Short Cuts

Short Cuts

My daughters are all very intelligent, which gave parenting them through their growing years, some interesting challenges, at times. One daughter, who was classified as gifted, was attempting to run verbal rings around her father and I by the age of three and four. By six years of age, her reading abilities were on the level of a ten to twelve year old. At twelve years of age, many of her peers could not understand some of the words she used in her extensive vocabulary. She started her first degree at sixteen and graduated with Distinction at nineteen years of age. 

As a child, my delightful daughter always kept me on my toes. As a homeschooling family, this made life extra interesting.  Her mind never stopped thinking things through and calculating easier solutions to life’s problems. She had her definite likes and dislikes and those tasks most hated, received some of her greatest childhood  ideas in how to escape the job at hand. One day at nine years of age she invested her time into composing a five verse poem on why she hated maths. However, she still had to complete her maths work for the day. She could talk rapidly and with great logic as to why something need not be done.

When my girls were young I taught them the necessary life skills needed in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing. They all learned to iron while young and by ten years of age, they could safely and efficiently iron their own clothing. However, this one daughter disliked ironing. With her exceptional thinking abilities, she set to work to find an easier method to accomplish the desired results. It was a fairly hot day and outside, in our yard, we had some used pavers that had been pulled up, stacked and ready to be used in another paving job. Each paver in the pile weighed several kilograms, and after sitting in the heat of the sun, they were now quite hot. My young daughter concluded that the task of ironing could be accomplished quicker and easier with a well heated paver than taking the time for the iron to be filled with water, plugged in and waiting for it to reach it’s desired temperature. She joyfully spread her item of clothing out neatly on the ironing board and went outside to retrieve her new ironing implement. With great enthusiasm at the  reduced working time, and an easier method, she placed the heated paver on her clothing. Systematically and delightfully she picked the paver up and moved it onto another wrinkled area of her apparel. I had upon the appearance of the paver, uttered a protest at the idea, but my daughter was convinced on the wonders of her soon to be had success, so I had taken a step back to allow her to learn from her experiment. 

Suddenly my daughter let out a gasp of disbelief, which led to a sigh of disappointment. The paver had indeed been hot and heavy enough to allow some of her newly acquired ironing skills to have some success, however she hadn’t factored in the the dust and dirt still clinging lightly to the used outdoor paver. Her freshly ironed attire now sported spots of soil. What should have been, in her mind, a quicker and more effective way to obtain the same results in ironing, now proved to produce a much lengthier process as the garment needed washing and drying all over again.

Short cuts. We all like to do things in a quicker and more effective and efficient way. Some short cuts prove to be a good idea, others are less successful. Do we try to find a quicker and easier method to achieve the desired spiritual results in our life that takes others more time to obtain? When we wake each morning do we want to know God on a deep level and be closely connected to Him and have a life of victory, devotion and faith, yet hope to receive that desired end by just spending a hasty and brief time with God? Do we glance quickly over a devotional book? Do we randomly read some Bible verses while our minds are planning out our day ahead? Do we utter quick prayers and dash to our daily tasks at hand? In our spiritual lives there are no short cuts. If we want to know God and be deeply connected with Him, it takes time, quiet ,unhurried alone time with Him. 

Ps 5:3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Ps 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God

John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

The Stolen Chicken

The Stolen Chicken

Mandy was a white, medium sized dog with random black splotches. She definitely had some Kelpie in her, but apart from that, she was a mix of a variety of breeds, highly intelligent, gentle and loving. She had been raised from puppy hood and trained by an enthusiastic owner. She could sit, shake hands, have food placed within her reach and then told to wait before she could eat it. She was a well trained, lively and happy, young dog. At 12 months of age, heavily pregnant with her first litter of puppies, she was abandoned by her now, ‘not so enthusiastic’ owner, in the bush near my childhood home. 

Mandy’s survival instincts kicked in and the desire to protect and care for her young drove her to the life of a wild dog, hunting and scavenging for food. Her relentless search for nourishment compelled her to seek out food from the neighbourhood in which I lived in. She became skilled at begging, stealing and knocking over the small tin garbage cans in everyone’s back yards, to scrounge for scraps. Some neighbours felt sorry for her and fed her bits of food, others in anger, drove her away. 

One neighbour, who regularly and sympathetically fed her, decided to follow Mandy back to her den and check up on the puppies. There he found a litter of squirming puppies, all well fed from their mother and starting to explore. He knew that soon those puppies would need homes and he set about to find a loving home for each puppy. Slowly, one by one, they received homes and Mandy kept scavenging. Finally, only Mandy remained, and my family chose to take her in and keep her as our own. 

