God is God

So many people who are not saved, debate the idea of God and comment on the likelihood of his existence and the way his mind might work. He seems to be considered these days a concept worthy of conversation in places where in the past he would never be mentioned. Films and novels present us with a warm and fuzzy version of God who provides substance and evidence of a kind of cultural background for many different characters and lifestyles. As people try to find a justification for their lives and develop meaning in the same, they seem to come to the conclusion that if God exists and is a loving being, he will love all, no matter the behaviour. He would never condemn poor innocents or individuals to hell, would he? Does hell even exist?

 I say, If God exists then you cannot decide who He is. He is holy and we are not God.

We should remember that God is omnipotent on this earth.

Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth.

We should also remember that he is holy, and that he would not be God if he lowered his standards.

Habbakuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favour.

I guess the best we can do is strive to follow Peter's advice; 

1 Peter 1:15-16

 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Trust in Him

I've purposefully set out to learn a memory verse each week, with the intention of getting a bit more into God's word. Sometimes the verse finds me and sometimes I go hunting a verse.

This week's: I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.  

Everything so simply explained. Just do this simple thing; trust in him, and everything will be alright. Maybe things will be messy; maybe things will be frustrating; you might be exhausted - but everything will be alright. And hope comes. Hope is a marvellous thing that anchors us to the safe place, and in the safe one.

So this is what I think trust can look like. Who wouldn't want a bit of this!? Pandora says "I'm just going to shut my eyes for a little while and nestle in to the warmth."  So again this week, I've given back to God some of the things I've struggled to carry myself, and hope has risen again!

And this camellia in my garden. A total of 2 on the bush, but maybe dozens or even hundreds next year.

The Pursuit

Your love keeps chasing me

And it always will 

It always will

              Hillsong

What is this, that is drawn to God? What is this thing within me that cries out to him. It's not of intellect and neither is it a physical thing. It must be something deeper of the soul.

While I have sought God in fits and starts and somewhat regularly since the age of six, for my whole life, it has been God who has pursued me. I've turned a corner, or stopped to reflect, and there he is quietly following after. And thank goodness for that! My fickle heart could never have kept this thing going!

Freed!

I was reminded this week of God's early work in my life. I have many favourite scriptures, but one I love to quote when asked is Psalm 34:4. "I prayed to The Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears." I take my self-confidence as an experienced teacher for granted so often, and forget sometimes about where it came from. It didn't come naturally to a shy, young Christian girl, but gradually arrived as I daily put myself in God's hands. A lot of the growing-up happened when I was a young teacher, and had to move 1000 kilometres from home to my first school placement in Mackay. 

God loved me and didn't stop the program of improvement until He shaped me into a person who could hold her head high, without shame. Fears were broken one by one, and new situations were conquered a day at a time, until I became a new creation in many ways: full of joy, with "no shadow of shame." God is good, all the time.

There's always something blooming in the garden! The row of browallias are glowing orange at the moment.

I'm introducing the book club to the delights of Fahrenheit this month. Hope they like it! I've just started The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. It's had good reviews so I'm looking forward to getting into it.

Flowers make me happy! #100happydays

This is what makes me happy:
 


I'm participating in #100happydays via my instagram account. If you don't follow me yet my username is 
gracielu1

http://100happydays.com/

Happy Bees!

I do love pretty, old-fashioned flowers. This bee was certainly happy about them too!

              

 He was rolling around in ecstacy. I wonder if the honey tasted of roses?

And then there was this highly unattractive creature.

What am I thankful for today?

Rain for my garden,

strange flowers appearing on plants, 

and the purple glory of tibouchina!

Love my chairs!

I have wanted to own a Louis style chair for a long, long time. Buying the set this chair came in was one of my crazier moments that involved roping in Anthony the long-suffering hubby and the lovely sister, hiring a utility and driving way over the other side of town. 

I've sold "the most uncomfortable sofa I've ever sat on" that came with setting, and am left with 2 lovely armchairs that owe me very little money. Unless that is, I reupholster them. I wouldn't mind finding a vibrant print to use, but then again the milk chocolate velour they wear now is soft and I don't have to be too precious when I sit in them, which would all change if I changed the fabric. I think it's a job for one day or maybe never!

