Category Archives: Morning Musings

Morning Musings

Lessons from my Garden!

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My roses take continual care to keep them looking how I want them to. I like to train them into standards, that are lifted up above the surrounding ground for other plants to grow beneath them.

    I can’t help thinking how like these rose plants each one of us are! This particular variety of rose is quite hardy, but nevertheless needs constant care to keep it how I want them to be. They need to be tied firmly to a strong stake to keep them from being moved by the wind. In the same way , we must be tied strongly to the stake of Jesus Christ, or else we will just blow from side to side and our spiritual life will maybe get damaged beyond repair. Nor will we be able to be a thing of beauty to those who see us.    I also have to take all the side shoots off the main stem constantly; they come with amazing regularity! How often we need to be trimmed in this way, otherwise the shoots take away from the growth of the main stem. If we allow other things to crowd into our lives, they will eventually take all the vitality out of what the Lord intends us to do for Him….after all, there are only so many hours in our day! We say we can’t do without this or that, but if we are involved with too many other activities, we won’t have the time we should be spending for the Lord.

    I find too, that there are many shoots that come up from the base of the plant as it tries to revert to its natural state of being a bush rather than a standard. If we don’t keep ourselves regularly in the Word of God (the Bible), we find ourselves reverting to our natural inclinations rather than following the Lord as He wants us to. We need to be vigilant in these things.     Another thing is, I look ahead to how I want the finished rose plant to look like. If one shoot looks strong and healthy and is growing out from the main stem in a suitable place, I will tie it upright to the existing main stem, thinking I will let it grow in its new position and then when it is strong enough I will cut off all the other heads when they have finished flowering. Yes, what we are doing now may be useful and being involved in the Lord’s work, but He can see ahead to a better task for us to do, one which will take the main head even higher. It may hurt the plant to have one stem fastened upright in such a fashion, and it may hurt us to be tied in some way that gives us pain and restricts us now, but the end result will enable our character to be a thing of beauty and us to be even more help to those around us.

It’s amazing how many lessons there are to be found in the garden, from weeding, to pruning, to spraying….all these things having to be attended to constantly.  No wonder our Lord said, ” I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.” (John 15:1-8)

Morning Musings

Robbery!

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    We always feel aggrieved and hurt, if not downright angry when something of ours has been stolen. I remember the feeling of disbelief when I looked at our yard one morning and thought it looked strangely empty. Then it dawned on me…our runabout boat wasn’t there! We had only owned it for ten days, and now it was gone!

   Then came all the fuss of notifying the police and insurance company, and the trauma of wondering where it might have been taken to. How dare someone come into our yard while we slept and take our boat!!

    But do we ever stop to think how much we take what is not ours without even giving it a thought? Being late for work is one example, and leaving early another….this is taking the boss’ time that we are being paid for. How many times a day do we look at our smart phones and check our emails while we are at work?

    I remember another time, when we owned a farm and needed to have a dragline to come in and clean the drains out. The driver was a chain smoker who rolled his own cigarettes. It really hurt to see that machine stop so many times a day while he was rolling the next smoke!! We were paying him by the hour for rolling his cigarettes!!

     But even worse is what we rob God of. Rob God? How can this be? What does it matter anyway, we might ask.

    Because when we disobey God, He is being robbed of our service, worship, obedience and glory. Taking what is not ours is not honouring to God! At the same time we are being robbed of a clear conscience, peace, inner joy and fellowship with God.

   But Jesus Christ paid the price of these things to God, and has restored what had been stolen. Now it is up to us to find out more about these things and to respond positively to Him!

Morning Musings

How I Should Be!

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Our preacher yesterday morning spoke on marriage, quoting the verses from 1 Peter 3: 1-7 about how the Lord expects a marriage to be. That is not an easy subject to speak on in this day and age. But it reminded me of a story I had read once….

      When I was a kid, my mum always did the cooking, and one evening, she dished up the evening meal saying, “I’m awfully sorry, but I didn’t watch the pot tonight, and your veges have all got burnt. But try to eat them anyway!”

   My Dad just said, “That’s fine Honey, I don’t mind burnt veges anyway, they have more flavour!”

The rest of us kids, just chomped our way through them making no comment, but drank a lot of juice to help them go down.

     Later that night as I kissed Dad goodnight, I asked him if he really didn’t mind his veges burnt like that. He just put his arms around me, and said,  “Your mummy put in a long hard day at work today and she’s real tired.  And besides… burned veges never hurt anyone!”
      Later on, as I thought of this story, it reminded me that life is full of imperfect things. And imperfect people. We have to make allowances for the imperfections of others, remembering our own imperfections. Not making excuses for ourselves when we can’t excuse others. I often forget things that I should have done, or put off doing other things when I know I should be doing them. I have to remember that if I make a mistake, to admit it, and not try to cover it up.

