confessing blessing

A friend heads off North for New Year with his daughter etc...

Set your heart on Gods kingdom and His goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course. Mathew 6:33 (PM Version)
..........

God give this man,
and too his clan,
the grace to see
how good you be,
& then to praise
through all his days
the giver, who
comes back to you.

And help this man
as best he can
to set his heart
(the whole, not part)
on your good reign
which is again
a gift from you
that's good and true.

While spreading more
your goodness o'er
this world, we wait
breath unabate-
ed, & we're grate-
fully relate-
ed by breathed breath*
that conquers death.

So all the small-
er things which call
for worry now
will be somehow
provided when
their need is 'then',
& Trust won't test
- it knows it's blessed.

The giver who
comes back to you,
as conduit wends
from source to end(s),
can only give
what source de-liv-
ers to the end(s);
thus us to friends.

* in Hebrew (ruach, & the Ancient Common Greek of the Frist Century New Testament - pneuma) the same word was used to cover the three related (though in our English-speaking minds quite separate) meanings of "spirit", "wind", & "breath". It might be said that they thought as much of the "holy breath" or "holy wind" as the "holy spirit" or at least the "play on words/concepts" worked for them such that in their minds a relation is quickly seen between actions & words (John 3:8; & even more so in John 20:22 so that they might immediately see it as "he blew/breathed on them and said receive the holy breath" (c.f. Gen2:7).

grateful thanks from a student for exposure to great minds and expression ...and ...a response

"just wanted to say thanks for introducng me to men and Poets like Rudyard Kipling, just re-read his heart on a page in "IF" and I know why I have these strong convictions about life and love!
thank you! :)"
...
Glad of the chance.
Haleluyah(!)#
- who makes me dance.
Love, too to ya!


# Hebrew expression meaning  "praise to YHWH", the Creator.

FATHER CHRISTMAS HEARS HIS CHILDREN'S CRY.....*

Christmas (like the Passover before it) seems to be a key part of the Christmas Father's response to the cry of his children through the ages..

Isaiah 63 & 64  etc 

..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^a
then enter into life in this old world!
From outside in, and inside out, you’d stand.
Your flag could scarce be SECRETLY unfurled!

The nations - tremble; mountains - they would quake;
your deeds so awesome, beyond wildest dreams,
your touch on Earth would surely make it shake,
the sea might part - to tiny little streams…

else change it’s nature just to let you walk
right over it, as once you brooded long,
to bring from it the life on earth we talk
of, which too came to sky, & sea, & song!



..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^b
come down & enter human life down here!
Then you’d take heaven into woman/man
and it would be amongst us - oh we'd cheer!

So not just as a human avatar;
for you’d make holy woman's womb from which
our every child, that’s ever come that far,
has come this way, you'd be our star to hitch…

If you then grew, a boy, how good would that
be (if you had to grow in wisdom too),
and handle all the troubles (where we spat
the dummy) as your hormones/body grew.

And if you had to see the “unfair” things
as happens in those countries occupied:
the fathers killed because corruption brings..
and widows raising children as they cried..

And if you lived a man in Palestine
and saw God's people loving money more
than he who sourced all love before all time,
& too reflections of him - each neighbour.
 
And if you had to choose (as we do now)
between those bureaucratic beastly rules
and God's Will (that might cost our life somehow),
when everyone thought that was just for fools,

then though the heavens might be torn apart
we'd see more closely who our father was
and something might respond from our cold heart
to once again beat with a “love-because”...


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^c
come down, & rest both ‘on’ and ‘in’ a man,
and then remain, abide, and help him stand
& live, & speak, the truth as well he can..

Your life within can’t help but then bear fruit
and show the image, likeness of the God
who loves and acts, and sides with his, in truth,
and goes ahead, where all his children trod.

So you would suffer, where obedience led
(or is it where your love would share?) the part
of your children when they are left for dead.
Your “lifting up” of him is quite an art!


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^d
when both that Man and God sent you right back,
You, Holy Spirit came to Earth AGAIN
to “act out” like Yeshua down the track,

so thus to suffer inside woman/man
to still obey the father who has sent
us all to Earth to bear the fruit we can,
grow up to what “maturity” has meant.

That builder said he’d build “Ek-les-i-a”
(his own), and raise a temple where God dwelt
with living stones (“cells”, we’d call them here)
your Spirit in a body, that has knelt…

at the feet of God, but also blind men
by picking up their firewood, med’cine, food…
& speaking out the Truth of Love again,
when everyone ‘in power’ thinks that’s rude!


