I was thinking about the name of this blog, and I love it because it came from a picture that God gave me one day quite some time ago. And yet, as I pondered the life we are called to as followers of Jesus, I realized how often we are called to do exactly the opposite. Instead of ascending, we must descend. Perhaps this blog should be entitled “Invitations to Descend” – instead of an upward trajectory, ours is downwards.
Continue reading “How to Ascend in the Kingdom of God”Disregarding the Majesty of the Almighty
It is easy, all too easy, to take the familiar for granted. To make mundane that which is truly incredible. In a moment of jarring clarity a week or two ago, I realised just how quickly we do this and how much I am guilty of falling into this trap.
Continue reading “Disregarding the Majesty of the Almighty”The Art of Drinking Tea
I do not know about you, but I am not someone who likes to slow down. Instead, I relish completing tasks, feeling accomplished and together and achieving all that is necessary for my day. Perhaps this is why practising God’s presence throughout my day (the idea of recognising His presence moment by moment and learning to lean into that) has always felt like an unattainable goal. Of course, I would love to run my day as an ongoing conversation with the One who is concurrently the Creator of All Things and yet is closer than my breath. And yet I fail, time and time again.
Early mornings are, for me, different. Over my lifetime, I have consistently set that time aside to meet with God. But how can I take that and carry that with me throughout the rest of my day?
I have tried all sorts of things to encourage this in my life, from setting aside specific times, berating myself for not doing better, talking with others about this, to running reminders on my computer or phone. Initially, I programmed these to go off every 20 minutes, thinking that would be great. Until the reminders became unbelievably irritating, making any productivity impossible and anything but conducive to an ongoing conversation with God. In this past week, I have had another thought. Perhaps, this one can be of sustaining worth, an ongoing practice that can nourish my soul.
Could I turn drinking tea into an art form?
Might this be a place where I meet with God in my day? Could this become something sustainable and life-giving? To be sure, this will require a change in me.
I am not a natural tea drinker.
Being allergic to caffeine has hampered my development as a connoisseur of hot beverages. Decaffeinated tea tastes vile (in my limited attempts to convince myself to try it). To be fair, I have been informed by my far more educated tea-drinking friends that it really is nothing like its true form. When I was a child, the herbal tea varieties I encountered were floral concoctions that perhaps promised something in smell but were utterly disappointing in their delivery.
I occasionally drink decaffeinated coffee, and I do like it but not in the form supplied by most cafes – bitter in the extreme. I had assumed this was what all coffee tasted like. However, recently I discovered this is not true but instead has far more to do with stale beans left sitting around long past their use-by date due to lack of demand. And then, in recent years, I have found the holy grail! A couple of herbal tea varieties that actually are enjoyable to drink, coupling together flavour and aroma in a way that I previously thought was impossible.
Which got me thinking the other day – do I need to cultivate a habit of drinking tea? Could I, perhaps, turn it into an art form? Of course, it will take some effort to do this well. I cannot simply boil the jug, throw in the tea and return when it is cool enough to drink, downing it while standing and continuing with my day.
But could I instead do this well? Make this intentional?
Linger over the steeping tea,
sit down while it cools,
hold it in my hands,
let it warm me externally and internally,
and use this time to stop, wait, converse, and listen.
So this is my goal over the next couple of months. To learn to drink tea and to create a new rhythm. To make space for God to speak into my day throughout the day.
Father, it is hard to slow down. I have tried many times to cultivate a life of conversation with you. But I get busy, I forget, and in the rush, I drown you out. Please teach me to do this well, to try, and keep trying until this becomes a habit in my life. For we long to know you more. We long to see you, to hear you, and to follow you in all that we do. Amen
How about you? Do you have a way to connect with God throughout your day? I would love to hear what works for you and what doesn’t work. Is there a new habit you could cultivate? And if so, how? And, of course, do you know of any truly great varieties of herbal tea – I’m always after recommendations!
For those of you who keep track of these things I am sorry for the long silence, hopefully inspiration will come more frequently in the future. Feel free to comment below, or to contact us at any time. If you subscribe to our blog, you will be notified when new posts are available, and/or follow us on Instagram.
A Word Spoken Out of Season
Have you ever experienced a time when God has said something to you that seemed in such great contradiction to the life surrounding you that you doubt if he said it at all? Perhaps, you wonder, if you have forgotten the sound of his voice? Maybe you have thought that this must be one of those instances you have it wrong. It wasn’t God at all, just your mind playing tricks on you.
Continue reading “A Word Spoken Out of Season”What does it mean for God to be Sovereign?
Have you ever wondered about the sovereignty of God? And what we mean when we say that God is sovereign? Clearly, sovereignty has to do with kingship, with who is in control. Who makes the rules, the laws, who decides what and how things should be, and what should take place. And, of course, that person must be God. Indeed, God’s role in the world is to do precisely that? Isn’t it?
Continue reading “What does it mean for God to be Sovereign?”Allowing time for the mud to settle
Last night I was awake for some time in the middle of the night. And is so often the case thoughts came flooding through my mind one after another. Making the prospect of a short period of wakefulness increasingly impossible.
Continue reading “Allowing time for the mud to settle”Faithfulness in the small things
A couple of nights ago, I was thinking about an inspirational woman I know. One whose faithfulness has been limitless, who day after day, year after year, has served. Who has willingly and cheerfully sacrificed much to be a blessing to others. She would not think of herself in these terms. I don’t think she has any idea how much she had blessed or how Christlike she has been. And as I thought about her, I wondered, how often do we get our perspective wrong? Do we focus so much on the big and significant, at least what we deem to be so, that we fail to realise what it is that really matters? And what is it that really matters anyway?
Continue reading “Faithfulness in the small things”The good that lies before us
I have had times in my life where I have struggled to find time to think. When the busyness of all that must be accomplished, the tiredness that accompanies such doing, and the mental exhaustion that follows seems to suck away all possibility of thought, much less deep thought. And I find that the time that I spend with God is more hurried and as a consequence, he appears more distant.
Continue reading “The good that lies before us”The gift of beginnings
I love the start of things. I love the promise of what is yet to be. The seemingly endless possibilities. Whether it be in the empty notebook that I pick up, the blank canvas set before me, an empty garden bed prepared but unplanted, a handful of seeds, or, far more significantly, the birth of a baby.
Continue reading “The gift of beginnings”A meagre offering in the face of the masses
I used to worry when I was doing something for church, running some event or talking with someone or a group of people, that what I had to offer wasn’t good enough. That I would disappoint. That I would let them, and far more significantly, God, down.
But one day it dawned on me. No matter what I did, I couldn’t make something perfect. And in this sphere, above all others, I couldn’t manufacture the kind of outcomes that I longed to see. I certainly could not make God move or act.
Continue reading “A meagre offering in the face of the masses”