Do you have the time?

Daylight savings time popped in again last night, sucking an hour from my sleep. It’s not all bad. On windy days, hubby will be able to windsurf after work. And that means a happy hubby.

Hubby windsurfing © Jane F Thompson — Hubby windsurfing

Since the benefit lasts until I gain back that hour of sleep in November, it outweighs the drawbacks.

my grandmothers clock © Jane F Thompson — my Grandmothers clock

But isn’t time about so much more than pushing our clocks forward an hour?

Having more daylight at the end of the day?

I could list quotes about time all day.

“In every season there is a time . . . “ “Just in the nick of time . . . “ “It’s about time!”

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” Carl Sandburg

“Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.” Michael LeBoeuf

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” William Penn

“Humans are amphibians – half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.” C. S. Lewis

If Lewis is right, if we are half spirit, but we pour most of our time and energy into this physical world, could we be missing a huge chunk of ourselves, of how our lives were meant to be lived?

From the moment Adam and Eve were ushered out of the garden, they set up housekeeping, worked the earth, began the cycle of life we all know from birth to death.

And they left behind unhurried walks with God in the cool of the evening.

Can you imagine unhurried walks with God?

Wouldn’t you drop everything for even one sunset stroll with the Creator?

In the cool of the evening © Jack H Thompson — in the cool of the evening

Like Adam and Eve, we are barred from the garden, lest we eat of the Tree of Life that would keep us stuck like this forever.

But, unlike Adam and Eve, not only do we live outside of the garden, we live on the other side of the cross.

Jesus came to redeem us, to redeem the world, to set things right.

To restore us.

So that we can spend time with God — whether in the cool of the evening or the crispness of a morning.

Our Creator and Redeemer is waiting.

Can you spare the time?

“But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. “ Isaiah 30:17-19 The Message

crisp morning © Jack H Thompson — crisp morning

“And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.“ Jude 1:24-25 The Message

Forty days?

This week, many Christians begin observing forty days of Lent. Forty days marked many significant events in the Biblical narrative: Noah floating in the ark, Moses on the mountain with God, the Hebrews scouting the Promised Land, Goliath taunting Saul’s army until David picks up his slingshot, Jesus fasting in the wilderness before he begins his ministry on earth.

And, like Jesus, we are being called to forty days in the desert.

Rather than Lent, perhaps life itself has called you into the desert. Illness, disability, dementia, losing a dream, job, home, loved one or a relationship . . . the desert places are open to all of us.

And whether we come out on the other side at all, or haggard and bitter, or lean and ready to really live, depends on how we respond in our desert time.

In truth, we don’t want the desert. In our culture, pain is an enemy to be avoided at all costs, from the ever-present ibuprofen bottle, to drug or alcohol abuse, and even assisted suicide. Others of us are running ahead, doing the right things, working very hard to keep it all together.

However, in The Healing Path, Dan Allender says,

“God promises us redemption, but his sacred path leads us away from safety, predictability, and comfort. Any attempt to fly over the dangerous terrain or make a detour to safe ground is doomed because it will not take us to God. Instead, it leads to a host of other idols that can’t provide us with the confidence of faith, the dynamic of hope, or the passion of love we so deeply crave.”

The Healing Path

Only in the desert, we become the people we were created to be, living the life we were meant to live.

“It is in the poverty of the desert that we see clearly our attachments to the trinkets and baubles we cling to for security and pleasure. The desert shatters the soul’s arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert, we trust God or we die.”

The Healing Path

Trust God or die.

When Eve didn’t trust God, and ate the fruit instead, she died to all her life could have been in the garden, including evening walks with God.

God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, into the desert were they would learn how much they needed him.

And every time we chose our own way, in place of God’s pathway, we eat that fruit again.

“The healing path must pass through the desert or else our healing will be the product of our own will and wisdom.”

The Healing Path

So, where are you heading for your forty days?

