The branch of an almond tree

Jeremiah 1:11-19

What do I see? Not the branch of an almond tree.

Today I see my ordinary everyday life, nothing extraordinary. A few cars and lorries passing by the window, the sun warming the grass, the melting frost, twigs bulging with budding foliage, the cliff with last year's brambles, there is nothing unusual or special today. Just life.

I do not see the gentle man at the monastery where I go to buy beer and jams made at a neighbouring abbey. I am told the beer is good. I know the bramble jam, the rhubarb and apricot is good and the apricot is the best I have ever tasted. I do not see Bob Felice but I remember his comments about laundry frozen on the washing line- frozen washing gives me a kick too.

The cliff is not at the coast, we do not have an ocean for a garden but the sedimentary rocks of Ittre resemble those of the Pembrokeshire coast. Those rocks which are battered daily by the mighty Atlantic. We have spent many hours as a family walking the beaches and cliff paths, marveling at creation.

I see golden forsythia, everyone except me has a forsythia bush. I wonder if Lee Jackson still has the one which I gave him?

A small amount of scree transports me to the majestic hills of the English Lake District and the mighty Rocky Mountains.

Sometimes a fence will remind me of a barrier between God and I but today nothing special, just the ordinary things bringing to mind the extra ordinary life that God gives us.

Mark 3:31-4:9

Psalm 24

I needed a babysitter. Two people in our Fellowship group could baby sit but they did not have transport and we lived in a couple of villages away from the church. Another couple had transport but no time. Yes the one pair brought the others who babysat and the first ones came and picked up the others when I came home from work. They were my family. Everywhere we go the lord seems to provide a family for us.

But what really brought this particular evening of my life to my mind was Psalm 24, not the passage from Mark about Jesus' claim as to who were his family. Our church was very fond of Graham Kendrick's "Lift up your heads O you gates". The chauffeur for my babysitters used to be the leader for this song so I never read Psalm 24 without thinking about him and the special times of worship we shared in at Wollaston and the practical love of the fellowship group.

Now that we live in the transient society of ex-pat Brussels it is even more important to be family.

Joseph's Dream

Matthew 1:18-25

The really famous dreaming Joseph is the one we all heard about in Sunday School- the spoilt guy with the designer label coat. But today we remember the other Joseph - the one who took Jesus' mother as his lawful wedded wife and raised Jesus as his own.

Why did Jesus go against what was the right and proper thing to do? Because God spoke to him in a dream. How does God speak to us?

Move over

John 3:22-36

I used to edit the Lenten meditations at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Houston and then post them on a blog similar to this. We left Houston and now Evelyn Snow organizes the books and blog. The difference is amazing. Holy Spirit should be very glad that they have somebody doing such a professional job. Look at the difference between Evelyn's work http://hsehoustonmeditations.blogspot.com/ and mine here.

Yes I was in on the start of the work but God moved us to Belgium. Holy Spirit Houston now has a better product. Of course Holy Trinity Brussels now has meditations which they did not have before. God has His purpose.

I shall continue to write here and testify to the places where I see God in the small things of life.

I bought this pot of jonquils on the market at Braine le Comte. They are outside our kitchen window. I see them many times a day.

What do daffodils bring to your mind?

To me they one of the national emblems of Wales - that in itself in a long list- the life of St David, St David's cathedral, he services I have been to there - ordinations and pilgrimages, the bishop who encouraged me, the beauty of the coast.....Elizabeth, my friend in Houston and Maria, my friend of 43 years who lives in Bonn whose birthdays are 1st March, St David's Day.

^{Thank you Lord.}

The sacrifice of thanksgiving

Deut. 9:23-10:5

Psalm 50
Heb: 4:1-10

John 3:16-21

Psalm 50

I went to lunch at my friend Susan's house last Wednesday, over a week ago and I have not written to say thank you yet. It was a delicious lunch too. Why have I not done this? Have I been too busy? Of course I have. Then why did I have time to watch my favourite hospital soap opera? It was no problem setting aside the time to do that.

Susan gave me lunch. God gave me Susan. He has given me a lot of other friends too. How much effort do I use in my thanks to God and his gifts (the people he places in my life)? A good thank you involves time and effort.

