How soft is your heart?

These past few weeks I have been thinking of what makes for a hard heart!!!
Often I am cynical towards people or situations and have been doubting Gods provision or presence and realised that's my heart hardening!!

A lovely friend and I were talking together in my kitchen about how easily we forget all God has done for us and suddenly the story of the Israelites popped into my head!

In Exodus 13 we read how Moses had been called by God to go up the mountain and were not told how long he was up there but the Israelites obviously got fed up of waiting so they start saying to each other well Gods gone quiet let's make our own God to worship and they collect all the gold the can find, melt it and make a golden calf!
Moses comes down having met with God and sees them worshiping a huge lump of metal!!

These Israelites had forgotten that God had-
Rescued them from slavery
Made a path through a raging sea
Gave the a daily feast of manna and quail and
Provided fresh water out of a rock!

There hearts had grown hard maybe because they had become impatient for Gods timing and definitely because they had forgotten His faithfulness in the past!

This really challenged me as this last week I had definitely forgotten all that God had done for me and so had become despondent!  My sister reminded me of all the ways He had been faithful and it softened my heart and I began to recall his goodness and started trusting again!

A lovely lady once said she asked God to show her heart and it helped her to see the areas in her life that needed to change!

Not forgiving doesn't affect the person who your angry against it effects you and leads to  bitterness. Selfishness, resentment and not been thankful  all leads to hardness of hearts.

I don't know about you but I want a soft heart where God can speak into and where I can grow intimate with him!

Dig for treasure

Isn't it easy to complain about people and complain about hard your day is going?
Not so easy to find the gold in your day or the person who is pushing all your buttons!

A week or two a go I was driving to a meeting and it was like God dropped a picture into my mind of someone hunting for treasure with a metal detector they can spend a lot of time listening for that beep that tells them that something shiny is buried beneath them, when they do hear that sound they have a choice they can drop their detector and start digging or they can ignore it and carry on searching!

If they choose to dig it can be dirty work they have to get through a lots of dirt before they find that glistening piece of gold or treasure.
People and situations can be like hunting for treasure we have to almost ignore all the crappy bits and hunt for the beauty that is hidden deep inside!

Today we have to pay a car bill as the car broke! Where's the treasure in that?? Well I'm thankful we are all safe and we have loving family who drive us home!

Digging for treasure is making yourself stop and be thankful but also its good practise to bring out the gold in other people! People need to be reminded that they have treasure within them yes even the most of difficult people!


Dig for gold people not for dirt!

Anyone up for feet washing??

My Easter really started when I led a mediation on John ch 13 and it has stuck with me!
Jesus was with his disciples and he knew who was going to betray and disown him and yet he still knelt before them and washed their dusty smelly feet.
As I read this well known passage again I wondered did Jesus enjoy doing the very humble act of washing the bare, calloused, dirty toe nailed  feet? Probably not, but he did it to set us, his followers as an example to follow.

John ch 13: 14 &15 Now that I, your Lord  have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

So how do we do this in today's society? Thank the dear Lord I don't have to go round literally washing feet!! But I have been thinking about how I can wash people feet metaphorically.

It goes back to my last post #lovingwell! All people really need from us is love and acceptance.

When Jesus commanded us to love one another he didn't add, " only if they deserve it" or " if they are worthy or without sin"

He didn't call us to condemn, He called us to love!
He didn't call us to criticise, He called us to love!
He didn't call us to judge, He called us to love!
He didn't call us belittle, He called us to love!

Maybe washing people's feet is as simple as sitting with someone as they wait for a doctors appointment, or taking the time to listen when they are struggling or taking a meal around when you know someone is sick.
Showing we love one another doesn't have to be extravagant gestures. We have just got to love!

#Lovewell

#Lovewell


A friend who cares for my soul asked me at the start of the year what I wanted to work on this year or what was going to be my mantra, with in seconds "Love well" came out of my mouth!

Why couldn't I of thought of something easier??!

How do we love well? or as I comically call it hashtag #lovewell

Confession time!  I struggle with loving well, oh with some people it's easy, others not so much but why?

On Sunday in a sermon I heard this quote as he read out the first line I got mad!

'True love is inexhaustible ..... The more you give the more you have..'
Well I drifted at that point and thought, no, I don't agree! the more I give, the more drained I am.
 I get pretty exhausted and flat. I don't have this never ending fount of love that just keeps pouring from me  like a magic jug that never seem to run out!

The quote didn't stop there though!!

If you go and draw at the fountain head , the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There's the secret and my huge mistake! The love that I tend to give out and run out of is my own love, this very wise man is talking about going to the one whose Love is pure like fresh water and it never runs dry.

The more I come to God for his unconditional, pure, selfless, patient, kind and gentle love the more I will have to give  and the more I will love well.

My challenge for this year then is not to muster my own love and love through gritted teeth but to keep coming to God and soaking in his love and letting it pour out of me!!

In John ch 3 v 35 we read
By your love all men shall know you are my disciples if you have love for one another!

The worlds kind of love is conditional and selfish, Gods love blows people's mind!
If we loved the way God loved us the world would be a completely different place!