Category: Church

Place: Home

Poison: Granmas carrot cake

Favorite things: Our new Moses basket ready for Baby V…

Shrove Tuesday is the ultimate seasonal opening quotation mark “…

The day before Ash Wednesday, the opening moment in a statement that would determine the course of history eternally and unveil the 40 day journey towards the magnificent week of Easter.

I am embarking on the journey that this apostrophe mark denotes and I want to invite you along also.

Each day for the next 40ish days (Lent excludes the Sundays, but I won’t be) I am going to read a piece of scripture and reflect upon it through this blog.

I am using a 40 day tool from the You bible application and I will insert the chapter I have read each day on this blog for you to read also. Feel free to comment and post as well, I believe this interactive journey has the creative potential to impact us together.

Day 1: Shrove Tuesday “…. Quotation mark opened!

John chapter 12: 1-11

Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus. (John 12:1-11 NLT)

There is so much in this one piece of scripture. Beginning with a man who has been raised from the dead, a woman who diligently lives a life of servanthood, a woman with much to be thankful for who wastes her precious dowry, a betrayer, a saviour, the clergyand the poor.

Every person no matter their story is leveled by the closing “…quotation marks of the eternal statement made by Jesus that changed the course of history.

Personally I can get so sidetracked by my everyday circumstances, my fears and failures, that I forget the quotation mark that was predetermined before my birth that leveled me with every other human being. The fact that Jesus has gone before me and paved a way for my freedom.

That is why in so many cultures today Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration, it’s the pre-cursor to a season of sacrifice and mourning. It’s the quotation that opens up a statement, which is far from finished until the final days of the season.

If you find yourself in a place where you feel like you are in the midst of a trial or turbulence. Let me encourage you that the statement may be opened by a quotation, but it is far from finished.

Hopefully the next 40 days will take you on a journey that details and narrates the author of your story, the ultimate creator and finisher of our manuscript.

Pilgram pick up your pen and let’s seek together.

The journey has only just begun.

A

 

Place: church

Poison: water

Favorite things: lip gloss

Change often unsettles us, change often discomforts us, change often confuses us.

How we respond to change, I believe sets us up for the potential in the new season that awakens.

My heart is so hungry for truth and my heart is so awakened to potential, my heart is paining to let go of what was…

Every generation will hand over to another generation. The question is will we hand it over gracefully? Or will we complicate the transition with our own selfish pride…

Longing to transition well.

A

Place: woodman point

Poison: water

Favorite things: Sunday’s

Today marks the end of a four day camp, eight weeks of intense preparation and year long planning.

It feels sad and brilliant all at the same time.

Endings are just as important as beginnings. As this is one of my last events before maternity leave and motherhood I am acutely aware of the reality of finishing well.

So often we fall over the finish line, begging it to draw near and hoping we have done enough to complete a task and hopefully make it to the end.

Yet I believe finishing strong in whatever you are doing, sets you up for a strong position to start your next race well.

I have encountered so many people who don’t transition seasons well, who leave things half undone, half finished and wonder why new doors and opportunities seldom frequent them.

I believe a great leader, a great friend, a great character is formed and proved in the last days of a season.

How are you finishing your today, to bring strength for tomorrow?

Finish well my friend…

Tie up loose ends, ask forgiveness, tidy the rough edges, handover the reigns with diligence, let go of the responsibilities with grace, transition with detail.

You will then find yourself thrust into the new with freedom and abandonment.

Motherhood here I come!

A

Place: woodman point camp site

Poison: grain waves

Favorite things: chats with young people

As I dodge the 41 degree heat and watch the brilliance of teenagers, I am being made so acutely aware of the power of our souls.

I believe we all have a mind, spirit and a soul. Our souls being the emotional, personality part of us, that makes us who we are. I’m sure if it’s theologically correct or physiologically correct, but I truly feel the difference between these three.

I have moments of intuition, spirit lead unction that I can’t explain the knowledge or feeling I receive in the moment.

Then I have moments of debate, deep internal discussion that are bouncing around on the tennis court of my mind.

Separate to the two mechanisms in my daily world, I have my soul. My emotions. My response to situations that can bring fear, freedom, passion and expectancy to different circumstances.

Watching youth process a camp atmosphere, I truly see it is the realm
Of their souls that take the biggest beating in highschool, home and daily life.

Their self worth, their dreams, their quirky personalities, their life goals. It’s fear, it’s worry, it’s heaviness, that holds them back from stepping into places of freedom.

Refreshing our souls, is a very different process to stimulating our minds or empowering the Spirit in our lives.

From communicating to people we trust, to exercise and living healthy lives, to time out to reflect or taking time to journal our deepest thoughts and emotions. To express our unique genius and impress others with our talents and strengths, to overcoming adversity and helping another person win a battle.

These are the land of refreshment, these are the islands our soul creates.

However our world refuses to hold them in high esteem and young people especially don’t get many moments to find this necessary refreshment.

If you are in a place that is grey and colorless, dig deep into places of your soul and find ways to measure its current temperature, then find ways to refresh the temperature gauge and awaken your soul.

Peace

A