Preaching with a purpose

Modern life splits families apart.  those of  us who have children and grandchildren living near us should value this contact highly. With many parents both working there is not the same contact with the children.  Little ones are bundled off to a carer as the busy work day begins and picked up again just ready to go to bed.  Just what sort of family life is this.  Grandparents often help out and then shared family values can be passed on.  The parents are working constantly in order to keep up the mortgage payments,  mistakenly they think they own their own house when really they are just renting from the bank!! Is this unequal struggle really worth abandoning our children to carers.  Nice as they can be they are not Mummy or Daddy.

I've decided to write a new blog. It's called Canny Granny's Advice to the Young , but anyone is welcome.  I've been thinking about doing this for some time. In this modern world I'm not sure how many young people have access to Grandparents and their experience of life, so I decided to try to fill the gap there may be.  Parents are so busy these days and many of them are very young themselves and burdened down with modern life.  I'm intending to write about money with it's many pitfalls and also relationships, plus plus. I intend to keep writing here in a more general way.

Do you notice how many people say that time is whizzing along faster than ever?  "Where has this year gone?" they say. Now I remember my parents talking like that, but we as children found that time was very slow especially in term time, but even the six weeks of the summer holiday had a leisurely feel to them as if they would never end.  But today even the children think that time is passing quickly today.  I think it may have something to do with technology. We spend so much time on computers and phones that we don't have that time in the evening when we used to sit back and relax. At this moment I am gulping at a cup of tea and staying on the PC when I should be sitting in an armchair, sipping slowly and mulling over the happenings of the day. I should be savouring life and giving my brain the chance to unravel the tangled yarn in my head.  I guess if I did that I would sleep better. I'm going to be sensible tonight and not see the ten o'clock news.  I'm go...

After several months of thinking it over my friend who is 77 decided it was time to get a smart phone.  So we set out for town in the car.  We went to the shop run by his provider but was told by the young lady that she couldn't find any record of him from his number.  This could have been the end of the day out but instead we went to another shop across the road.  The young man there immediately found his records but said his first name was wrong.  My friend remembered that he had been called by that name by the provider by mistake when he first had a phone.  The young man said it was best to continue with that name as it would require lots of involved paperwork and proof of name and address.  So he remains Kevin!! Next we had to change his address which he had not done 5 years ago when he last moved. For that he had to produce passwords etc. I have learnt to turn the other way when he does this as he gets very flustered if I watch. He has a large col...

This must puzzle so many people.  After all as you get older everything seems to wear out and not work as well.  All those aches and pains happen and you can't reach the top shelf or easily pick things up off the floor.  It all just seems a nuisance.  You look at old people in a home sitting in a room together but mostly not talking to each other.  What are they doing?  Are they doing anything? I believe old age is God's last gift to us to bring us to Himself.  Those old people are thinking mostly about their lives.  They have a lot to think over, some have 90+ years of living to consider.  Of course there are some sprightly ones of this age who are still relatively active, but even they sit and think at the end of the day.  Never underestimate the blessing of quietness in later life.

It is good to be content with what we have and most of us have every reason to be content.  We have more food than is good for us, clean water, so many clothes that we have to find new places to keep them and even then we can't actually wear all of them, there not being enough days in the year.  I do have a favourite lightweight blouse come jacket that I get to wear about three times in the year, when the weather is warm enough. Regularly I have to sort out which clothes I am not wearing and take them to the charity shop. Is it good to be content all the time?  Well in our personal lives it is, but there are injustices in the world that should stir us out of contentment with a righteous indignation for the many wrong things in our world. Even if there is little we can do about the situations, maybe our indignation is like a prayer for God to help those suffering, always with the realization and acceptance that we may be God's answer for that situation.  William Wilbe...

The evening is ticking by and I've turned the T.V. off. It's time to think.  The silence sings in my ears, well actually it's tinnitus, but I am fortunate, it is not an intrusive, unpleasant kind.  Sometimes it takes the form of music, pretty much like Glen Miller and his big band.  I used to think my neighbour was thoughtlessly playing music at 2 a.m. Once I found out it was my own Big Band I made friends with it and it lulls me to sleep. So many things in life are not so bad if you think them through and accept what is. The problem with noisy neighbours is often with you.  The more you fret the worse it seems and you get yourself all steamed up. Of course we should all expect to have a quiet life and people should be considerate.  In Britain we had a sitcom called "One foot in the grave."  The main character was an older man, Victor Meldrew, who was very grumpy and took great offence at the lack of consideration of others, but consequently worked himself ...

