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I’ll do it tomorrow.

One day, when I have more time, I’ll do it and do it properly.

Not just yet. It can wait.

An English Lesson

This morning I sat with a group of Chinese grandmothers who now live in Australia. They were learning the English names for days of the week, months of the year and the words ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’ and ‘yesterday’.

A dozen of us sat around two folding tables. All but two of us wore glasses, and one of those two was significantly hampered because she had forgotten to bring her spectacles. Brows were furrowed as they struggled with the non-logical pronunciation of ‘Wednesday’ (with its almost silent ‘d’) and differentiating between ‘Tuesday’ and ‘Thursday’.

We later moved on to an exercise in which one lady said, ‘Today is Wednesday’ (or any other day of the week), and the others would say, “Yesterday was Tuesday. Tomorrow will be Thursday.’

I did not confuse those dear ladies with the title of this blog post: ‘Yesterday’s tomorrow is today’. But it was a timely challenge for me, for I have been thinking about this concept all week.

However, I don’t really have time to write today. It can wait, I reasoned. I’ll do it when the creative juices are flowing.

And that, friends, is the reason I don’t blog anywhere near as often as I would like.

A Biblical Perspective on Time

In recent months, I have been struck by the Biblical perspective on ‘time’. God, of course, stands outside of time. He sees reality in context of the past, present and future … a concept that ties my time-bound-brain in knots. But for us, his image bearers, who pass our days within the bounds of time and space, the Biblical advice is to focus on ‘today’.

Yes, we are to remember the lessons of yesterday. In fact, key lessons from the past are brought into the present by practising certain rites or commemorating special days, including Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, baptisms, communion services and more. And of course it is wise to plan for tomorrow. But our focus is to be primarily on today.

Consider these verses:

Give us today our daily bread….

Matthew 6:11 NIV

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34 NIV

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today”….

Hebrews 3:13a NIV

Quit Procrastinating

The dishes can wait until tomorrow. I’ll just wash the coffee percolator and cup ready for the morning.

I don’t really feel like cutting the grass today. Perhaps I’ll be more motivated tomorrow.

I’m far from achieving my fitness goals for today, but I’ll do extra later in the week.

Do you ever find yourself thinking along these lines? Occasionally things cannot wait. A ‘real’ deadline (not just one I try to impose on myself) is exceptionally motivating.

Experts tell us that most chronic procrastinators are also perfectionists. Rather than do something imperfectly, we put it off. That rings true for me.

Nevertheless, a warning on this topic is given twice in the book of Proverbs:

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 6:10-11 and Proverbs 24:33-34 NIV (the two passages are identical)

Mantra – a Tool for the Mind

Although the term ‘mantra’ is often associated with repeating religious words over and over, the word itself simply means ‘a tool for the mind’.

The word ‘mantra’ has Sanskrit origins, which is hardly surprising given that we usually this word in relation to Buddhist or Hindu utterances.

The first part of the word, ‘man’, comes from the word ‘manas,’ meaning ‘mind’. It is apparently related to the Latin ‘mens’, also meaning ‘mind’ and the origin of the word ‘mental’, as in ‘mental arithmetic’, ‘mental health’, ‘dementia’ etc.

The second part of the word, ‘tra’, means ‘tool’, and may be related to the Latin ‘trua’ meaning ‘a stirrer’, from which we get the English word ‘trowel’.

So a ‘mantra’ is a ‘tool for the mind’.

This is my ‘tool for the mind’ at the moment:

Today is yesterday’s tomorrow.

In other words, don’t put it off. Just do it. Whether ‘it’ is the laundry, a particularly task, decluttering, physical exercise or even brushing the cat. (Okay, the cat doesn’t usually allow me to miss her evening brush.)

And so….

I’d like to hold off sharing this blog post with you until I can do it perfectly. Another day, perhaps.

But no … today I will upload this imperfect blog post. And do a few other little jobs that could wait for another day but would be better done today too.

For today is yesterday’s tomorrow.

And so, in a paraphrase of Hebrews 3:13-14, as long as it is called ‘today’, may we encourage each other to live well for Jesus. May we keep doing that, day after day, until the very end, when we shall throw off the shackles of these limited lives.

Frustrated onlooker,
Confused would-be-academic,
Why, O Lord?

Thailand

For hundreds of years, Christians have poured out their lives here.

For the past 25 years, some of the greatest Christian thinkers in this field have gathered annually. Papers have been written, books produced, presentations given.

Yet what has changed? The Thai church estimates that less than 1% of the country’s population follows Jesus (https://estar.ws).

Buddhism remains the identity of the vast majority of Thai people. Islam has a stronghold in the ‘Land of Smiles’ too.

Change

I sit in a cafe, penning these words. Conference has finished.

Modern women, working on iPads, create graphic art.

A fashionista photographs her coffee.

Colleagues chat.

Yet these modern young people remain ignorant of God.

Faithful … but is that enough?

I attended this conference because I want to contribute to God’s kingdom work. I want to do good research, though in a land further north. I want to contribute to the body of knowledge that just may lead to a breakthrough one day.

Am I dreaming?
I can but try.
We are simply called to be faithful with the gifts allotted to us.