The chairs come up great in photos: this was was taken with a favourite app called waterlogue. And of course Pandora finds them comfortable thrones! Who would've thought one spontaneous purchase would give me so much pleasure.

You can see that they've featured in a few photo shoots!

Shenanigans at Leadership Camp

I'm still in recovery from Senior Leadership camp: harness bruises and strains in awkward places. Here's a little proof that I did actually do the leap of faith. The platform is about 4 stories up in the air!

The students of The Pine were as delightful, responsible, encouraging and entertaining as always and some definitely pushed their boundaries and learnt new skills. They built their own rafts and tested them in the river, and got up close and personal in the dancing. Speaking of boundaries, I am trying to push my own, and stop letting being over 50 be an excuse; I know of a nearly 90 year old who goes kayaking regularly.

A slight hint of Autumn in the air!

It's just a little cooler and the students are already responding with less of a time delay - some days in summer my classroom is like an oven.I've re-read and am teaching The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour, The Shifting Heart by Beynon, Letters from the Inside by Marsden and The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton. Many of the students have also read said texts so I may be surprised with some good results in essays next week.

This is what I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying. I loved Sue Monk Kidd's Secret Life of Bees and this is just as enjoyable, though set in a differnt time period. The Hope book club are reading this:

I found Genelle's writing to be unpretentious and honest. Her life was transformed by her experience on this day, and the latter part of the book is definitely testament to this.

Reading next? Maybe an Andrew McGahan or Aravind Adiga or Tim Winton or Janet Evanovich. Still waiting for The Narrow Road to the Deep North to be available at the library.

The moments in-between

My keys have been found. Another teacher saw her keys disappearing into the same black hole that mine obviously went into because when she fished hers out, mine came too. A hole for cords in a desk in the print room, that disappeared into a false panel under the desk has now been plugged by a container of paper clips so noone else has to suffer.
So much about life seems to be about lurching from one trial to the next. This month my bible study pals and I are looking again at Job who would have to be the ultimate perseverer - which my dictionary tells me is not a word - but you know what I mean. I love the little gems in Job, between the questions. I also love the moments in between trials where there is a bountiful "all's well with the world feeling"!  - even when they can seem to be few and far between.

Job 1:21

New Living Translation (NLT)

²¹ He said,

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
    and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had,
    and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”  

What I've got is not really mine anyway - just on loan from God and if he needs it back he can take it.We are all so busy building our little kingdoms on this earth that we forget the bigger picture of eternity. No wonder God likes to send prickly circumstances that send us back to himself so he can remind us of why we are here ... and of where we are going. "Is my gloom, after all, shade of his hand outstretched caressingly?"

Job 14:1-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

14 “How frail is humanity!
    How short is life, how full of trouble!
² We blossom like a flower and then wither.
    Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

How true this is. Some days more than others, I feel frail. I generally don't mind this thought - it makes me feel one with God's creation.
And my personal favourite:

Job 19:25-27

New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!^[a]
27 I will see him for myself.
    Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
    I am overwhelmed at the thought!

I love the glimpses of God that he lets me see in the day to day ordinariness - in my students or in my husband and children or garden. But I'm looking forward to the day I see him face to face. That's going to be a good day!

Random happening or ordained experience?

 I have to say I am more of a believer that things happen for a reason, so when the unthinkable happened this week and I lost my work keys, I had to ask God why and what he was hoping to achieve in me by not revealing the keys. I’ve learned some new things. The people who I thought were most likely to snap and have my guts for garters were merciful. I did not have to work at defending myself, which is the thing I think God wanted to show me. I usually am so afraid of what “men” think of me that I will work tirelessly to justify my position. This time, I made a huge effort to rest in God and trust him in working out the problem. I still asked my friends and family for prayer; I still got a huge stress knot in my belly; I still searched repeatedly in the stupidest of places.  

My mind is no longer the steel trap it once was. I can no longer be 100% sure of what I remember. And I am a tiny step closer to the full trust God wants from us. Oh for the day when I don’t have to guard things carefully with a mind that is full of leaky holes like a colander. Maybe things do happen randomly, but I reckon that God then jumps on the event and says, “Here’s a lesson for Gracie-Lou.”

