There's no H2O like Snow

In New Zealand we have just had a big blanket of snow fall over most of the country.  For many of us in the cities it has been a novelty and a talking point.

There are many things to say about snow but one of them has to be the beauty that it gives to even the most mundane of outlooks.  Even a letter box looks cool with a slab of snow icing on top of it.  Trees look great too either being laden with clumps of snow balanced on their evergreen branches or the deciduous trees like skeletons frosted white.

What adds to the beauty and mystique of snow is the silence with which it falls and the quieting effect it has when fallen. I like the way Simon and Garfunkel refer to snow in their famous song "I am a Rock" as " a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow".  Isn't it precious to wake up in the morning and open the curtain to a snowy blanket that settled in the night without a sound!

I think in NZ right now, snow might just be our favourite form of H2O.

Jesus be the centre of my life - making it happen.

I've just been to a couple of night meetings at the Arise Conference 2011 and while I was there booked in to Arise Conference 2012.  I enjoyed being in the Michael Fowler Centre with around 2000 people who were singing and jumping in worship to Jesus.

One song that stuck out for me from the Friday night was a song by Israel Houghton called "Jesus be the centre of my life"

I especially loved to sing this line:

From my heart to the heavens Jesus be the centre.   It's all about you, yes it's all about you.

 These are great lyrics to sing and a great sentiment to have and while you are singing it, you believe you will do it.  Often, though as you return from a conference or a high point of experience, you can return to what you were before you went to the conference.  John Cameron had a good word in this regard. He said to build a monument and give an offering.

In the old testament times the Israelites often built monuments of large stones when something significant had happened to remind themselves of that occasion. Every time they would pass it they would see it and remember something great that God had done.  It would also be a reminder to be faithful to the plan God had given them.

What can we do in our culture today to give ourselves reminders of what God has done and the plan he has for us?  You can do tons of things but here is one idea.  Use your phone.  Many of us carry a phone around with us almost 24/7.  Why not make a note about what God has done and set an alarm to go off each week to bring that note up.

Whatever you do, make the effort to appreciate what God has done and honour him by living up to why he did it.

How do you know if you smell?

Have you ever had the experience of realising too late that the garlic you had last night is pouring out of your pores into the noses of your friends or workmates?

What about the classic question - pooh! who stepped in something? Only to realise when you check your shoes who it was.

One of the greatest difficulties in life can be to get the right perspective especially about yourself.  Because just as you can smell something and assume it is coming from someone else or you can smell of something without being aware of it yourself sometimes in relationships we can be off.

For instance, how do you know if you are a genius and have an idea that no-one else can see the merits in or are a fool and have an idea there are no merits in?  When you have a conflict with someone is it them or you that is the cause?  It is so easy to assume we are right.  For some of us our default position is to think we are right.  Unfortunately, sometimes there is a fault with our default and it is actually our fault.
For me, my default position is that I am right.  I cannot really help it, it's the default I have.  I do need to be aware of it though and make sure I can get a perspective to see myself in the right light.

Jesus talked about this tendency to see other people's problems before our own when he said "Don't judge", "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"  In other words, maybe you have the problem.

So, how do you know if you are at fault or the other person?  Well here are a few clues from my own experience;

1. When it's everyone else, it's you - If you are running into several idiots a day and not being understood by any of them... oops!
2. Get a third person's view - If in doubt, take feedback, just make a pact with yourself not to shoot the messenger if you hear what you don't want to.
3. Use a mirror - The Bible can be like a mirror.  Looking into what God reveals in the words of the Bible is of value to us if we do it.  If you genuinely read the Bible to follow what it says, it is hard to keep the planks (or be concerned about the sawdust actually). 

Ultimately you can still have the Garlic problem, where you don't even know you smell and no amount of huffing into your hand can help you to smell it because you are already desensitised.  What you must realise in that case is what goes in, must come out.

Just like garlic, what we feed ourselves a diet of - in thoughts and desires and influences - will eventually come out of us, even without trying.

Smell you later.