And yet….

And yet there is hope.

The principal of a thriving Asian seminary touches upon the need for a ‘theology of ancestors’ in his presentation. It addresses questions asked by people here … questions that are quite different to those asked by the average Australian.

Some ‘near culture’ workers who serve God here, in the meantime, are working on a ‘tribal theology’. Such theology considers the Bible through a communal lens, in contrast to the individualistic perspective brought by people like me.

An outsider reports on an exciting ‘insider movement’, with recommendations relevant to other Buddhist contexts.

The heaviness in my heart begins to dissipate.

A Prayer

Almighty God, you alone know why the ‘harvest’ has been so sparse in the kingdom of Thailand over the centuries.

Thank you for the good work being done to think well and seek your direction.

Please bless greatly the work of your people in this country, both nationals and outsiders.

Be glorified in this part of the world, we beg.

We pray this for your kingdom’s sake,

Amen

Flopped flat under a leaf, like a fluffy-butt bug (officially known as a ‘passion vine hopper’) letting go of its fanned tail — that is the picture which sums up 2023 for me.

But it’s all good. Or mostly good. Because, you know, as a fluffy-butt bug lets loose its grand tail and simply sits against the underside of a leaf, the Creator transforms it from a gawky nymph into a gorgeous moth with lacy, transparent wings.

An Ignation Examen

At this time of year, I like to take time out to prayerfully review the year past and look to the year to come. Using a form of the ‘Ignatian Examen’ provides a helpful structure.

Step 1: Become aware of God’s presence

Step 2: Review the year with gratitude

Step 3: Pay attention to your emotions

Step 4: Choose one feature from the year and pray from it

Step 5: Look toward the new year

https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/examen-prayer-for-the-year/

The ‘one feature from the year’ (step 4) from which I prayed was the image of those backyard fluffy-butt bugs dropping their tails and just ‘being’.

Of course, the image is over-simplistic. Those bugs munched my weeds and beloved backyard blooms both. They were always going to be transformed and their willingness – or not – to hang on to their fluffy posterior plumages was irrelevant.

But the imagery, far from literal or exact, works for me.

Drop that fluffy tail 1- health

I’ll spare you the details, but ‘Good Gut Health’ was my goal for 2023. Throughout the year past, I regularly saw a doctor, a gastroenterologist, a dietician and a psychologist specialising in IBS, all to no avail. I had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy (again – this was the third time over the past 16 years). I was prescribed medications and recommended over-the-counter herbal concoctions.

“Have you ever considered that God might be allowing this ‘thorn in the flesh’ for his glory?” a white-haired wise woman asked at one point. (Most people ask if I have faith that God could heal me … and I do … but he hasn’t.)

Yes, I had considered it. But I don’t want it.

‘Incremental improvements’ is all we can hope for, explained the specialist. There is no ‘magic bullet’.

When one over-the-counter herbal supplement he had recommended (Iberogast) became unavailable for several months late in 2023, I tried another. And you know what? That one is helping a lot!

For the curious, this newest supplement is a powder containing slippery elm and turmeric (Nutra-life Gut Relief).

When I finally stopped trying, answers came.

The IBS isn’t healed, but it has definitely improved. I’m SO very grateful.

Drop that fluffy tail 2 – academia

I’m in way over my head.

Who am I to think that I have the capacity or the context to work on a doctorate (a Doctor of Ministry)?

This became even more apparent in semester two of 2023. The subject was ‘Partnerships’. The agency through which I work has ‘partnerships’ as one of our core values. The subject was relevant and important. I attended an intensive week of classes, then all that was left to do was three assignments.

Assignment one: Read [certain prescribed materials] and write a reflection on how they apply to your setting. Problem: I was travelling in Asia and didn’t have much time. Thankfully, the material had been provided for us and could be downloaded. I snatched pockets of time to read here and there, making notes as I went along. Points of application were plentiful, but when was I to write it up? The assignment was due the day after I returned home to my computer. Exhausted from the overnight travel, that was the same day that I tested positive to covid. And all I had were notes upon notes in my iPad.

I threw it all together somehow and hit ‘submit’. The lecturer commented that my reflections were rather informal but insightful, nonetheless. Phew.

Assignment two: Interview someone who has established partnerships, transcribe the interview, then video-record your reflections. I was well-organised, over-confident, and asked our ‘international partnerships director’ for an interview weeks beforehand. He replied, asking for more details, which I provided. Then I waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, I chased him up. He was about to board a flight for important meetings somewhere far away and, of course, had forgotten all about little old me. I don’t blame him. I asked a team-mate who has been involved in some interesting partnerships if he could help me, and he immediately complied. I transcribed the interview right away. Thankfully. Because then my little world was turned upside-down.

I won’t explain how life suddenly went haywire for a few weeks, because it involves other people and the story isn’t mine to tell. Suffice to say that, in the midst of other higher priority activities, I typed up some insights from my ‘option two interview’, balanced my phone on top of a crate on top of a box on my bed (I had a guest staying, hence using the bedroom), hit ‘record’ and talked. Within half an hour, the job was done and the assignment submitted. If I scraped a pass, it would do.