Mandy was every girl’s dream dog, loyal, playful, loving, companionable and well trained. Our family fed her well, provided for all her veterinary needs, gave her a warm doggy coat in winter and a snug kennel to sleep in at nights. Mandy had a whole new life filled with love, acceptance, a sense of belonging and all her needs  were fully met. Mandy thrived and was content with her new family.

Mandy, however, continued to scavenge, sneaking out of our yard whenever she had an opportunity. We fed her well, but fear led her to beg for food from the neighbours. Mandy grew fatter and fatter, as her soul filled eyes desired more and more edible items. We needed to place a notice on her collar which read “Please do not feed me.” Then there was the dreaded bin nights. Every Sunday night the neighbours all placed their bins by the road for collection in the early hours of  Monday morning. Mandy loved those bins and she knew of the delectable food scraps contained within. Cleaning up the rubbish from knocked over bins was not an activity my parents enjoyed and Mandy was many times kept tightly in the house on bin nights. Mandy had a new life but she still clung to her drive to survive.

One day our neighbours were packing their car with all the needed items for a lovely family picnic. They stacked their belongings one by one on the front porch, to then be picked up and taken to the boot of the car. A small plastic bag held a barbecued  chicken wrapped up and ready to take. Mandy must have smelled that chicken from several houses away. She located the bag placed on their front porch very quickly, and joyfully carried it home, to stash away for the future. Her tail wagged highly in the air and her dark brown eyes glistened with the eagerness of her plans. Then my mother spied her. “ What was Mandy carrying?” She thought. My mother intercepted Mandy and managed to retrieve the bag of goods, and she discovered someone’s picnic food. Up and down the street my mother traipsed, knocking embarrassingly on  people’s doors to discover the owner of the stolen barbecued chicken. 

Mandy had an entire new life, all her needs were met, she was loved, she belonged and she was accepted yet she never fully developed that complete trust that we would provide for all her needs. She still maintained a fear that she might find herself without food one day.  Can we be like Mandy, we have a new life in Christ, He meets all our needs, we are loved, accepted and we belong but we hang onto the worries and fears from our life before Christ. Do we fret about studies, work, housing, finances, or the  future? When problems assail us, are we focused on them in a state of fretfulness? Will we let go of our worries and trust Jesus with everything in our lives? Sometimes just thinking about surrendering all can seem scary. We like to stay partially in control and partially with God. Lord make us willing to be willing. Let us choose to walk by faith and not by sight. Let’s choose to trust in God. 

Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.

Isa 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.

Phil 4:6, 7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Opportunities

Opportunities

Cats have an innate ability to find that perfectly comfortable place to sleep. We have two lethargic cats and sometimes the places they select to snooze can be entertaining; other places I wonder how they could possibly consider them as comfortable. Yet most often my cats choose that one most delightfully soft, warm and cosy spot to nap peacefully. Softness, warmth and privacy seem to be at the top of my pets priorities, when making their decisions. A bed is definitely the preferred location for snuggling and sleeping their days away. 

One of our cats chose some rather interesting destinations to doze the day away. For a short while the deep recesses of the lavender bush was appealing until she worked out that too many of those days found her miserable and wet as she leaped out howling, from under the scented bush, whilst I was happily watering. Lying lazily curled up in the centre of a violet garden created an almost picture perfect postcard scene. Other times she has energetically leaped from the lounge, high up onto a six foot bookcase and slept away her time atop her perch of comfort. The book case was definitely not a good location when she started to consider the possibility of jumping over to the pinnacle of our seven foot Christmas tree! One cat’s unusual disappearance for several days and a reappearance of a hungry, much thinner feline reminded us that cats can locate perfect sleeping places inside our neighbours’ open garden sheds, which can then find them, hours later, locked inside. Then there is always the debate between our two cats over that coveted position under the Christmas tree, sprawled out across the soft carpet, gazing at the household between gifts in holiday wrap. Our cats have slept in boxes, in cupboards, in the ironing basket, on shoes, beside shoes, suitcases of jet setting daughters, wooden kitchen chairs,  snugly before the flickering flames of a fire and spread out on a hot summers day across the cool kitchen tiles. Each location our cats have purposely, thoughtfully and with great deliberation chosen. Cats are rather opportunistic. If a blanket is placed folded, or a pillow lay strewn or a garment tossed haphazardly, it seems that within moments it is found and seized as prize of great worth for the ultimate destination for the day. Cats have an uncanny ability to find that perfectly comfortable place to sleep within minutes of it becoming available to them. Cats never miss their opportunity.