There is a good selection of programmes about Russia on the BBC at the moment.  For me this is delightful, having been to Russia back in July. It is a new experience for me to be able to watch such programmes and say, "I've been there." My trip to Russia was the first abroad I had ever made.  Aha I think I just saw a clip that was supposed to be in Moscow, but I'm sure it was the church on the spilled blood in St Petersburg and not St Basil's. It is easy to make that mistake but St. Basil's has more green on it. A year ago I would not have known the difference. I am glad there are still things in life that I can enjoy for the first time.  Some people have been everywhere and done everything; how bored they must feel. But my obsession is with Russia; there is nowhere else I want to go, as yet.

With all this talk of men abusing women and behaving in an inappropriate way I want to know why no one is taking to task the women behaving in an appropriate way to men.  Women  do not have a monopoly on being treated badly, there are men out there who have been propositioned by their women bosses. And why do they not come forward?  Because they think, "Who would believe me?" I hasten to add that I have no knowledge of any cases but 70 years of life on this earth leads me to believe it must be so. How much of this is all a witch hunt.  I know a very nice man who has patted me on the knee but he meant nothing by it except sympathy and I knew that, no problem.  Why are the women accusers treated with kid gloves and believed when many years have passed.  Just say, "No," and get on with life and let the water flow under the bridge. Or is this just about wrecking the government. Everyone gasps with horror at the stories revealed, surely they have noticed that si...

I came out into the  cold air as the sun had set and the light was dying.  I was on my way home.  I wondered why I felt such a sense of how good this felt and realized I was remembering my school days when I would be riding my bicycle from the village where the bus stopped, to my home a mile away. Then it was so good to be heading home after a day at school ten miles away.  I would get home knowing that a cheerful welcome would greet me and the warmth of a coal and log fire.  The time of life I have reached is one where nostalgia and memory play a significant part in the day. It is good when one has good memories for there are people who are not so blessed. We must all be grateful for the good things in life and also for the difficult things that have taught so much.

http://omnicrone1.typepad.com/katethoughts/2009/01/prayer-in-old-age-attributed-to-a-17th-century-nun.html I hope I'm not breaking any copyright by including this. I found it at the above address. "Lord, you know better than I know myself that I am getting older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. “Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but you know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. “Keep my mind from the recital of endless details - give me the wings to come to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience. “I dare not ask for i...

There are churches where getting everything "right" and grimly holding onto the letter of it is the most important thing and just as you think you have grasped the sum total of things you must hold to the goalposts seem to move and more important things are added.  Another sort of church is the one that majors on "love" but falsely so called often being a wishy washy thing that sets out not to offend anyone no matter what is at stake. Now I regard doctrine highly but it probably can't be something of which you can grasp the totality.  When it comes down to it love is an important part of doctrine.  When the Bible talks about love and it being the greatest of, "faith, hope and love," in 1Corinthians 13 we need to look at the meaning of the  word  "love" used there.  You see the Greek language in which Paul's letters are written has three words for "love", "Eros," "Philio" and "Agape"  (pronounced Aga...

When I was feeling low a couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine said,"You must remember you are an old lady now." I didn't take offence as I know he meant it well.  O.K. so we may say 70 is the new 60 and it may be for some people but we need to adjust according to how we feel as an individual.  Sometimes I have lots of energy and sometimes I don't.  It is all a question of recognising these different times.  I now have a new regime for getting up.  If I have a particular reason to get up I can do it quite easily even if it's getting up at 3 a.m. to catch a plane, but with my normal day I want to stay in bed an extra ten minutes, or maybe an hour! Getting up used to be a terrific wrench of leaving a comfortable bed to rush through a shower and quickly dress. Now I do it differently.  I get up slowly and go to the kitchen and make a coffee, sit in the living room and enjoy it while I come conscious and then I have a leisurely shower and get dressed. ...

When Samuel, directed by God went to Jesse's house to find the next king, the chosen one wasn't even in the room, where Samuel was making his decision.  David's brothers all looked the part but God kept saying, "I have not chosen him." Samuel had to ask if there were any other brothers and was told that there was David looking after the sheep.  He was sent for and on God's instruction he was anointed king.  Here was someone who had spent hours alone with the sheep getting to know his God, but he was only a young lad, nevertheless chosen by God.  Are you missing out by not recognizing that special person God has chosen in your life?

Is there anyone on the edges of your life that you are not really valuing, someone you think is o.k. but nothing special?  A year ago I thought like that and helped out someone in trouble.  Since then I have found that person to be a little goldmine,and spiritual comforter.  I'm beginning to think I am getting more spiritual help from her than she does from me.  So look out for someone like that in your life or you will be missing out too. What this world thinks of someone is not their true value.  the world thinks education and wealth are the things that matter, but what really matters is a person's walk with Jesus.  Someone who can cope and cope well when the world walks out on them is someone worth knowing. When the Lord guided me to help my friend He knew that it would be beneficial to both of us. At the time I guess I thought I was the magnanimous benefactor!!!  But my Lord knew better. Who are you missing out on?

