wind sprang up and surged through the silver birch trees just outside. The new leaves of summer were gathered up and swayed back and forth in a gay and energetic whirling dance.
She lifted her head and watched in wide-eyed and motionless wonder – and then she turned towards me and laughed in a marvellous expression of speechless amazement, wonder and joy. Her eyes were sparkling and the happiness welled up from deep inside of her and bubbled over in ongoing merriment. I felt so honoured to have been able to see and share in that moment – to have seen the awed surprise and heartfelt joy of a child and be blessed myself in the process.
It was so startlingly wonder-filled that I found I had no doubt that the Spirit of the Lord had passed by for her. Whether it was for the joy of making a little girl laugh in delighted innocence or whether it had some deeper significance is for God to reveal in His time. One way or another this little girl was Surprised by Joy – and God was at the centre of it.
The God of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is still very much with us, for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear and spirits to receive Him – like a child.
I find laughter rolling like thunder across the heavens,
lightening flashing magnificently through the endless skies,
filling creation, as God expressed His joy and His delight.
We cannot even begin to imagine the fulness of His love-filled pleasure.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
Almighty God, you have allowed us to call you Father. Help us to be more aware of Your greatness and glory, and the wonder and joy of our relationship with You, through the special gift of Your Son – for us, for me, forever.
It Came To Pass 