The lecturer loved it!

Assignment three: Drawing on everything you have learned this semester, devise a framework for partnerships in your context and present this in a scholarly essay. Again, the above-mentioned crisis left me little time to work on this. In fact, I consciously decided to not even think about the essay until the week it was due, as I had other priorities.

While I tossed together a ‘Pad Thai’ that final week of semester, it occurred to me that this dish lends itself to a ‘framework for partnership’. (I’ll blog about that soon.) We had been given excellent class notes. So I photographed my cooking efforts, skimmed over class notes, and churned out an essay expounding ‘A Pad Thai Framework for Partnerships’. Again, I figured that if I scraped a pass, it would do.

“Creative, but not at all scholarly,” wrote the lecturer. “‘A slosh of soy sauce’ and ‘a dash of chilli sauce’ – this is far from appropriate academic language at this level.”

True. Yet he gave me a good mark, just the same.

And now the semester is over. The results are out. A high distinction?!! For a subject effectively completed on the run?!

I learnt a lot. Some of what I learnt was from the class itself. I also learnt plenty from asking good questions of a colleague and am inspired to do that more often in the year to come. And I also learnt again the life lesson of accepting my limitations and being content to just do what I can. Drop that fluffy-butt tail of trying to make myself look more than I am and just ‘be’.

Drop that fluffy tail 3 – relationships

As I look back over 2023, there have been some rough spots. Those stories aren’t mine to tell either. In most cases, I have been on the periphery of pain and confusion, but with a role to play, nonetheless.

I wish I could make everyone happy and healthy, in harmony with those around them.

But I can’t. About all I can do is to put metaphorical ointment on the wounds of people who rub their own rough edges against those of other people … and sometimes that includes me.

There are times when I must say what needs to be said, despite the discomfort. There are occasions when I can listen sympathetically without trying to ‘make everything better’. I need to be quick to pray for the shalom of those about me and slow to attribute negative motives to ‘the other’.

I wish I could say that despite me ‘letting it go’, God has done his work to present us all complete, perfect in Christ (Colossians 1:28).

But alas, we’re still a messy lot. Nevertheless, we are works in progress.

Looking to 2024

And now the new year is upon us.

I hope for health, happiness and harmony for all those I hold dear. Of course.

The year past hasn’t always been easy. Yet God has been faithful. As he will continue to be in the year to come, come what may.

This past year, my goal was ‘good gut health’. This coming year, I’m aiming for something simpler … I think. It is this: ‘Just do the next right thing.’

In other words, when it is time to surrender your fluffy butt tail that makes you feel so big and important, just let it go. When it is time to grow long spindly legs and sprout wings, just let it happen. Don’t strive to transition from a gorky nymph to a gorgeous moth through our own ability. That’s God’s work. My responsibility is simply to do the next right thing.

Happy New Year, friends.

A prayer

We come to you, the Transcendent and the Immanent One.

Transcendence

Your transcendence I glimpse when I gaze at the sky.

My perspective is limited by time and place.

Your perspective is universal and eternal.

Immanence

Your immanence I glimpse when I gaze at a raindrop.

Generation after generation of tiny lives are lived out in a tree by my front door. That, too, gives us a glimpse of you, the Author of Life.

Our lives

Nothing takes you by surprise. Every detail of our days, delightful or devastating, you see. You don’t pull puppet strings to control us. Yet you see not only what fills our days but even what fills our hearts.

When the rain is falling, life is crumbling, and there seems to be no way forward, you know.

When the sun is shining, the salvia is blooming and I’m stretched out on the grass with a camera and a cat, you know.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16 NIV

Aphids and other analogies

Even the plight of the creature that I unwittingly brought inside, tinier than the point of my pen, you see … or perhaps that should be ‘saw’. I tried to carefully put it back outside from whence it came, but fear I was not careful enough.

You even know about that minuscule mishap (though it was calamitous for the aphid).

How much more do you care for us, ‘the sheep of your pasture’?

(‘The sheep of God’s pasture’ is an analogy from Psalm 79:13, with which I’m not so familiar. I’m more familiar with bugs and roses.)

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

Psalm 139:17 NIV

What shall I wear? It’s not like I lack options. In fact, the opposite is true … I have so many choices that I don’t know where to start. I plan to drop into the gym later and need something that is neat enough to wear to a meeting (especially the top half … many of my meetings are online) yet stretchy enough to be suitable for the ‘older ladies gym’ (Curves) I frequent.

I’m not like that older lady at the gym who turned up in a bright orange T-shirt the other day on which was printed, ‘Gezellig – an untranslatable word’. Of course, I asked, “So what does ‘gezellig’ mean?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know,” she replied. “I just buy gym gear from the op shop.” She doesn’t worry about what to wear.

Happily, another lady DID know what ‘gezellig’ meant. Her husband had been Dutch and he used that word often. It refers to a cozy, friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Many coffee shops, for example, are ‘gezellig’ but a dentist’s waiting room rarely is rarely ‘gezellig’.

But I digress. The point is this: Jesus told us NOT to worry about clothes! Or, by implication, other mundane minutiae of life, necessary though they be.

