MULTIPLYING

Believe it or not my lady bugs are multiplyimg. They are very loving. I am happy when I see them on my roses.

It is raining pretty good here right now so wonder if dad will go for a walk to-day.

We did not drive over to Justice's birthday we were sorta a last minute invite. Port Moody is so far and driving in rush hour would not be fun. Sent Justice a card I was under the impression she had moved so I thought it was the wrong address. Tasha is going to have us all over for a barbie.

Had just the usual day, cut the lawn, pulled weeds, went to the library and to Value Village and bought some vases. Dad got a very smart sweater and I got high heels.
Certainly cannot wear them today I have a million things to do, inside and out!
Tried walking in them and I can't. How did I every do that?

No we would not drive to Mission for a lacrosse game.

I slept in today until 5:30 and put the picture on last night after an hour looking for it. It was on the news how they were spreading these lady bugs around town on the roses. I just happened to have my camera handy.

Today is undecided. The future of the church and Christianity is undecided too! There is no way that people will accept the reality of heaven and hell. Hell was not an influence in my life but heaven was certainly the place to be.

Socialism and market capitalism have failed and the drive for control of the oil is what drives power and is corrupting our world.

But there will always be those of us who are open to the spirit and there will be many paths this will lead to.

HEALING LOVE

My parents did not really encourage me to believe in God or in Jesus but I firmly believe that there is a childlike spirit within us that is drawn to believing in the message of love especially as spoken about in the spirit of Jesus. We find comfort in stories as we come across mean-spirited people in our lives; and I need God in my life just to talk to and believe in. Just like there are times we need a daddy or a mommy or a friend or our children. We find a song that can touch our spirits and for me a hymn or a word of scripture can do this too.

Animals can also be very important presence with us in times of grief and loneliness. God is for me a source of healing love; as a child I could see beyond myself into this other world. Children when I was small had lots of time to daydream and to wonder. As I grew older I realized that other people could have an influence on me and soon I realized that friends do not always support our spiritual growth and sometimes even bring a sense of unworthiness and insecurity.

There is a larger purpose in our lives than just to exist for ourselves. Even the intellectuals who write books like "The Evolution of God" will ad mitt to. No, I am not reading this book though I may because it is on my book ipod, put there by dad who is reading it. My spiritual growth has not always been welcomed or accepted by those nearest and dearest to me. Boyfriends are a major distraction when we feel like we have fallen in love!

I want to see the value of virtue that is spontaneous and free; not just a standard of right and wrong, but a growth of the soul to discover the inner strength we all were born with. I want to be free of an earthly or worldly identity that hides the spiritual identity of who I really am. I see myself as a little butterfly flying and hovering over the church services I attend; not becoming all that involved not not having to believe exactly as others do. This leaves me free to enjoy the beauty that surrounds me.

Today it looks rainy and after a walk I think we are going to a second hand store. I forget what we are looking for but maybe dad will remember. But first a little prayer time and another cup of coffee. I did not sleep that well, maybe too much chocolate cheese-cake. Very yummy!

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all.

I wonder if Leah and Stephen and Oliver remember we use to sing this out of my little old hymn book? The children did attend church but now they do not. I feel sad about this because my faith has given me joy and courage and hope.

Psalm 8
O Lord, our Lord
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heaven
from the lips of children and enfants you have ordained praise.. . . . .

What is man that You are mindful of him
the son of man that You care for him?

You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him ruler over the works of Your hands
You put everything under his feet.

Mankind includes us all as equals.

BREATHE ON ME BREATH OF GOD

Be drawn into the sacredness of beauty and let each breath gently fill and renew you!


Breathe on me Breath of God
Fill me with life anew
That I may love what Thou dost love
And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breath on me Breathe of God
Till I am wholly Thine
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire devine.

BECAUSE HE LIVES

Each tiny drop of rain stays gently on the petals of the flower.
The flower drinks and as I drink pure water I am reminded that I am drinbing life!
Because He lives I can face to-morrow!