You can be too tidy.  You can be so obsessed with tidiness that you don't give enough attention to more important things. Except in unusual circumstances you do not need to get the vacuum cleaner out three times a day. The surfaces do not need to be polished every day either. Moderation in all things.  It is surely more important to spend time with a friend rather than make her feel guilty that her house does not match up to yours.Of course families do make more work than faces a single person and if you can do the housework with a happy spirit that is very good, but you should always be prepared to stop housework and give attention to your husband or your children.

I am definitely not a naturally tidy person. I have been working hard at improving in this department for the last year or so.  I can have no excuse for the clutter around me, I live alone and I am the only one here causing chaos.  The first big thing to do when you want to tidy is to sort out the things you have had for ten years or more and never used and send them to a charity shop or the local tip.  You have to be ruthless with this if you are to make real progress.  If you don't do this your tidying will consist of finding new places for old things in a different room, and that just won't do. The problem for people of my age, born just after the second world war is that we were brought up by mothers who had to make do and mend.  Old clothes were cut into strips to make rag rugs; Mother's old dresses were cut down for a daughter.  When you have been brought up in that kind of atmosphere it is hard to lose the habit. We are living in a different era now....

Well I did do a bit of peeking on my phone, but I feel refreshed and I got a lot of tidying done.  Now I'm back with renewed energy. Too much of anything leaves you jaded.  My flat needs several years off my computer to make any real difference!!  It's strange how we cling on to things that we never use.  Obviously it is good to have pictures of our past and little drawings our children did, but do not think that you can hold on to the past, you cannot.  No matter how you try it is past and gone.  By all means use the past to inform the present.  Remember the things you used to worry about which never happened, what a waste of energy! So now you can put your worries into perspective and treat them as imposters who will never come home to roost.  If you are trusting in Jesus there are no worries than can touch you, you are safe in His keeping. But you do have to keep reminding yourself of that fact or the worries will creep up and cloud your vision...

If you answer with a bold "Yes!" I am inclined to doubt you.  At least admit that it wavers sometimes.  Jesus said that all it takes is for you to have a little faith and that will see you through.  He will encourage that faith like a mustard seed until it grows to tree size.  I want to encourage the ones who have that little faith.  It is unassuming and doesn't look for praise. Similarly He will not quench the smoking flax, but will blow on it till it glows red. No matter how you trip up and fall He is there to pick you up and put you back on the road to heaven.If that little bit of faith  you have is in Him He will never desert you or send you away.  He who is faithful has promised. "He will never leave you or forsake you.  Or as my translation goes, "There is no way I would ever leave you, there is no way I would ever forsake you,"  The Greek is strongly emphatic. Apologies to those of you who love your King James Bible, I love it too and ...

Probably far too much time.  But today I have spent time with family, and this evening with a friend.  I enjoy talking with people on Facebook but there is nothing better than spending time face to face.  For people who are introverts it must be very tempting to keep people at bay on the internet, but really it is well worth the effort to get to know someone in the same room. Communicating owes a lot to body language which helps clarify what your friend is feeling and meaning in what they say. I think it would be a good idea to have at least one computer free day each week so that you can discover other things about life and make some tangible friends. I haven't been doing this but I think it is a good plan.  I will try to remember to tell you how I get on.

Those of us, who love and know Jesus, we need to be reminded again and again of what a wonderful salvation we have.  Last week I felt low and everything was a burden.  That's when I needed to know that Jesus has my life in His hands.  We forget so easily.  That's why we need each other to remind and help.  We must say to each other, "But don't forget this problem of yours is in the Lord's hands.  Only what He says can happen, and if it happens it is the Lord's will and no matter how bad it may look to you, it is the very best plan for you." Yes we need each other, we must remind each other.Thank you to those of you who commented on my blog recently, it helped a lot.

Are you taking your statins and vitamin pills? Having a ten minute brisk walk every day? Having all the modern trendy healing sessions? I assure you it may make you feel better at the time but it will do nothing to keep you alive one second longer than is already chosen for you.  You need to get to know the Divine Healer who can make you fully healthy in body, soul and spirit.  His healing lasts forever giving you abundant life.  If you have His healing this world's pains will not matter.  If you drink His water you will never thirst again. Don't be content with second class healing that doesn't last, come to Jesus the only Answer that lasts forever.