    How thankful we can be to remember that once we have confessed our sins (imperfections and shortcomings)   to God, He has forgiven us and cleansed us from all these mistakes!

So let’s enjoy life and keep short accounts with everyone….it is far more comfortable than trying to cover up, and pretend!


                              ENJOY LIFE NOW – IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

Morning Musings

Our Helmet of Hope.

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     David, the man who wrote the book of Psalms in the Bible, could say… “For You are my hope, O Lord GOD: You are my trust from my youth” (Psalm 71:5).

 I was listening to a preacher the other day who was talking about hope. Not hope with the thought of it may or may not happen, but hope as a confidence and certainty. Where God is concerned, His Word is Truth and it will stand firm. We can have every confidence that what He says will happen, WILL happen! He will do it, He always keeps His Word.

    There is another verse in the Bible where it says to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Once we have this helmet firmly on our head, no matter how many darts of doubt and fear Satan fires at us, we can overcome them.

    The law in New Zealand says that it is compulsory for every cyclist to wear a helmet while riding their bike on the road. It is no use carrying it on the handlebars of the bike, because that won’t keep us safe if we have an accident. We have to have it on our head  to be safe  and protected. Every time we have an impact, we have to adjust it and wear it properly again.

   So it is when troubles hit us on our ride through life, we have to adjust our helmet of hope in God and His Word, and get on our bike and go on again. Every negative thought that Satan gives us, we have to counteract with our helmet of hope, and count our many blessings.

  It is no use counting our blessings on our fingers and our troubles on the calculator, we are to do it the other way around. Every new morning we are to put on our helmet of hope and count our blessings; then we are to firmly fasten it with thanksgiving to God, and to resist negative thoughts which come from the evil one. We will then be able to face the New Year next week with a positive and confident “hope” as we continue with our summer holidays or go to school or work which ever applies to us.

Morning Musings

Chip Gone Wrong!

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    Our motor home let us down badly last weekend. We were all set for a great weekend of fun and fellowship with like minded people, but it all ended up very differently to what we had planned. Just as the old saying goes, “Man proposes, but God disposes!”

    We were nearly at the village where the venue was, when our motorhome gave a few jerks and grunts and then refused to go any further! We finally managed to limp our way out of the surrounding traffic, and then try to figure out what to do next.  We had had this problem before, of the letter “F” coming up on our dashboard, and had found out then, that it stood for “Fault”. That time, it had needed the chip in the computer system replaced and all was well.                            So it could be a simple problem again this time, or it could be something more serious. Whichever way it was, the fault had to be found and fixed before we could move again under our own steam.

    This little incident reminded me of  our prayer life when our connection with our Heavenly Father seems to be broken. Or perhaps, we have never ever been connected to Him in a personal relationship at all. There are many times in our life, when we feel as though God is far away and not hearing our prayers. The trouble is a broken chip between us and God, and it is not until we get it seen to,  that the power of God flows back into our life, and our fellowship with Him is restored. Let’s look at some of these broken “chips” that can cut our fellowship with God…..

    One of these is having a right relationship with our spouse or other members of our families. This is one of the main causes of a broken “chip”, and we are told that husbands in particular, are to treat their wives right or their prayers will be hindered  (1 Peter 3:7 ).     Another one is having a bad attitude towards others, and unconfessed sin….King David said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me!” (Psalm 66:18 ) Wrong attitude to our money….it is not our own, but only what God has given us, so it is only reasonable to give Him His share of it. Habitual and continuous disobedience will block our communion with God. Cherished continual sin in our hearts…..is there something that we know displeases the Lord but we don’t want to give it up? This is a broken “chip” cutting the communication between us and God. The prophet Isaiah said, “Your sins have come between you and God like a thick cloud!”   (Isaiah 52:1)

   So after thinking about these things, let’s fix these “broken chips” in our life, and have our communion with God restored again!

Morning Musings

Solution!

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      We read and hear about the war going on between Gaza and Israel at present, but this is nothing new. Conflicts like this have been going on for the last four thousand years!

    At one stage, the Philistines were in a real dilemma! They had taken this Ark (box) of the God of Israel out of its place, and tried to add it to their collection of idols. But it had miraculous powers, and disaster came on each place where it was taken to.  Plagues of mice over-ran the place and people became ill and died as a result. What to do?