Flowers of the field

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 NIV

When Jesus spoke these words, he was sitting on a hillside preaching what we now call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Can you imagine him waving his arm about, pointing out the variety of little flowers amongst the grass on the hill on which his listeners sat?

Some translations refer to ‘the lilies of the field’ because the original Greek word κρίνα (krina) literally means a particular type of small wild lily.

The word translated ‘field’ in many translations like the NIV is interesting too. In fact, our English word ‘agriculture’ comes from the same root word from that which is used here – ἀγροῦ (agrou). Basically, we’re talking farmland.

As I understand it, Jesus isn’t referring to flashy flowers such as roses and hydrangeas that have been lovingly cultivated. No, he is pointing out the pretty weeds!

God clothes the grass

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?

Matthew 6:30 NIV

I don’t know what happened to the pretty weeds of Jesus’ day, but I do know what happens to pretty weeds in my neighbourhood. I live in suburbia, and the pretty weeds that grow between the side of the road and the footpath get mown.

Just like that, all these pretty flowers will be beheaded!

Yet despite their short-lived beauty, God clothes the grass in spectacular fashion. How much more can we count on him to adequately provide for us?!

Food, drink and clothing

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33 NIV

It’s not wrong to proactively provide for ourselves and our families. Indeed, some years after ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ was given, the apostle Paul would pen a letter in which he rebuked ‘the idle’. He even gave the early Thessalonian church a rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIV).

But it IS wrong to obsess over food, drink and clothes. I think of the society in which I live, here in Australian suburbia. So many TV shows are based around food, and my social media feed is full of that too. (That probably reflects my browsing habits.) A recent challenging TV show (War on Waste – well worth watching) highlighted the dreadful waste in the fashion industry.

It’s not just pagans whose lives are consumed by questions of ‘What will we eat, drink and wear?’

We have far more significant things to focus upon – God’s kingdom and righteousness. Let THAT be the object of our concerns and may it be reflected in our social media feeds too.

Therefore, don’t worry

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34 NIV

“Therefore do not worry….”, said Jesus. What is the ‘therefore’ there for? As Jesus spoke those words, what preceded the ‘therefore’ was Jesus’ gesturing to the flying birds and pretty weeds of his day.

“Look at the birds of the air…. See how the flowers of the field grow.” Don’t worry. Don’t obsess over the basic necessities of life.

Our lives won’t be trouble free. Jesus himself experienced anything but trouble-free days during his time on earth. Opposition culminating in his arrest and crucifixion were part of Jesus’ everyday existence during his three years of public ministry.

But don’t worry about tomorrow. Just deal with what is in front of you today.

Lilies of the drain

Today I sat down to do work on my annual ‘spend estimate’ (essentially a budget, and something the agency through which I work helpfully requires of us). I had not realised until two days ago that our annual spend estimate is due in today, which was actually kind of helpful, as I would have procrastinated doing it until today anyhow.

I had also planned to write up this blog post today. I preached on this passage a few weeks ago, but hadn’t yet written it up. Two days ago, I meditated on this passage and drafted the blog post. However, the weather has been grey and my days have been full, so I hadn’t yet taken photos to illustrate it nor typed it up.

Today, after a morning of meetings, I finally 硬着头皮 (a Chinese proverb literally meaning that I ‘hardened the skin on my head’ ie just gritted my teeth and got on with an unpleasant task) and plugged through my ‘spend estimate’ paperwork. I promised myself a ‘weed admiration walk’ (taking pictures for this post) made even sweeter by a cafe coffee along the way as a reward for finishing my budget.

God is SO kind. Finances stress me out, even though year after year I enjoy God’s generous provision through his good people. I’ve never lacked anything I needed. In God’s providence, these past two days I have been thinking about ‘flowers of the field’ exactly at the same time as I focused on finances.

As if to emphasise the point, as I walked along, God even provided a magnificent picture of lilies growing out of a drain cover over a nearby drain. I felt his Spirit gently saying, “Consider the lilies of the drain. How much more do I care for you?”

But wait … there is more

Don’t worry … there is no more significant content to this blog post. But in just a short half hour walk (plus a coffee stop) on this spring afternoon, I enjoyed SO much beauty – too much to squeeze between the sections of this post. None of these photos are of flowers intentionally planted or cultivated. No, they all just happened to grow in empty spots by the roadside.

And so let me conclude with collages of beauty. Enjoy the pictures and sense the ‘gezellig’ (a cosy, comfortable and friendly feeling) that comes with being God’s dearly loved child.

If this is how he clothes the flowers on scraps of land besides the roads and footpaths of Melbourne, here today and beheaded by a lawnmower tomorrow, how much more will he care for us?

“Choose a painting, and I will add a Bible verse and have it mounted,” a Chinese friend said during my recent visit there. She had a roll of beautiful traditional style pictures. I picked out one with birds and flowers, two things I especially enjoy.

What verse would I choose? I prayerfully pondered this as I enjoyed a late afternoon walk in a park, the twitter of birds all about me. I felt God prompting me to choose a line from Matthew 6:26 – “Consider the birds….” Actually, the Chinese translation, 你们看那天上的飞鸟, literally means, ‘Look, you lot (‘you’ – plural), at those birds flying in the sky’.