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^e
then send us our Messiah to lead us,
a leader who would lead us as you planned.
Our “Maranatha” cry, “Lord Come! - Jesus”

* Exodus 3:7-8 ⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, …; 2 Samuel 22:7 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears; Nehemiah 9:9 “And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea; Job 34:28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—; Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears; Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry; Psalm 106:44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress when he heard their cry; Lamentations 3:56 you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!”; (& from Jewish writings before Jesus’s day that his family probably read: Susanna 1:44 The Lord heard her cry

^a Isaiah 63 & 64 ; Psalm 18:1-9
^b Mat 1;  Luk 1-3; 
^c  Mk 1:9-15;
^d Acts 1:1-14;  Acts 2:1-4, 14-41;
^e 1 Cor 16:22;  Rev 22:20

facts, faithfulness, feelings

Woke up this morning with a picture in my head and an unction to creatively learn-from/represent it:


*** at times a man should harden up and take
the plunge & stick his nose in where the snake
is threat'ning to dis-eve his family
and be the boss, which means responsib'ly ***

(REPEAT

while all the time allowing God to teach,
in helping him to see beyond his reach,
& then become the man who can step up
& let the love of others make him tough) ***

Oh God I know you're saying this to ME
(who has some of that insecurity).
I don't feel brave, I feel to be a fool,
but now I see that 'feeling' is a mule

that must be riden, or be coaxed to do
the job, or else be led on foot right through,
and yet can help to carry many things,
but sure is not the leader, - nor has wings.

So, I will be empowered by your love
that rules in wisdom (that comes from above)
right over reason, consequence, & rules
(and use my feelings as my lovely mules)...

crowd fund a mate to get the first part of an acrobatic flying licence?

Oh good. What a thing!

Oh dratt. What was that?..

O dear, that's not cheap,
then we've committed him to pay a lot of money to finish it.

O no. This is dangerous
we might even lose him to it...

O well, this is love...
and
it's all of the above.

OK

nP!

Blessed birthday ... ... Ol' Shell gall!

@ 54 years, 
Shell maybe appears
quite weak and her tears 
might strengthen your fears

that her life's ebbing
(cancerous webbing
threatens to throttle
t' neck o' t' bottle).

But if life's a drink
(like water or wine),
her life makes me think
of her lips to mine

pouring her life out,
like a libation -
a drink off'ring shouts
of celebration,

things to rejoice in,
thankf'lly accepted,
raising a voice in
praise (unrejected).

Not "bottle", but 'womb' -
life on this ol' earth;
could be a small tomb
if we reject 'birth'.

But Shell's stepping out,
chancing & dancing,
showing, no doubt,
higher romancing.

(YOU HEAR) THEIR CRY*.....

Some thoughts on the human cry of God's people, to which Christmas (like the Passover before it) seems (to me) to be a key part of God's response: 
Isaiah 63 & 64  etc

..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^a
then enter into life in this old world!
From outside in, and inside out, you’d stand.
Your flag could scarce be SECRETLY unfurled!

The nations - tremble; mountains - they would quake;
your deeds so awesome, beyond wildest dreams,
your touch on Earth would surely make it shake,
the sea might part - to tiny little streams…

else change it’s nature just to let you walk
right over it, as once you brooded long,
to bring from it the life on earth we talk
of, which too came to sky, & sea, & song!



..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^b
come down & enter human life down here!
Then you’d take heaven into woman/man
and it would be amongst us - oh we'd cheer!

So not just as a human avatar;
for you’d make holy woman's womb from which
our every child, that’s ever come that far,
has come this way, you'd be our star to hitch…

If you then grew, a boy, how good would that
be (if you had to grow in wisdom too),
and handle all the troubles (where we spat
the dummy) as your hormones/body grew.

And if you had to see the “unfair” things
as happens in those countries occupied:
the fathers killed because corruption brings..
and widows raising children as they cried..

And if you lived a man in Palestine
and saw God's people loving money more
than he who sourced all love before all time,
& too reflections of him - each neighbour.
 
And if you had to choose (as we do now)
between those bureaucratic beastly rules
and God's Will (that might cost our life somehow),
when everyone thought that was just for fools,

then though the heavens might be torn apart
we'd see more closely who our father was
and something might respond from our cold heart
to once again beat with a “love-because”...


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^c
come down, & rest both ‘on’ and ‘in’ a man,
and then remain, abide, and help him stand
& live, & speak, the truth as well he can..

Your life within can’t help but then bear fruit
and show the image, likeness of the God
who loves and acts, and sides with his, in truth,
and goes ahead, where all his children trod.

So you would suffer, where obedience led
(or is it where your love would share?) the part
of your children when they are left for dead.
Your “lifting up” of him is quite an art!


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^d
when both that Man and God sent you right back,
You, Holy Spirit came to Earth AGAIN
to “act out” like Yeshua down the track,

so thus to suffer inside woman/man
to still obey the father who has sent
us all to Earth to bear the fruit we can,
grow up to what “maturity” has meant.

That builder said he’d build “Ek-les-i-a”
(his own), and raise a temple where God dwelt
with living stones (“cells”, we’d call them here)
your Spirit in a body, that has knelt…

at the feet of God, but also blind men
by picking up their firewood, med’cine, food…
& speaking out the Truth of Love again,
when everyone ‘in power’ thinks that’s rude!


