Ever been away for a while – holiday, visiting folk or just been somewhere and it’s time to go home?

Sometimes it’s like “Oh no!! I have to go back” but when you get there – it’s actually OKAY!

Or times when you know it’s time to go home – for your own good, for the family’s good – or just because you can!

I have been looking at how God calls us to “return” … to Him , to the closeness we once knew, to the place of actually knowing Him again, to the “home” that our hearts yearn for!

How easy it is sometimes to kid ourselves into thinking… Continue reading

I don’t often disagree with people I admire … but I did this time.

She told me it wasn’t wise to let your co-workers and employees know that they were appreciated  too often, and that they, especially if they were paid workers, should know that  it was “just their job”!!

Maybe it doesn’t work for others, but I like to let my co-workers, and employees know that I appreciate the time and effort they give to working hard, working well and helping them enjoy the work their hands are doing, the for-thought they need to give to their work, for turning up, for doing the mundane with a cheerful heart… not always easy when the work load is busy. Not always easy when you’re having an off day yourself and the place you work in is full of people in various Continue reading

Today I looked out of my kitchen window and, amidst the grey drizzle of rain, I saw some anemones and cornflowers growing on my patio.

I thought back to when I planted them. The anemones were shrivelled, ugly looking wee corms that I planted, and I planted them because I had them, rather than out of anticipation of a great crop!

It really captured my thoughts!  So grey, so wet, and such a sad summer this year, yet here – in the midst of the grey were some beautiful, bright flowers that were just being bright and growing, despite the lousy weather!!

It made me think of what these anemones (with a few pretty Continue reading

Following on from my last post, about The Call… I’ve been looking at the way people live their lives and how we can overlook God’s hand in our lives, His guidance and His provision, by looking for bigger, better, different, spectacular …!

I mentioned in my last post how the Scriptures talk about “making the most of every opportunity” and “whatever your hand finds to do – do it with all your might”, and I see that what we live out so often is different from what we speak about our lives.

So many times I hear and see people bemoaning the fact that they live where they do and not somewhere else, or they are in a Continue reading

I’ve been perusing the “call of God “ on my life… actually the call of God on anyone’s and everyone’s life… looking at what the Scriptures say about being called!

It says that not many wise are called! And that God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise!

I see a few people being called to do specific things, Abraham, Moses, David, Esther even, Saul who became Paul and the disciples . . . but even then the disciples weren’t called by Jesus to receive the 10 commandments, lead people out of Egypt, or being King of Israel. THEIR call was to “follow Me”!!!

I find, in looking at this subject, so many people are waiting for a Continue reading

Ever felt you had to blend in with those around you, even though you hated doing so?

Ever been in the position of saying yes and going along with the rest because it’s safer to do that than be different?

What about the times you’ve really not agreed with the discussion or the plans but felt obliged to go along with them to keep everyone happy?

Doesn’t it make you feel weak and rather insipid to be someone who longs to stand up for what they believe in but are a bit scared of being shouted down because, it seems, everyone else thinks very differently to you?

Well today I’m calling out to you to stand out, dare to Continue reading

At last … the sun is shining in Dumfries. Everyone round here has suffered the constant cloud hanging over our area this week. I’ve been asking, “Will we ever see the sun again?”. We all know the answer and in fact sunny days have now arrived, but yesterday it felt as though it would never happen.

It strikes me that our lives are often like that – we feel surrounded by a gloom which we feel will never go away. The answer of course is that it’s just a season. To escape the gloomy weather this week, I’ve had to focus on positive things and remind myself that better weather is ahead and summer will come.

There are some pretty good spiritual parallels to the weather this week. There are times when we just have to keep Continue reading

Family are home again – some of them for a few days, some for longer.

Some needing to re- group and find out what is next, another is needing to be here and be cared for, even pampered for a while, another – planning. One or two missing special people in their lives… all together, yet at different stages and seasons of their lives.

I love how “home” is a place they can return to for these purposes. Where they are accepted, fed, nurtured and rested for the next part of their journey.

I pondered over “Home” and how we all need homes… natural ones, obviously, but also the home of relationship and life with God.  I also began to see that we need to “go home” now and again . . . we need the regrouping, the place of being back to where life is familiar and safe… (Ok sometimes boring!) but a place where we can re-focus on what is important and what Continue reading