My setting

As I pondered this passage of Scripture, I was in the middle of an almost month-long trip to China. I had three aims for the visit, two of which were being met rather well and a third which wasn’t … not that it really mattered. It was the first goal that weighed on my mind.

During this visit, I wanted … even needed … to refine my research topic for my doctoral studies back in Australia. At the end of this semester, I will finish taking subjects for the course. Starting early next year, I can begin a self-directed regimen of relevant reading and writing then embark on the research project properly. I anticipate that it will take four years of hard work to complete the research. So I want to choose the topic wisely.

The directors of the Doctor of Ministry program at my college had encouraged me to use this trip, in part, to seek God’s direction on the matter. They recommended that I institute daily practices of (1) a prayer walk (“Lord, what do you want me to see and hear?”) and (2) an evening examen (“Lord, where have I sensed your nudges today?”).

And so it was that I prayer walked around a Chinese park that day, asking, “God, what do you want me to see? What do you want me to hear?”

What I saw, and what I heard, were birds … blue-black magpie type birds, sparrows, pigeons, ducks and more.

The original setting

As I later prepared a Bible talk on this passage entitled, ‘Consider the birds’, I had cause to think more about the original setting in which Jesus uttered those words. Actually, Jesus probably pronounced these words in Aramaic, expressing the equivalent of the Greek phrase “ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.”

Greek was the ‘lingua franca’ in the eastern Mediterranean world at the time, hence being used for the written record of this account. Aramaic, however, was the language commonly spoken in Israel in Jesus’ day. I’m no student of Greek, but from Biblehub.com, I understand that these words of Jesus, as recorded by Matthew, literally mean something like, ‘Gaze intently, you lot (plural), at the birds flying in the sky.’

Jesus was sitting on a hill at the time, preaching what we now call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. I imagine that he looked up to the sky and, observing small birds flitting about, or perhaps bigger birds soaring high on wind currents, said to his listeners, ‘Consider the birds….’

It wasn’t an isolated comment, but what he was about to say related closely to that which he had just been expounding upon … treasure in heaven, loving God and not money etc. This section of the Sermon on the Mount starts with the word ‘Therefore’ (Matthew 6:25), but space in this blog post is inadequate to explore all that.

Pointing to those flying birds, Jesus urged his listeners to refrain from worrying about the daily necessities of life. I pondered these words in my little backyard in Melbourne just a few days ago as I prepared that Bible talk on the topic. A pair of gorgeous crimson rosellas tweeted to one another in the tree above me.

Valued

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26 NIV

God values us.

Us! His people! We are valuable to God.

Who are we in the sight of God? We are his precious children!

Of course that is no excuse for being lazy or irresponsible. It’s all about our attitudes. Jesus would go on to urge his followers to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness rather than the daily necessities of life. But a key lesson that I gleaned from gazing at the birds is this: WE ARE VALUABLE TO GOD!

Managing our thought lives

Jesus went on to explain that his followers should focus their attention on his kingdom rather than worry about the minutiae of life which, if we are not careful, can become all consuming. I may yet devote another whole blog post to this, along with some further thoughts about the ‘flowers of the field’ (Matthew 6:28-34). Space is insufficient here.

One related point which I needed to think about, however, is this: As God’s people, we are to manage our thought lives in ways which reflect our status as valued children of the Almighty Father. It’s easier to speak or write about it than it is to actually do it.

Which is where the birds I see most days are helpful prompts. God feeds them. He cards for them. I am far more valuable to him than they are, beautiful though they be. Will worrying about this or that make any measurable difference to the outcome?

Stop it! (The unhelpful worry, that is.) Just stop it!

(I’m writing to myself here and not lecturing anybody else.)

Getting it right

Jesus had been talking about the way we so often worry about the basic necessities of life. Being a modern Australian woman from an affluent society, my ‘worries’ are perhaps a little less practical.

I had been worried about my research topic and ‘getting it right’. I was feeling the weight of responsibility even as I sought God’s direction. Pray about the topic – think over options – investigate possibilities … yes, that is appropriate. But worry about it? No.

As I prayer walked, I came across this beautiful old building (in the photo below), which is a storage place for ancient Buddhist texts. I set up my phone-camera to take a photo of the building silhouetted against the dusk clouds, but didn’t realise that I still had a three second self-timer enabled.

I held the phone-camera steady. Three – two – one … and just as the shutter clicked, a little bird flew into the picture.

Of what value was the bird? Look at its nicely rounded tummy, its strong healthy wings and its incredible aerodynamic design. Does the bird build ornate buildings to store its cultural heritage? Does it even plant and grow and reap the food it needs, let alone store crops for the winter?

Our heavenly Father feeds the birds. Are we not much more valuable than they?

(Mind you, I feel sorry for the birds when the weather is miserable and food is scarce. But I digress….)

Getting on with it

Could it be that God ‘sent a bird’ into my photo during that prayer walk? Stranger things have happened. I think of Bible stories in which God enabled a donkey to speak, directed a big fish to swallow a prophet, caused a vine to grow in a particular time and place and sent a worm to eat the vine.