    The people felt they had no option but to get it back to where it had come from, but the big question was, how? At last they had a bright idea….”We have to send a gift for this God of Israel, so let’s put it onto a new cart with golden models of mice and the sores that we have been plagued with, in another box,” they said, “the cart can be pulled by two cows that have just calved and if they go on their own along the road without their calves, we’ll know that there’s something in the God of Israel that goes against nature!”

   So this is what they did. They loaded the cart up, and followed along behind it to see what happened. To their utter amazement, the cows quietly went along towing the cart, and calling for their calves as they went. Not only that, but they took the right road to the land of Israel, and didn’t stop until they got there! The Philistines had to admit that the God of Israel was real after all!

   But the people of the place where it stopped looked on it merely as a curiosity and all those who tried to look into it were struck dead on the spot. In fact, the disease flew through the countryside, and over 50,000 people died. “Take it away!” the people cried, “Tell the people of  Kirjath-jearim where it came from, to come and get it and take it away!”

   This story shows us that we cannot play fast and loose with God, or treat His things lightly. We must treat His things with respect and reverence . For us today, this shows us how careful we must be in this matter….those who treat the things of God, or talk about Him in a disrespectful manner or use His Name as a swear word, will pay the price one day.

When God speaks, it pays to hear, To listen and  obey, If we do not have holy fear, Worse will come one day!

  You can read this story in the Bible in the  book of 1st Samuel chapter 6, verses 1-6                           

Morning Musings

Older Age

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        I’ve just been reading Psalm 92 where it says, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing,”  (verses 12-14)

     Those of us who like gardening, love to watch what they plant, grow from small seedlings to full sized plants and eventually to flower and fruit. It is the same for the Lord, Who has given each of us life….He loves to see His people grow from their first awakening to their need of Him, to maturity in Himself. In this passage here, it says that we are still able to bear fruit in our old age.

      There is no need for us to feel that we have been  put on the shelf as it were,  or that we are past it and now just useless. There is still so much that we can do in spite of our aching bones and  useless muscles. The first thing we can all do, is to thank the Lord for what we DO have, that we can still think and pray. So many of our friends and relations have lost this ability,  and it is so sad to see them just sitting there, a shadow of what they used to be and not even recognising their loved ones. 

     Then we can write letters,  not only to our old friends, but also to our families, especially to the ones who are living in other countries. For those who can use a computer, it is so easy to write a regular family newsletter, and send it to those on your  mailing list. There are so many things to write about, not only what you have been doing or thinking about, but also about  how life used to be when you were growing up. Life is so different in this digital age, and it is hard for the modern young ones to imagine life without all the latest gadgets that are available today.

     So for all us older ones, let’s think positively about what we CAN do and not about what we can’t.  Make sure we flourish in the things of the Lord and pass on what we can while we can. We must remember that …..if we don’t use it, we lose it!!  

Morning Musings

Who is in Your Boat?

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       I was reading this morning, that well-known story of the disciples of Jesus caught in a storm as they rowed across the large lake of Galilee. It wasn’t that they had deliberately gone out in bad weather, they had gone in obedience to their Master’s instruction….He had told them to go, He knew very well what was going to happen on this trip, and He wanted them to learn another lesson of Himself. It wasn’t that they were ignorant of the conditions on the Sea either, as they were seasoned sailors and fishermen.    After darkness had fallen, the wind suddenly got up and they found themselves battling against it as they rowed with all their might to get to the shelter of the other side. Then one of them saw a figure out on the water, seemingly walking on the waves. They cried out in fear, saying it must be a ghost and then they heard the voice of their Teacher saying , “Don’t be afraid, it is I”.      Peter, true to form, (he was always the first to speak) said, “Lord, if it is really You, tell me to come to You on the water!” “Come on then”, Jesus replied, and Peter clambered out of the boat, and found that he was indeed able to walk on the top of the waves. He took a few steps towards Jesus, and then looked around at the boisterous waves. It was too much for his faith, and he became very frightened and began to sink. Jesus stretched out His hand and pulled him into the boat with Him, saying “Oh, you of little faith, shy did you doubt Me?”      The other disciples had been watching all this happen and then when Jesus and Peter were back in the boat, the wind had suddenly died down, and immediately they were miraculously where they were going to on the other side.     The disciples were amazed and speechless. “Truly, You are the Son of God!” they exclaimed. When they admitted this, they found they had reached their destination! What a wonderful picture for us when we go through troubles and trials….if we realise that God is with us in theses trials, so we will find the resolution to it all….maybe not straight away, but eventually.

When God tells you to do something, He will be with you all the way and there is no need to be  afraid…. when He takes you to it, He will see you through it!