One day I was busy with the ironing and the folding of several loads of washing that had been cheerily flapping in a warm breeze outside on the line. As I took the ironing into our bedroom my phone  noisily rang, creating a moment’s distraction. I went to answer the phone, only to return several minutes later to find, Laura, our youngest cat, already huddled happily on a small pile of ironing. It may have been considered an acceptable and desirous spot if the ironing had been placed in another location. Instead, I had quickly placed the ironing pile on the  very edge of our dressing table and there was our cat Laura, balanced on top of the ironing in a very precarious position. She did not want to miss the opportunity to find comfort, warmth and softness, even if it entailed a degree of danger.

My cats have an amazing ability to never miss an opportunity for that perfect spot to sleep their day away. I pause and stop and think about that. Opportunities!  Do we seize them or do we miss them.   Each day we receive opportunities for many different activities and situations. What about the opportunities for being an influence in another person’s life for the glory of God? Do we, like my cats embrace the moment and make full use of the opportunity? Each day God will give us opportunities to share with others about His goodness and His love. Each day God will give us opportunities to pray for or with others. Do we, like my cats, seek out those opportunities and in full desire make use of them? Why not start your day in prayer asking God to especially give you, and make you aware of, opportunities around you to be a blessing to someone else.

Gal 6:10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Col 4:5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.

The Cure

The Cure

Fleas! They are tiny and irritating and live in the green grasses of our backyard, waiting for the opportune moment that one of our pets may walk on by. With a single leap of up to 150 times their body length, they attach themselves to our animals as they play in the yard, and  thus fleas enjoy life evermore as a blood sucking parasite. Fleas are the major cause of skin diseases in pets and they can cause problems from simple itching to weeping sores, scaly skin and allergies. Fleas! They are uncomfortable, annoying and they give our pets hours of scratching and untold misery.

Fleas are much easier to prevent than to eliminate. What we see in the environment are only approximately 5% of the total number of fleas. The other 95% live as eggs, larvae or pupae. For effective flea control it is essential to break the lifecycle in the environment. This cycle can take as little as 2-3 weeks or as long as 6 months.A well designed programme is necessary to maintain a flea free environment for our pets comfort, health and happiness.

We purchase a product called Advantage. Four vials come in a small box with a picture of a content and peaceful, smiling dog on the front. Each pipette contains only 2.4 ml of a formulated liquid that is applied to the back of the necks of our itchy pets. Every 4 weeks our pets are treated to keep the cycle broken. However, if the 4 weeks passes and our pets are not treated; within a very short time they again become infested with fleas, the scratching and the discomfort start all over again. 

One would think that our pets would be bounding with enthusiasm at the sight and smell of the vials of Advantage that are applied to their necks, knowing how much happiness and well being will result from it’s application. Alas, however they are not. Our pets, 2 dogs and 2 cats, see Advantage  Applicators as the enemy and not the fleas. Michael and I have developed techniques of stealth, cunning and cornering to be able to apply the vials to the back of our pets necks. Our dogs run and quiver and shake in terror. Our cats growl, bite and scratch. Their enemy, the applicators, lock them into a sense of fear and flight.

Our pets have a misplaced fear. They do not really understand that it is the fleas that give them their misery and discomfort. They do not relate to the pipettes of formula being applied to them as saving them from flea bites and infestations. They fight and resist and they are scared of the one product that can give them health and happiness.

Our pets are very much like us. Sin, like the fleas,  infests our lives and brings us brokenness, pain, suffering and misery, yet the one and only saving application, the blood of Jesus Christ is something we naturally fear, resist and run from.  Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Luke 4:18 it says, ”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” How Jesus longs to save us, heal us, set us free from sin and give us an abundant life. To His people Jesus mournfully said in Matt 23:37, “how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!”

What will be said about you and about me? Are we willing to allow the blood of Jesus to be applied in our lives that we may be saved from sin or do we fear God, and in our ignorance run from Him, desiring to live our own lives apart from Him? God won’t corner us with stealth and cunning and force us to accept the cure for sin, unlike what my husband and I need to do with our pets. Instead God calls gently to our hearts with his love, desiring for us to make the choice. Will you choose to accept His cure today? 

Whirlpool of Life

Whirlpool of Life

It was November and the christmas toy catalogue had arrived at our home. With eager anticipation, I spent hours pouring over every photo of every product that could be purchased. With wonder and delight I carefully marked each item I wanted on my Christmas wish list, but alas only one of those items could be bought. Narrowing it done, I finally chose a pool toy to enjoy during my hot  Australian Christmas. 