And so I resolved to just get on with settling on a topic for the academic project without the accompanying attitude of worry about ‘getting it right’, not being adequately qualified, experienced or clever.

After all, who am I to embark on such a project?

I’ll tell you who I am … or more to the point, whose I am. I am God’s cherished child.

When I remember who I am and whose I am … in company with others … my worries fade into the background and I can get on with the task at hand.

Look intently, you all, at the birds flying in the sky

And stop worrying. What’s the point?

Instead, focus on God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

Consider how God cares for the birds. They don’t worry about planting, growing, harvesting and storing what they need to sustain life.

God cares for them. Aren’t we more valuable to him than birds?

————–

PS I still don’t have a final topic for my academic work approved but am getting close, and feel hopeful about it being useful to God’s kingdom and righteousness. Worrying hasn’t been helpful but the prayer walks and daily reflections have been, as well as discussions, written and face-to-face, with key people. I’m getting excited now.

The topic for this week’s ‘Photo Walk Challenge’ is ‘broken’. The ‘photo walk challenge’ is undertaken by a group of friends who commit to going for a good walk at least once a week. We take photos on different themes and share them in our closed group on social media. It motivates us to get outside and move, it connects us and it allows us glimpses into one another’s lives.

Today I chose to incorporate a prayer time into my walk. “Is there anything that you would show me, Lord?” I asked. Not surprisingly, the theme of ‘broken’ kept surfacing as I noticed things around me.

Sad … but bad?

I took a boring black travel cup with me on my walk and indulged in a fragrant, creamy coffee along the way. Until yesterday I had a bright, cheerful red and green travel cup.

I hate throwing things out. That colourful cup had been places with me. I’d had it since 2015 … and maybe even earlier. It wasn’t even properly broken. But every time I drunk out of in recent months, coffee would run down my chin, despite the lid being screwed on.

Sometimes, ‘broken’ is bad. Terrible things happen, despite our best efforts. We hurt one another. Creation is suffering a curse. That is clear.

But ‘broken’ is not always bad. My cup had served me well. It was never going to last forever.

Usually, though, ‘broken’ is sad, and that is appropriate.

Beauty in brokenness

I often think of the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold when I think of ‘beauty in brokenness’. Today, however, it was a plain old suburban fence that caught my attention.

At the risk of over-spiritualising the matter, I wonder if there is an area of brokenness and weakness in my own life that God, in his kindness, turns into something beautiful … or at least interesting. I have physical frustrations that limit me, and which God has not seen fit to fix … and perhaps that’s okay.

Comforted to comfort

Sometimes, the healing that has come after an earlier ‘break’, can become a source of comfort, security and strength to another. The Bible says that God “… comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NIV). I pondered on that as I passed a tree with a couple of holes in its somewhat swollen trunk. No doubt, the hollow serves as ‘home’ to local creatures.

Pain in pruning

Sometimes it is necessary to intentionally break something in order to facilitate healing and wholeness. Below is a photo of a diseased plant which needs to be cut back before the whole tree is affected.

Without such ‘breaking’, healing may not be possible. In life, I experience pain when difficulties come upon me or when someone says or does something which causes me to squirm. Yet sometimes … just sometimes and not always … such ‘brokenness’ is a necessary part of healing and restoration of wholeness.

Break the restraints

Imagine a caterpillar pouring its life and energy into creating a beautiful chrysalis. Doesn’t it seem a dreadful shame for the emerging butterfly to break that glossy cocoon?

I didn’t see any cocoons on my walk today. It is winter, after all. However, I saw plenty of spring buds, some of which are already opening into gorgeous flowers. Would we wish that the buds didn’t open because, in opening, we lose the buds? No – it is right and good that what restrains, even if once helpful and protective, be broken.

I think about other instances in nature where things are broken in order for the new to emerge.

Eggs protect and nurture growing chicks, but after they have served their purpose, it is right that they are broken.

Female mammals nurture their young in their wombs, the embryos encased in a sac of fluid, but when the time is right, it is right that the mother’s waters break and the baby is born.

In English, we say that ‘morning breaks’ and we refer to ‘daybreak’. Imagine if the magnificent star-studded night sky were never to be broken by the rising sun? It is unfathomable.

As I walked, I prayed about breaking bad habits … actions which may not even be bad in themselves but which hold us back. I particularly confessed my … er … dare I call it ‘sin'(?) … of snacking on unhealthy treats in the evening. This habit is comfortable but it is also limiting. It’s not good for my sleep, nor for my health. It’s a habit I want to break. I pictured a butterfly emerging from the cocoon which constrains it and asked the Holy Spirit to help me to break this bad habit. That is literally what I confessed and prayed as I approached the local shops.

I passed an advertising board. In the photo below, I’ve removed the details of the shop because I don’t want to promote it … it sells crystals and incense. However, the pithy saying on the billboard was exactly in line with what I sensed the Lord saying to me, even down to the butterfly images. ‘Synchronicity’ is what some people would call it. ‘God’s hand’ is how I interpret coincidences like this.