..that you would TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN and ^e
then send us our Messiah to lead us,
a leader who would lead us as you planned.
Our “Maranatha” cry, “Lord Come! - Jesus”

* Exodus 3:7-8 ⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, …; 2 Samuel 22:7 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears; Nehemiah 9:9 “And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea; Job 34:28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—; Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears; Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry; Psalm 106:44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress when he heard their cry; Lamentations 3:56 you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!”; (& from Jewish writings before Jesus’s day that his family probably read: Susanna 1:44 The Lord heard her cry

^a Isaiah 63 & 64
^b Mat 1;  Luk 1-3; 
^c  Mk 1:9-15;
^d Acts 1:1-14;  Acts 2:1-4, 14-41;
^e 1 Cor 16:22;  Rev 22:20


 

A family of friends are traveling over Christmas...

...a brief note to let you all know that the family will be ... travelling... May Christmas be a blessing and time of deeper understanding of our Lord for you all.

God give them grace
as they travel through space
(& through time too!)
may they re-present you.

Help them to look
& listen to your thoughts,
their lives a book
their friendships and reports

mirror-ing you
and the things that you do,
reflecting well
in these stories you tell...

learning important lessons in God's "school" is a bit like...

I heard of a small child,
a little boy it was,
whose parents had beguiled
to go to school, because

at said SCHOOL, he would learn
to read, and also write,
and this seemed, in it's turn,
desirable, delight.

So this young chap at length,
hoped one day to go there
- enable this new strength,
(though he would have to wear

special clothes to do it,
to have this privilege).
He did not eschew it,
in fact he almost pledged

himself that he'd well, learn,
absorb each aspect in;
and when it came his turn
he'd take this chance to win!

And when the day then came,
he followed every rule,
he looked up when they named
him, didn't play it cool!

Yet disappointment grew,
dejection was en-faced,
when he walked back into
his home; school was a waste.


.............................................


For he could not at all
write, spell, or even read,
though he HAD been to school,
it hadn't worked, he see-ed.

sheep dog

Chris & Nerida,  thanks again for your presentation at Muster. For me a significant thing# was that story of a sheep dog*:

A sheep dog was obviously agitated when it was simply staying in the house-yard all day. Two options remained for it… the owners could let it round up the chooks all day, & thus be busy and feel ok at the end of the day; or else train it to work in tandem with it's master to actually help the master in his purposes of working with sheep, in which case there would be a process of learning to work with it’s master.

A sheep dog that was obviously
quite agitated said (some way)
that when it was at home simply
just staying in the yard all day,

it felt frustrated, in its self.
Its owners must have “heard” this too
(and had enough eggs on the shelf),
so gave it “busy work” to do:

They left the dog with all the chooks.
It rounded up the hens all day.
Though they were ragg-ed (by their looks)
and lack of eggs, the dog was gay!

It felt contented, satisfied,
had used its muscles, herded well.
Yet something in it felt denied,
after weeks (of Chickens’ Hell).

It had not heard its master's voice
or whistling, or else seen his signs,
It had not worked under the choice
of greater purposes and rhymes...

* The sheepdog story came about when our dog Hugo was running away all the time, and I was looking for a solution.  A friend told me about their friend's sheepdog that had similar probs, who they put in with the chooks etc... That's when God gave me the flash of divine insight about my busyness..." Nerida Cuddy

# On Friday as we traveled to Muster, an almost pre-formed plan came to mind as to how to maximize the Saturday arvo discussion thingo I was down to lead. It felt like God "gave" me a plan of attack to work with him. When the time came to do it on the Saturday, I mentioned the plan to everyone there, but somehow then just forgot about or ignored it. And it felt like he was saying "alright, try out your own 'un-plan'". It was horrific in terms of serving the people there well... I could see that, as I rabbited on feeling like I had to finish (my own "set task").. and horrible when compared to working with him... Anyway your story helped me to see what was happening and to focus on the core of the issue, not any of the presenting problems like my increasing speed and frustration... etc.Bless yous.

I am - God's provision

I am strengthened by Gods boundless resources so that I am able to pass through any experience with courage. Even to the point of giving thanks to God in the midst of pain and distress. Colossians 1:11-12 (PM Version)

God, I don't want to shirk, 
I want to be like that. 
Please keep doing your work,
get me where he was "at":

to thankfully give self
into your care and not
be happy on the shelf;
but take the stuff he got.

He said he had to drink
a cup you seemed to give.
He was washed to the brink,
"clean as a whistle" lived.

And yet he let himself
be washed "clean" in that bath,
as our known friendly elf
he led us with his laugh

'cause the bath WE needed,
we would run from, awry,
Father's call he heeded
he would get washed (to die),

to show us how to hear,
to trust and be washed clean,
and show us whom to fear
and too, on whom to lean.

And though we feared this death,
& ran away, and wept;
he showed with every breath
how lovely to have slept.

Amen

God, we need your help

Thank you God.

You're the one.

You're the bod

we are spun-

-out at your

help & love.

We adore

both of your

fire & dove.