Christmas day arrived finally with much excitement and there, wrapped in colourful wrap was my pool toy. I ripped off the paper and gazed with glistening eyes at the picture on the outside of the packaging. It was a blow up canoe with side floats to keep it stable. It could easily fit one child and at a squeeze, two children. The day was warming up, and in total excitement I could hardly wait for my father to blow the toy up. In a flurry of enthusiasm I watched my father transform my gift from  neatly folded layers of brightly coloured plastic, into my canoe. Then off I raced for the pool to float joyously in my new toy. My canoe was all I imagined it to be.

Australian summer holidays coincide with Christmas and with searing temperatures day after day, our backyard swimming pool became a cool haven. We owned a three foot deep, round, above ground pool, with a diameter of approximately fifteen feet across. Many of my neighbouring friends also owned back yard pools. Summer was spent running freely from pool to pool as we all enjoyed playing together. 

My best friend and I enjoyed my canoe, tremendously. Our favourite game was to create a swirling whirlpool in our round pool. Pushing against the water with the strength of our bodies, we would run around the inside edges of the circular pool. Faster and faster we would go, and faster and faster the water would start to move, round and round. As the water surged forward, we would leap in the blown up canoe together. Round and round we would float, being taken in the direction of the twirling waters. Then out of the brightly coloured canoe we would jump, and start running in the water all over again.

Sometimes the craziness of life can feel like a whirlpool, carrying us along in a surging circular motion. Unlike happy, carefree children,  we feel out of control, pushed along, swept by the currents of other people’s choices that impact our lives, our own calendar of events, expectations placed on us, family happenings and life crises. The waters carry us round and round and we feel unable to stop the moving flow that threatens to engulf us. God calls to us to step out of the current. 

God asks us to trust Him with all of our problems and all of our turmoil in the raging, pushing waters of life. Isa 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.” He asks us to take our minds off the rushing whirlpool and keep our thoughts fixed on Him. As we look to Jesus we see him rise up and say to the waters of life, “ Peace, be still.” (Mark 4:39). Will I choose to behold Jesus and take my gaze off the swirling, thunderous waters? Will I trust Him with my life’s circumstances? Will I allow Him to bring peace to my heart?

Psalm 89:9 You rule the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, you still them.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

False Alarm?

False Alarm ?

A harsh ringing sound rang out across the darkened, campus grounds. The clanging reverberated off dormitories and classrooms, resounding across the parkland gardens. Dormitory doors were flung open as light pierced the darkness and students flooded rapidly out and across to the evacuation point. The fire alarm had shattered the peaceful quiet of the evening. My husband, Michael, who was working his way through college, had put in a hard thirteen hour work day fencing and milking cows. He had long since slipped into the deep slumber of rest when the burst of noise resonated across the college campus. His friends, in their haste to exit the building had, one by one, attempted to wake him, shaking him, rolling him back and forth and calling his name, but finally abandoning him to his dream land and his fate as he failed to awaken. The students huddled in groups at the evacuation point, shivering in the the cold night, wondering where the fire was, when they discovered it had only been a fire drill. College deans read off the roll to ensure that all were present and no one had been left behind in a potential burning building. As my husband’s name was called out across the dark night air, a mate answered back on his behalf and my husband slept peacefully on in his dorm room bed, ignorant of all that had taken place.

The years have passed and Michael has since attended many safety lectures on the hazards of fire in his work place environment of aged care. He has trained in evacuation techniques and been drilled in fire safety. He has been taught first response methods, watched fire hazard documentaries and been lectured in the necessary procedures in the tragic event of a fire taking place in the aged care facility. Those fire lectures were compulsory to attend and necessary to learn. He has been the fire safety officer for the facility and has thought about the dangers of fire, talked about the dangers of fire and dreamed about the dangers of fire. 

Last night as we lay peacefully sleeping, wrapped in a blanket of darkness and under the covers of warmth, a harsh shrill beeping penetrated our closed, bedroom door and swept across us. Michael did not stir. In my drowsiness I realised our smoke detector was pulsating discordantly through our house. I murmured about the noise to Michael in my stupor, but he remained asleep. I spoke louder to him, now half awake and he stirred slightly. The deafening high pitched sound was still echoing in our room and we lay snuggly under the covers drowsily unaware of our potentially dangerous position. I finally roused Michael to the point of him realising he needed to check on the noisy smoke detector, while I tucked my head down further under the covers and attempted to fall back into my state of sleep. After a thorough investigation was made by Michael, it was ascertained that the steam from a late night shower by our daughter had wafted into the hallway and triggered the smoke detector. With much towel flapping and arm waving by them both they were able to dissipate the steam and quieten the deafening sound.