‘Thank you and goodbye’

Of course, sometimes it is time to say ‘thank you and goodbye’. (I think that concept was popularised by de-clutter-er Marie Kondo … I mention that just to give credit where credit is due.) This is a constant struggle for me. As with my travel cup which I kept for far too long, I really don’t like letting things go.

This house (above) was once a home. It has served its purpose, though, and now it is time to demolish it. Sad it is, yes, but is it bad? Or is it time to just say ‘thank you and goodbye’?

As I walked along a road today, an old vehicle chugged past me. It was one of those classic cars with a vintage car number plate. I then came across a house with the front yard FULL of vintage cars, all lovingly covered with tarpaulins. One was parked out the front. The owner of these old cars clearly cherishes them, and that’s nice for him. If it were me, however, they would become a burden. Sometimes it is right to say ‘Thank you and goodbye’, even to things that have been useful and valued.

Lessons from nature

There is a time and a place for everything. But in the emergence of something new, that which is old often has to go. It may be sad, it may hurt, it may even be ugly, but it is not usually bad.

Just as the great Philosopher wrote, there is a time for everything.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
  a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

A Prayer

Lord, grant us the courage to break with what constrains and limits us.

In your mercy, break off any part of us that is unhealthy and threatens to infect and destroy us.

In your gentle faithfulness, heal and restore those who are broken. Give us wisdom and direction to care well for one another in our pain.

We praise you for the vitality and growth that you grant us.

As our mortal bodies age and break down may we fix our eyes on you, certain of the glorious hope of the resurrection.

We pray this in the name of Jesus,

Amen

Darkness – despair – does anyone know or care?

And even if they do care, can they help?

Dragon Boat Festival

As I write this blog post, it is 22nd June 2023, or the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. In some places, people are celebrating 端午节, known as ‘Dragon Boat Festival’ in English. It’s a time for fun on the water, as competitors race ornate boats decorated like dragons. It’s a time for munching 粽子 (zongzi), pyramid shaped dumplings made with sticky rice, often with a tasty centre and wrapped in banana leaves.

I wanted to buy ready-made zongzi today but had left it too late. The helpful lady in the fruit and vegetable store offered to sell me the leaves and string needed to wrap the tasty bundles. “It’s easy,” she assured me, before relaying a long and complicated list of instructions about the filling and the sticky rice and how to form and fold them. At the end of her impromptu lesson, looking at my furrowed brow, she added, “Perhaps it’s not that easy, actually. Why don’t you try the Asian supermarket down the road?”

The origins of this festival are sombre. An ancient Chinese official and poet was rejected by his king and banished to a distant land. In despair, he walked into the river and disappeared under the water. (That happened in about the year 278 BCE.) Local people frantically searched for him with boats, and threw lumps of sticky rice into the water to try to keep the fish from eating the body of this poor fellow. But alas, it was for nought.

A missing submersible

Many modern netizens, like me, are today repeatedly refreshing our news apps, hoping and praying for a miracle. We are following the huge sky and sea operation which is underway. People are searching for the five hapless adventurers aboard the submersible that went missing near a deep sea graveyard – the wreck of the Titanic which sank in 1912. Experts expect that the chances of survival will be negligible if they’re not found by today……

Noah’s flood

In a passage I cannot begin to understand, the apostle Peter writes about Noah’s ark and relates what happened then to us now. In that vessel of ancient times, eight souls and a menagerie of animals were saved from the devastating flood in which all other living people and land creatures perished.

For Christ …. was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it, only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

1 Peter 3:18b-22 NIV

I have little idea of what Jesus proclaimed to those hapless spirits who were submerged by the waters of judgement in Noah’s day or where he made his proclamation. Even questioning what and where reflects my limited understanding.

But this I know for sure. Those of us who trust in the risen Jesus are saved. Baptism is a powerful symbol of that salvation.

Hope

It seems crass to contrast our hope of salvation with the plight of those five souls adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Yet the coincidence of today’s Chinese festival commemorating the drowning of a great man occurring at the same time as the frantic race against time as the search for those lost souls in the submersible draws to a crisis point is uncanny.

As I write this blog post, I continue to keep an eye on the news, hoping against hope for a happy ending. My hope is not based on anything secure. The most advanced scientific gadgets and the skills of the people aboard the myriad of planes and ships searching for them are limited.

Though followers of Jesus may sink beneath physical and/or metaphorical waters, our suffering but now risen Lord has a hold of us. The one to whom all heavenly powers submit is watching out for us. He is not limited. No, his search and rescue mission was conducted from a position of sovereignty.

And so we have hope. A sure hope.

Yet our hope is tinged with sadness for those who are lost……

It was a foretaste of heaven.

Magnificent floral displays filled the park in Chiang Mai. I could hear marching bands in the street outside, the drum beats getting louder the closer they came. I would go out to enjoy the festivities when they arrived. Inside the park, music played through loudspeakers inserted in fake tree trunks, interspersed with announcements in Thai, English and Chinese. Excited people photographed one another in front of beautiful floral arrangements.

I, however, had another goal. You see, I’m part of a walking group, and each week we have a theme. My aim was to take photographs relating to the triple theme of #numbers, #celebration and #to_life (as in ‘enjoy life’, like the theme song from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’). The Chiang Mai Flower Festival ticked all the boxes.