 And I still don’t know where the keys are!

Here's a little friend who visited my garden - what a cheeky little beauty.

Perfect Saturday

Nowhere to go; no marking to be done; weather - rainy and cool; books, tea, and last night’s recorded Escape to the Country. This is heaven on earth!

I’ve just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I have to say that this is NOT what I would normally choose to read, but the power of the teenage readers around me has got me on board. Firstly, I do not like fantasy or futuristic or post-apocalyptic books. I can’t help but think that the whole idea of the “games” is nonsensical. I like my books to be about the past or now, with believable happenings.

The whole time I’m reading, engrossed by the desire to know who wins – I am constantly returning to the thought that for a tribute to win, someone must die. It’s all feeling a little like what I experienced when I watched Titanic – engrossed by the costumes and characters and plot, and then it hits me again - I know what the end has to be – and it’s not happy.

For a book written for young people, it is engaging and well written. Katniss is no prissy 16 year old, and has colour and depth of character. Will I read the other books in the series? Probably not – I’ve been told that the others aren’t as well written, and I have too many others waiting in the wings. Also this one left a bad taste – I didn’t enjoy the whole concept – too violent; too much suggestion of power in big brother’s hands. Post-apocalyptic books always seem devoid of a moral compass and to be centred on the break-down of society: God is nowhere to be found – no-one is even looking for Him. The characters always seem to have no hope. I’m glad I’ll be teaching Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, not this book, when our Visions of the Future unit begins.

Chrysanthemums are bursting out!

Another ANZAC Day

Great ANZAC day ceremony run by the students at school yesterday. We were reminded that it is not about war but remembering those who served their country. My brilliant Year 9s had mixed feelings: some believe we should never go to war in another country.  Others were adamant that if we don't go overseas to help then we are as guilty as the criminals causing problems. No matter what prompted our men to serve in the past, they believed they were doing the honourable thing and I am happy to honour them. Lest we forget.

Dahlias and dogs

Well they say that by ANZAC day the dahlias will be done and they are! I culled the plants but it's exciting to see plenty of the corms underground ready for later this year when summer comes around again.These ones were a gift a few years ago, form Gail and Neville's garden - and they are the gift that keeps on giving - and giving - as they multiply throughout the front garden. And the chrysanthemums are bursting out of their buds - feel free to come and pick a bunch - I have enough for one or 2 hundred bunches.

I have read through The Hound of Heaven again by Frances Thompson. I remember the first time I read it, discovering this little blue and black volume of poems by my mother's bed while I was doing the dusting, aged about 13 or 14. Amazed I was then, and still amazed now at the way a poem that is over 120 years old so aptly captures my God and I. I do indeed flee from him on a regular basis, but he is the one who "followed, followed after" and I acknowledge His love:

All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:	175
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,	180
I am He Whom thou seekest!

Speaking of dogs, I have begun a self-improvement plan of walking the dogs for exercise; mind you I am typing about it while the dogs sit at my feet waiting - I've laced on my shoes and they sit expectantly at my feet. Always distracted by the lure of words over exercise!
I finished a book last night which was read for sheer entertainment - Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich; highbrow stuff it aint! Couple together a female bounty hunter with little people, horses which are telepathic, and a good looking man and you get the idea. Tonight I will begin something a bit more worthy.

Books can be flowers - and sometimes they are weeds.

I meant for the title to be Flowers and Books but I don't know how to change the title of my blog from Flowers so that will have to be that.

The book I have just finished reading may be the most inspiring yet.: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, an amazing book that I highly recommend (read it Mim) as it addresses the dire situation of many women around the world and yet is not depressing but inspirational about changes that are empowering women. Much still to be done....

Next book for book club is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I'll also be plowing through Macbeth again with my Year 12s and The Count of Monte Cristo recommended by my lovely Mother-in-law. Also hoping to get through a couple more books of the Bible with 66 Love Letters, my other book group's book.

Buds

This is some of last year's bounty but the buds are getting ready to bloom for antoher year from Dad's old chrysanthemum plants. Can't wait.