In our sleepiness we failed to understand the danger we could have been in. We didn’t leap from our beds in frantic haste, grabbing precious belongings on the way, as we exited the house. We didn’t immediately become attentive to fire safety and warily open the bedroom door. Instead, in our drowsiness we assumed it was a false alarm. The Bible talks about spiritual sleepiness. It tells us to awaken out of our slumber, to be alert because the coming of Jesus is nearer than we think. The Bible warns us against spiritual lethargy and calls for us to be active and awake. It calls us to shake off the stupor of the works of darkness and to be awake in the light of Christ and His righteousness. Am I spiritually sleepy… are you? Do I realise the times in which we live and the nearness of Christ’s coming or do I just think what I see around me is a false alarm and His coming isn’t near? I may have read about those times in the Bible, studied them, talked about them, and thought about them but am I awake to the spiritual perils around me or am I asleep in my sins?

Rom 13: 11, 12 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.

1 Thess 5:6 For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

Eph 5:14, 15 Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise.

The Unwanted Tickets

The Unwanted Tickets

It was a bargain! We could buy a ticket to five tourist attractions for just the price of two. We decided to take up the special offer on the internet and we made the purchase happily. My best friend was here in Australia, from the USA, and we were eagerly organising where we would go and what we would see together. We now had the tickets to five tourist attractions, of which four seemed very interesting. However, the fifth one of those destinations, in which we now had entry to, appeared to not be very appealing. We had great anticipation as we planned our trips to the Aquarium, the Wildlife Zoo, Sydney Tower and the Sea life Centre. We looked with much less inclination on the tickets we held to the Wax Museum. 

We both had preconceived ideas as to what a wax museum might be about. I had toured a small one many, many years earlier. It had been dimly lit and it felt creepy. It was not an experience I really wished to repeat. My friend also felt spooked by the thought of exact recreations of people from wax. We had seen the colourful advertising with it’s feature of wax rock stars and hollywood legends which lessened our interest even more. We thought we knew what the museum was about and what we would see and our desire to visit was diminishing by the day.

After a holiday lasting  a wonderful six weeks and seeing many Australian sights and enjoying varied experiences, my friend was coming to her final days here. Our pre-purchased tickets had a thirty day limit to them. We were off to enjoy the Wildlife Zoo located next door to the wax museum before she left. We still had the unused tickets to the ‘scary’ wax museum. They sat in my purse looking forlorn and unwanted. Then with a sudden surge of financial interest in our ticket investment, we discussed using them. We could, after all, just take a peek at the attraction. We didn’t have to stay.  We could leave at any time we wanted to. The moment we felt creeped out or spooked we would exit the building. 

With Captain James Cook discoverer of Australia

We spent our morning and early afternoon in the pleasant surroundings of the Wildlife zoo. We came out of the friendly zoo and stood gazing apprehensively at the entrance to the wax museum. It was now or never. Our tickets were about to expire and my friend was departing from the country in two days time. Cautiously we entered the wax museum. To our amazement and delight it was nothing at all like what we anticipated. The advertising hadn’t depicted it in it’s fullness. It wasn’t spooky or creepy or dark and dinghy. We moved around different interactive areas representing historical moments in past Australian events, areas with wax models of famous world leaders who had made an impact on society,  figures of those in the field of science and medicine and many more. It was very educational but also a lot of fun as most of the exhibits allowed you to enter into the scene. We learned  about the incredible skill a sculptor needs to have as a team work for up to ten months to create an exact replica of the person they are modelling. Our experience at the wax museum was fun and very interesting.

with Albert Einstein 

with the Royal family

with famous bush poets, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson

I am reminded that due to the death of Jesus we all have pre-purchased tickets to the destination of heaven. Will we accept those tickets? What kind of preconceived ideas do we have of heaven? What do we think we will do there? Who do we think God really is? How do we think we will interact with others and with God himself? Do I really want to go there? Do you love God so much that you want to dwell with Him forever? Do you desire the purity of holiness?  Having read the Bible verses that depict scenes and activities of heaven gives us a very vague glimmer of an idea but the reality is that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.” ( 1 Cor 2:9) Preconceived ideas can greatly diminish  our vision of the true highest joys of an eternal life of continual communion with our heavenly Father in purity of holiness and the wonderment of other centred love. Will you accept your ticket  and step into a life of knowing God. John 17:3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. “

Isa 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

Ps 31:19 How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.