Writing a check or making an electronic transfer for a lamb, or however they paid for their animal and wheat sacrifices in Asaph's era was easier than raising the lamb on the cold hills in winter. Ritual is easier than the unique. Ritual can be performed on over-drive. The unique takes a thought. I am an Anglican (in the UK sense of the word). I like the uniformity of our services but the effort which I exert towards God during a service is my sacrifice. It is my thanks and praise for the week.

Praising and thanking God for his wonderful world always seems so much easier when I see the sun rising or setting. Perhaps Asaph shared this sentiment.

Now to extend my thanks- to the lady in the patisserie who sympathetically tries to understand my attempts at French conversation, to Susan, ...

And in between times, in those times when I am between patisserie and Pointe de Poste to God himself.

The photograph is sunset at Middlekerk

New Life?

John 2:23-3:15

Did Nicodemus come at night because he was scared that other Pharisees would see him talking to Jesus or did he come at night because he was busy during the day? Other Pharisees came during the day, they even followed Jesus around, but Nicodemus came at night.

Nicodemus was an Important Person, he was a member of the ruling council. He was impressed by the miracles and knew that they could not possibly powered by anyone other than God. Pharisees were very devout and were searching for God. I am sure I would have been a Pharisee, somebody who worried about whether they were doing God's will, whether they had a deepening relationship with God. God said he would return and they expected it, just as I do. I try to teach. I try to share my spiritual journey with you as a guide to your spiritual journey- a map or a guide book - a Lonely Planet for the Soul.

A teacher should always willing to learn so that they can better teach. Perhaps Nicodemus had come for a lesson, to see this person who was pushing forth the frontiers of the evidence of God in the world. Jesus was as obtuse as usual. A new thought- new birth, a birth for the spirit.

Birth brings a change of environment. It is a release from the closeted environment of the womb into the world of independence. Our body survives without the umbilical cord, we take nourishment and grow. So it is with the spirit. We take nourishment and grow. And as with the wind we do not know where it will take us.

My Pen or is it my keyboard

Psalm 45

Alyce Pyle was fond of quoting "my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer." Alyce was the instigator of the Advent and Lenten meditations at Holy Spirit Houston. She had been involved in their production at her previous church. I had also mentioned them a few times to our priest but I did not have Alyce's success. Because of my interest I was asked to be on the committee formed to produce the first book. Thus I was introduced to Alyce. Alyce is short with a quiet voice. A small but determined woman who had been a big fish in her last church. But her life was different now. After one or two books the committee dwindled to mainly Alyce and I. Now Alyce is not really a practical person. I was more aware of this than she was herself so I let her sweat the organization of the book for a bit since she was determined that it was her book and then when she was in a real quandary as to what to do with a pile of meditations sorted it out into a form suitable to for the long-suffering lady who typed out the book and prepared it for the printer. As you can tell this was a long time ago, before the days of email.

Alyce used to live across the road from our church so it was convenient for me to waste time in her house whilst my daughters were at choir practice. Almost every surface in the house was covered with ornaments. But Alyce gave thanks to God for them all. Alyce liked her things but she also liked giving them away. I have quite a few objects which remind me of Alyce. I drove her to speaking engagements for she had been a bigwig in the Episcopal Church Women. Alyce became my mother for a few years. We would have endless telephone conversations. Much to her son's amusement I gave Alyce a Mother's Day card for quite a few years. I was a daughter that she never had and she was a mother whom I needed. Alyce loved 'dos'. I remember I wore a plain red hat to a luncheon, the next time I saw Alyce I was given a far more elegant red hat.

Our family, the church is a truth. God does provide a family for us in his church.

When we found reluctant writers, those unsure of their ability, for the meditations Alyce would quote the first verse of this psalm. She never doubted that a thought would get to the paper because she kept this verse in her heart. I never doubted that I could string two words together in a moderately coherent sentence but Alyce encouraged me to listen to the small voice and commit the thoughts to paper. To be honest she was not really very interested in what I wrote. She loved to sing me the songs that she had written, I wonder what has happened to them?

Alyce may not be writing anymore, she has been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease for a long time but I hope she is singing. The last time I saw her she was - that is longer ago than it should be. I will keep writing, taping the keyboard, committing my little thoughts to the electronic screen and thank God for Alyce that "My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I write verses for my king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer".