“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
(Ephesians 4: 2)
We have had the joy this week of minding our little six month old, 
granddaughter for a few hours, and we love the way she now sits up on the floor and if we surround her with lots of toys, she reaches out to grab them and proceeds to wack all of them with wild abandon. Those flailing little arms need to be avoided if you are holding her, to make sure eye glasses don’t land on the floor, so I was very surprised when she fell asleep on my lap and when she woke, reached out one little hand and very softly began to stroke my face. The gentleness of her touch was in stark contrast to how she played with her toys.
Gentle, is another one of those words that sound like its meaning and it is interesting to read that Paul emphasised the importance of portraying this beautiful characteristic in our Christian walk;
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4: 5)
On the world stage there is not much evidence of gentle behaviour, as we listen to political opponents 
attack each other with harsh words which only achieve a response of equally harsh, aggressive words in return. I was thinking while listening to one of these tirades that it was a pity they weren’t aware of the wisdom in the book of Proverbs;
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15: 1)
Our model of gentleness is Jesus himself, who instead of dealing harshly with us when we wander away from him and forget to keep his commands, gently forgives us as he himself, because of becoming one of us, can understand the temptations we go through;
“He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” (Hebrews 5: 2)
So too can we gently forgive others when we remember how gently Jesus deals with us.
One of the favourite verses that many Christians love, myself included, is the list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit,(Galatians 5: 22), but I feel we have to first study the opposite of this verse (Galatians 5: 19- 21), before we can allow that precious fruit to flourish and grow in our lives. Gentleness is one of the powerful fruits the Holy Spirit gives us, but first look what Paul warns us about in verse Galatians 5: 20
hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissensions, factions, envy.
Just by turning on the evening news we will view examples of nearly all of these. Even in our church communities, sadly, we can experience dissensions, discord, factions, but a spirit of gentleness can dilute many problems, we must choose to use this beautiful gift when confronted by any examples of the above.
Reminding ourselves that all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are gifts, helps us to be confident to use them, we don’t have to work hard to avail ourselves of them, we can just graciously accept them.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22 – 23)
One such word is, oxymoron. It is fun to say and so much fun to add to the list of odd sayings that fall into that category. We all say them without realising, e.g. youthful senior, act naturally, plastic glasses, pretty ugly, civil war, new classic. (I am sure you are all thinking of some good ones right now.)
Our little baby granddaughter has reached that stage of recognising the familiar faces of the family and some friends who visit frequently, but has now become quite wary of strange faces she does not know and makes this very clear by the expression on her face. I was thinking about how important faces are for us humans when my grandson made us all laugh when he saw me when I had taken off my glasses, “Put them back on Nana. You look like a stranger.” was his response. We often say to a friend, “Oh I was so glad to see a familiar face in the crowd”. Faces of our loved ones remain in our minds long after they have died.
We know ourselves that when we please those we love, we receive in return the glow of a smile and our little baby granddaughter rewards us with such a big smile when she sees our faces, ours shine as well.
We cannot see the physical face of Jesus today, but his sacrifice for us has allowed us into the presence of the Father and the warmth of being close to him is to feel the warmth of his smile and the radiance of that smile fills us with a radiance we can pass on to others.
Our church is spending the month of January concentrating on the spreading of the good news by missionaries, but also pointing out that spreading that good news is also a part of every Christian’s walk. Last week our Pastor really grabbed my attention by suddenly flashing on the overhead screen this question;
time messengers were a very important component of everyday living, and mostly messages were delivered on foot so those feet became very special when the news was good tidings.
in harvest which sounds odd until you realise that the snow refers to a cold drink which brings refreshment not only to the hearers, but also to the master who sent the message. How lovely to think our feet bringing good news to others will also be a joy to our Heavenly Father who sends us in his name
Last week I read a very deep and thoughtful blog written by a Christian, in which the author boldly and honestly shared the agony she was going through as doubt about her faith was flooding her whole being. The response she received in comments was amazing, as believers rallied around her with their also honest stories, with prayers, Bible verses, lovely encouraging words of hope. As I reread her words, I was struck by her bravery in sharing a weakness that a lot of us try to hide from others and I was reminded that the Psalmists were also very brave in writing about their struggles when they felt God had forgotten them or perhaps wasn’t even there.
Sometimes we begin to have doubts about our selves and a feeling of unworthiness can envelope us as we begin to focus on our shortcomings and find it hard to believe that our Heavenly Father could even love us at all. Again, being honest about our feelings before the Heavenly Father, can bring a rush of reassurances from him and as the writer of Hebrews tells us, we can approach him confidently so we can be bathed in grace and mercy;
A simple statement, I BELIEVE will move a mountain of doubt. And even if we begin to doubt, the Lord will catch us in his arms just as he did for Peter. (Matthew 14: 31)
Just recently I was watching a dedication of a new wing at one of our hospitals which was to be named in honour of a tireless worker in our community who had worked hard at raising money for research and had now passed away. His name would be now revered in big letters at the entrance to this wing. Later as we were driving through our city I saw many examples of names emblazoned on schools, parks and buildings which were an honouring of certain person/ persons. While I was contemplating the importance of remembering these names, I thought of the many times God speaks to his people through the prophets, telling them of the importance of his Name and how it is to be respected and honoured.
which expounds on this theme and one of the verses sums this up.
Christmas time is a time of family gatherings and we were fortunate to be able to gather our bunch all together on Christmas day this year. When we all get together somehow all the old stories get told and the grandchildren, (now mostly adults with only two little ones) love to hear these stories and especially if about them or even more important about their parents, when they were children. This year one of our daughters pulled out of her Christmas present a piece of soap attached to a rope. Her sisters burst into gales of laughter, while the grandchildren begged me to tell the story behind this strange addition to her present.
We need to keep those experiences in the fore front of our minds, to help us face bravely whatever revolts against us, and to remind ourselves of God’s power.
2017 calendar and while I read those scribbled notes, memories of some of the ugly times we went through came flooding back, but immediately wonderful memories of how the Lord carried us through surfaced, and I was able to spend time thanking him for being our rock this year. We can keep a calendar of his grace and mercy in our minds and constantly return to refreshing our memories of his incredible love so those beautiful memories always remain fresh in our minds.
When I was, a child growing up in Australia, the beginning of the new school year coincided with the beginning of the new calendar year, so everything started afresh together. As Christmas falls in the summer in the Southern Hemisphere our holidays stretched over a delightful 6-week period of lazy days on the beach and mostly running bare foot through our friends’ gardens with abandon, not really thinking about the year to come, but the start of the school year brought about a very distinct change in perspectives. Suddenly we needed to be focused, the lazy days of just indulging our selves, were now to finish, minds now had encompass new subjects to be studied at school, life assumed a new purpose.
After all those carefree days of not wearing shoes, made one very aware of what new shoes felt like! Putting on our new selves for the Lord may also make us aware of different life styles.
we reassemble his image.
We have welcomed a new baby granddaughter into our family this year, and as I gaze at her sweet little face I am yet again, overcome with the wonder of new life. It is amazing how the sight of a little baby softens people’s faces and I enjoy being the one to be pushing the stroller as the wee one acts like a magnet and passers by stop what ever they are doing to catch a glimpse of this miracle of new birth.
progression from light, land, vegetation, day and night, sea creatures, land creatures (Genesis 1:1- 25) we see that his comment after each was;
So, as we listen to those beautiful carols and look into all the Nativity scenes we see in homes, churches and public places, we can say with conviction.
One of my favourite musicals was, The King and I, and one of my favourite songs in this spectacular production was, “Getting to know you”. Its lyrics are timeless and when check on the exact words, I’m struck again by the incredible meaning behind that word, knowing, especially when it is used regarding knowing a person. As I read the words I felt many of the lines could be fitting in describing how we learn to know who our Heavenly Father is and the wonderful joy it brings as we explore our relationship with him.
we want to have a true relationship with him we must spend lots of time, getting to know him. Jesus Christ has provided the way to do just that.
God Speaking 