Recommendations for study: The Healing Path, Dan B Allender, Ph.D., WaterBrook Press, 2002
YouVersion Lenten studies
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Barbour and Company, Inc., original copyright 1935

Where are you looking?

Focus changes everything. When my grandson and I hiked down a mountain in the Swiss Alps, he took me on a short-cut.

As Kyle jumped on ahead with the beloved family Wheaten, Caitlin,
I concentrated on my footing, on the narrow, untracked pathway.

After a while, Kyle stopped and asked me what I saw. I planted my walking pole, then looked up, to discover a beautiful view of the valley which I had missed, watching my feet, with careful, little steps.

He asked, “What else can you see?”
I noticed the snow on the trees and bushes.

Kyle smiled and pointed to a spot near my boot. “Look closer.”

We continued to work our way down the mountain. (Well, I worked my way down. Kyle hopped, skipped, slid on his little sled and jumped off anything high enough to climb.) He stopped me several times along the way to point out more stacked-stone trail markers. On his fourth stop, I finally found the mini marker without his help.

Later, when my husband and I scanned pictures from walks in villages near Zürich, I was struck by the different shots taken from the same place.

© Jack H Thompson — wood pile in Switzerland

Hubby focused on a wood pile, then looked up and found beautiful sights off in the distance, including a farm by a lake.

Absorbed in our struggles, trials and fears, we can easily become stuck, focused close-in. Like seeing the imperfections in the wood, instead of the beauty of trees by a lake, we can feel trapped or overburdened, with no awareness of the greater meaning in our lives, or hope for something new.

Sometimes we become so intent on a problem or situation that we miss the larger view.

Haven’t we learned by now that trying to plan everything in detail, working hard to do everything in our control to make it “right” won’t actually fix anything?

Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Colossians 3:2 The Message (MSG)

Instead, when we seek Jesus, and look at what he is doing and follow him, we get the wide-angle, bigger picture.

Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! I Chronicles 16:11 Amplified Bible

As we watch Jesus, the circumstances may not change, but the scene before us does. That shift of viewpoint can bring peace to our hearts and minds, as well as greater health to our bodies and spirits.

Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way. Psalm 16:11 The Message (MSG)

Glimpse of Peace

Towards healing and wholeness

Author: Jane Foard Thompson

Do you have the time?

Forty days?

And, like Jesus, we are being called to forty days in the desert.

Rather than Lent, perhaps life itself has called you into the desert. Illness, disability, dementia, losing a dream, job, home, loved one or a relationship . . . the desert places are open to all of us.

And whether we come out on the other side at all, or haggard and bitter, or lean and ready to really live, depends on how we respond in our desert time.

In truth, we don’t want the desert. In our culture, pain is an enemy to be avoided at all costs, from the ever-present ibuprofen bottle, to drug or alcohol abuse, and even assisted suicide. Others of us are running ahead, doing the right things, working very hard to keep it all together.

However, in The Healing Path, Dan Allender says,

Only in the desert, we become the people we were created to be, living the life we were meant to live.

Trust God or die.

When Eve didn’t trust God, and ate the fruit instead, she died to all her life could have been in the garden, including evening walks with God.

God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, into the desert were they would learn how much they needed him.

And every time we chose our own way, in place of God’s pathway, we eat that fruit again.

So, where are you heading for your forty days?

Where are you looking?

Focus changes everything. When my grandson and I hiked down a mountain in the Swiss Alps, he took me on a short-cut.

As Kyle jumped on ahead with the beloved family Wheaten, Caitlin,
I concentrated on my footing, on the narrow, untracked pathway.

After a while, Kyle stopped and asked me what I saw. I planted my walking pole, then looked up, to discover a beautiful view of the valley which I had missed, watching my feet, with careful, little steps.

He asked, “What else can you see?”
I noticed the snow on the trees and bushes.

Kyle smiled and pointed to a spot near my boot. “Look closer.”

Later, when my husband and I scanned pictures from walks in villages near Zürich, I was struck by the different shots taken from the same place.

