Scripture Writing Plan - Day 3

Day 3 - Psalm 62: 1 - 4

God Alone a Refuge from Treachery and Oppression.

1. My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation.

2. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3. How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

4. They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position; They delight in falsehood; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse.

My Interpretation

1.  So for me this is about accepting that God is the one and only God, the Father of all other Gods / Goddesses.  It is him who will save me, save my soul regardless of whether I pray to Ranginui (Sky Father) or Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).  But it is not enough for me to pray to the other Gods/Goddesses - I too need to acknowledge their creator.

2.  This is stating that God is the firm foundation and if I believe that, I know I will not be shaken as I have a solid base.

3.  The writer feels bullied by people and so asks how long before they stop trying to knock him down.

4.  The good ole rumor mill even existed way back when...as did it seems being two faced.  Looks like the writer had the balls to actually stand up and call them out on the bullshit behaviour he could see happening.

Read more "Scripture Writing Plan - Day 3"

Cleansing in the garden....

In the past, tending to the garden was Glenn's (my boy's Dad) role within our relationship.  Then, when Glenn and I separated, my Uncle who was living with us for 3 years up until May of this year, took over the role.  However, with neither of them here to do it, and Mark and I trying to just get through with the many hurdles we have been facing, our poor garden ended up being neglected...up until today that is!  Thanks to a little bit of a kick up the bum from my Mum! 

Actually, she pilfered some bulbs from our garden but because she had to remove some weeds first in order to get to them, I then had no choice but to finish the weeding, as it would have driven me completely insane being part done; and as I don't do things by halves of course, one garden bed just kept leading to another.  Whatever the reason, our beautiful garden was finally given the TLC she desperately needed. 

We are a long way from being finished, as unfortunately whilst having a large block is a blessing, it also means more garden area to maintain.  The rest will have to wait for another day as we ran out of daylight and to be completely honest, I can barely move *Ouchies!*

The above photo is of a section I worked on whilst Mark took the boys out for an hour.  I have to admit, I was completely overwhelmed by the task ahead of me.  Gardening really is not something that I find enjoyable, however the more I cleared, the more inspired to finish I grew.  The peace and quiet whilst I was working was so relaxing and I realised that it wasn't only a cleansing process for the garden, but also for me.

I am so excited to now have an area that we are going to turn into our home grown vegetable patch!

As much as I really liked the purple daises, they were suffocating my other plants and so they had to be cleared from this garden bed.  

While we were pulling them out I said to Mum, "It's a shame because they are so pretty", to which my Mum replied "Just because they are pretty, doesn't mean they are good for the garden".  I share this conversation as it dawned on me that it can relate to many areas within our lives. Just because the cover looks good, it doesn't mean it is good.

Whilst the pretty purple flowers weren't any good in the previous garden bed, they were perfect for this spot.

I found some succulents growing wildly in the front yard and so, I took a section and planted it inside my old stump.  Looks so pretty! I also discovered that I had rosemary and a jade growing in this garden bed.

It's amazing the things you find when you remove the weeds!  We are growing lettuce, spring onions and strawberries.

Even though we still have so much more to get done, what we accomplished today feels so good and it has inspired me to get the rest done.

Here are some more Before and Afters

(I managed to get a sneaky pic of my Mum)

Read more "Cleansing in the garden...."

Joyfulness /Control

"The pure joyfulness of the unexpected can be a source of wonder to me".

On this journey called life we are often so uni focused on our goal, destination, circumstances that we can become blinded, rigidly stuck in our current patterns of routine and structure that we neglect to be open to new opportunities, gifts, joyfulness that are presented along the way.

How wonderful it would be to allow ourselves the release from our need of control and open up the doors to embrace something more. Enabling us to view life's journey in a panoramic view.

Today / Tonight's happenings is a perfect example.

Today I took time out from normal every day life and went to visit a friend in her new home.  Visiting with her even only for a short time brought me so much joy AND the things that needed to be done were still here to be done AND my world didn't fall down around me.

Then...tonight, instead of putting my PJ's on early and just lazing around at home we decided to go out to the shops.  Usually, I would run straight into the one shop (K-mart) get what we need and then leave, but tonight we decided to make an outing of it and took a stroll through some other shops too just for something to do.  

Long story short my Mum came out to meet us and we all shopped (well more browsed, although I did get Ace what he needed for his upcoming school production and I got a few other goodies like this awesome wireless keyboard I'm using now) and chatted and just took our time.  As we ended up being there for quite a while we decided to treat ourselves and go out for dinner too. 

What a wonderful night it was, perhaps it was delirium from being so tired but we all laughed and laughed and laughed. A moment I want to remember forever.

Read more "Joyfulness /Control"

Scripture Writing Plan - Day 2

Day 2 - Psalm 121: 5 - 8

5. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6. The sun shall not smite thee by day; nor the moon by night.

7. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.

8. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

My Interpretation

5. God is my keeper, the one who owns me? God is protecting me like a right hand man does.

6. I shall not be harmed day or night.

7. OK so when I think of preserve I think of Jam as in bottling fruit....so Gods bottling me LOL. Maybe lets looks a little more deeper on that thought. God is keeping me from evil and keeping my soul pure - imperishable, like jam.

8. So hes like stalking me, watching me 24/7 (creepy I hope he turns away when I poop) - in order to protect me and keep me from evil and keep my soul pure. SO really point 8 is just an reiteration of 5, 6, and 7.

Read more "Scripture Writing Plan - Day 2"