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Even though it be a cross
That raises me,
Still all my song would be,
Nearer my God to The

Though like a wanderer
the sun gone down
Darkness be over me
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I'd be
Nearer mt God to Tee

Or if on joyful wing
cleaving the sky
Sun, moon and stars forgot,
upward I fly
Still all my song shall be
Nearer to Thee!
Hymn 321

FRIENDSHIP

This picture taken from my friend's home at Chelsy Gardens, is a place where we often walk together. I am very fortunate to have many good friends. Today I attended a funeral for our friend's mother. Judy's mom died after being paralyzed with a stroke a year and a half ago.

It brought back many painful memories for me sitting at mom's side holding her hand and talking to her with no response. She could move her right hand a bit and would wave good-bye when I left. I wish that I had said more at her funeral. I remember travelling to Calgary and not being able to sleep that night. Brian had volunteered to talk about her and I was just to add scripture verses.

I believe that the Psalms are truly beautiful and express all the human emotions from passion and love to fear and anger. Jesus also expressed all these emotions which makes him truly human. I like to believe that as he came face to face with people they could see the light of holiness burning in his eyes; and that he could see the soul of the person he was with. Thus he could see into the heart of the prostitute as well as into the heart of the scribes and Pharisees. He felt a legitimate anger at those who took from the poor and betrayed God by their actions.

I am also thinking of what readings I would choose.

Psalm 34
Iwill extol the Lord at all times
His praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the Lord
let the afflicted jear and rejoice
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us exalt His name foreve

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A Hymn
For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies
Lord of all, to Thee we praise
this our sacrifice of praise.

For each perfect gift of Thine
to our race so freely gives
Graces human and divine
flowers of earth and birds of heaven,
Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our sacrifice of praise.


Holy, holy holy, Lord God Almight
early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee
Holy, holy holy merciful and mighty
God in Three persons, blessed Trinity.


What a friend we have in Jesus
all our sins and griefs to bear
What a priviledge to carry
everything to God in prayer.

JUST YOU WAIT

Yes, that is what I would say to my children when I felt I was at the end of my rope! You were not listening to me and the four of you were noisy and messy and I did not know what else to do. You were always better for your dad and in many ways he was more relaxed; even if he did take care of you he was not handling washing and cleaning and cooking at the same time. I think now a days both parents are more involved and that is a blessing for mom and for the children.

The history of Christianity has been built on waiting. Waiting for a powerful end to the world as we know it and for goodness to overcome evil and for all people to live together in peace and plenty. This will take a cosmic catastrophe when the power of evil will be destroyed; and Christ will return on the clouds of heaven to complete the work of salvation.

The words of Jesus as written down for us support these claims as they were what people believed. Paul, who became a great teacher believed the end was coming. Even today as we look at all the disasters in the world we can believe that one day this world as we know it will collapse and be destroyed.

The church that started out in small groups came under the authority of Constantine so that there would now be no separation of church and state. Bishops, elder, deacons claim power and authority as they declared what was the correct teaching.

What then shall we believe? Who really wrote the gospels? The Old Testament belonged to the past to be replaced by the new vision of God. Jerusalem was declared a holy site which needed to be taken back by the real believers. The heavens opened up to reveal the sun as the center of our universe not the earth.

New knowledge in the realm of history and geography began to question the authority of the Bible. We now are living in an age where the Bible has been replaced all together. "Science and philosophy have together advanced reason as the primary mode for attaining truth and have, thereby, changed forever our understanding of the universe and of mankind." -The Future of Christianity. God is now no longer "up there" or even "out there."

Time for a change in the language of the church. People experience the presence of God within their souls and may be too embarrassed to share this experience. This changes deep feelings within and there is a desire to live out of the beauty of that moment, to find peace within and without.

I pray that there will be an openness to others who sense this conscious presence of God. I grew up in the church and my hope and prayer is that the church will realize how vulnerable it is and that the authority it once had it no longer has.

"The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God." -- Martin Buber. It is time to stop making God in our own image!