Hubby focused on a wood pile, then looked up and found beautiful sights off in the distance, including a farm by a lake.

Absorbed in our struggles, trials and fears, we can easily become stuck, focused close-in. Like seeing the imperfections in the wood, instead of the beauty of trees by a lake, we can feel trapped or overburdened, with no awareness of the greater meaning in our lives, or hope for something new.

Sometimes we become so intent on a problem or situation that we miss the larger view.

Haven’t we learned by now that trying to plan everything in detail, working hard to do everything in our control to make it “right” won’t actually fix anything?

Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Colossians 3:2 The Message (MSG)

Instead, when we seek Jesus, and look at what he is doing and follow him, we get the wide-angle, bigger picture.

Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! I Chronicles 16:11 Amplified Bible

As we watch Jesus, the circumstances may not change, but the scene before us does. That shift of viewpoint can bring peace to our hearts and minds, as well as greater health to our bodies and spirits.

Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way. Psalm 16:11 The Message (MSG)

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Glimpse of Peace

Towards healing and wholeness

Share this:

And, like Jesus, we are being called to forty days in the desert.

Rather than Lent, perhaps life itself has called you into the desert. Illness, disability, dementia, losing a dream, job, home, loved one or a relationship . . . the desert places are open to all of us.

And whether we come out on the other side at all, or haggard and bitter, or lean and ready to really live, depends on how we respond in our desert time.

In truth, we don’t want the desert. In our culture, pain is an enemy to be avoided at all costs, from the ever-present ibuprofen bottle, to drug or alcohol abuse, and even assisted suicide. Others of us are running ahead, doing the right things, working very hard to keep it all together.

However, in The Healing Path, Dan Allender says,

Only in the desert, we become the people we were created to be, living the life we were meant to live.

Trust God or die.

When Eve didn’t trust God, and ate the fruit instead, she died to all her life could have been in the garden, including evening walks with God.

God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, into the desert were they would learn how much they needed him.

And every time we chose our own way, in place of God’s pathway, we eat that fruit again.

So, where are you heading for your forty days?

Share this:

Focus changes everything. When my grandson and I hiked down a mountain in the Swiss Alps, he took me on a short-cut.

As Kyle jumped on ahead with the beloved family Wheaten, Caitlin, I concentrated on my footing, on the narrow, untracked pathway.

After a while, Kyle stopped and asked me what I saw. I planted my walking pole, then looked up, to discover a beautiful view of the valley which I had missed, watching my feet, with careful, little steps.

He asked, “What else can you see?” I noticed the snow on the trees and bushes.

Kyle smiled and pointed to a spot near my boot. “Look closer.”

Later, when my husband and I scanned pictures from walks in villages near Zürich, I was struck by the different shots taken from the same place.

Hubby focused on a wood pile, then looked up and found beautiful sights off in the distance, including a farm by a lake.

Absorbed in our struggles, trials and fears, we can easily become stuck, focused close-in. Like seeing the imperfections in the wood, instead of the beauty of trees by a lake, we can feel trapped or overburdened, with no awareness of the greater meaning in our lives, or hope for something new.

Sometimes we become so intent on a problem or situation that we miss the larger view.

Haven’t we learned by now that trying to plan everything in detail, working hard to do everything in our control to make it “right” won’t actually fix anything?

Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Colossians 3:2 The Message (MSG)

Instead, when we seek Jesus, and look at what he is doing and follow him, we get the wide-angle, bigger picture.

Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually! I Chronicles 16:11 Amplified Bible

As we watch Jesus, the circumstances may not change, but the scene before us does. That shift of viewpoint can bring peace to our hearts and minds, as well as greater health to our bodies and spirits.

Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way. Psalm 16:11 The Message (MSG)

Share this:

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As Kyle jumped on ahead with the beloved family Wheaten, Caitlin,
I concentrated on my footing, on the narrow, untracked pathway.

He asked, “What else can you see?”
I noticed the snow on the trees and bushes.

Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way. Psalm 16:11 The Message (MSG)