Of course, I found myself with far too many photographs to use, but had an absolutely wonderful morning wandering about the festivities with my camera.

It was a prompt for a ‘photo walk challenge’ and not a ‘writing challenge’. However, I can’t resist putting words to some of my favourite photographs from the walk.

Hence this blog post.

#Celebration

It’s time to celebrate!

Old and young, men and women, visitors and locals, we all lined the streets as the parades, including colourful floats, made their way to the park.

Various businesses, schools, bands, special interest groups and more marched around the city. Some of the floats were ornate, while others were simple. People representing various ethnicities and regions radiated joy as they celebrated their identity. Young people represented groups such as a ‘go-cart club’, and parents walked to the side beaming with pride and occasionally ducking into the parade to hand-feed their young family members a piece of fruit or a sip of a drink. Men from around Asia who were participating in the ‘Mr Global’ competition paraded too. They were handsome and they knew it.

Pride, joy and excitement pervaded the atmosphere.

I wonder if this is something like the vision that the apostle John was given?

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.

Revelation 21:23-24 NIV (my emphasis, obviously)

#to_life

The past three years have been difficult for the city of Chiang Mai, known as ‘the rose of the north’. It relies heavily on the tourist industry, including people who come here for medical treatment, to meet with colleagues and who want a good rest. Last year, they didn’t even hold the ‘Flower Festival’ due to pandemic management restrictions. In a ‘touristy cooking class’ I took a couple of weeks ago, a teacher explained, “We all went home to our villages. We were given 800 baht a month (AU$35) to help us pay the bills, but that wasn’t enough.”

But now we’re back … ‘we’ being the tourists, and the business that we generate. And the ‘Rose of the North’ is getting back to enjoying life again.

I’m reminded of another passage of Scripture as I watch people stream towards the gate of the city and then to the park. It’s an ancient prophecy about another city and another time; a setting in which the nations will stream towards the city of God.

In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and all nations will stream to it.

Isaiah 2:2 NIV (again, my emphasis)

#Numbers

But … there is a significant reason why few of those dear souls so proudly parading their best in the city today will be part of that crowd in the age to come, representing the nations, pouring into the city of God.

Very few Thai people follow Jesus as Lord. Thai government data from the 2018 census suggests that about 1.13% of Thai people are Christians. The Thai church, however, says that the portion of Christians here is only about 0.75%. (I think that they’re only considering Protestants, but I’m not sure.) What’s more, most of those Christians are concentrated in the north-west of the country, with very few elsewhere.

There is a Thai church here and of course they should be at the forefront of outreach to their own people. But is there a place for people like myself who are followers of Jesus but from places far from here?

I would fervently and passionately say ‘YES’! Of course outsiders should work under (or at the very least alongside) the Thai church wherever possible.

These days, there is a shift in emphasis in many cross-cultural mission agencies to focus less on sending people to other places and more on people from around the world who are now living in the neighbourhoods of our passport countries. I agree that this is a very good avenue of service for people such as myself who have lived cross-culturally for a long time and now, for different reasons, find ourselves ‘at home’.

However, when you stand as part of a crowd at a celebration such as the Flower Festival today and see precious souls all around you who, statistically, are unlikely to know the Saviour, reality hits home. Some of us surely can and should relocate from our passport countries such as Australia, where 43.9% of the population identified as Christians in the 2021 census. Thailand welcomes foreigners in a variety of capacities – as retirees, in our professions, and even in certain Christian ministry roles. We can find a place for ourselves in Thai communities.

And so….

I think of my Saviour’s words:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

Yes, I know that grammatically, in the original language, the emphasis is on ‘making disciples’. This would perhaps have been better translated, “… as you go, make disciples ….”

But the ‘all nations’ part is clear. Jesus’ heart is that representatives of all nations will be part of his kingdom.

And so, as I visit this very beautiful part of the world at a particularly festive time of year, I find myself challenged afresh.

#celebrate #to_life #numbers

Bring on that day when we stream into our heavenly home in the ultimate celebration of eternal life, amongst the numbers of God’s people with people from all over the world.

“Pay attention to where is your attention drawn,” the retreat leader instructed. “What is the Lord saying to you through that?”

Bees. That’s where my attention was mostly drawn again. Plus some mushrooms and a bird later in the day.

Similes and metaphors – a simile is when we say that something is similar to something else (‘You are like a breath of fresh air’) while a metaphor is when we say that something IS something else (‘You are a breath of fresh air’).

The Bible is full of similes and metaphors. Consider the following quotes: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field” (Matthew 13:44 – simile) and one of my favourite metaphors, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge….” (Psalm 91:4 NIV).

Find joy in your work

Is it Biblical to enjoy your work?

The Bible has a lot to say about ‘work’ and a lot to say about ‘joy’. But what about finding joy in my work?

This bee – above – seems to be thoroughly enjoying its work of collecting nectar. And it is covered in pollen. I enjoyed watching a great variety of bees flit about the gorgeous gardens of the retreat centre on day four of the retreat. In the process of carrying out its own work – collecting nectar – it is also nourishing itself, serving its own community as well as blessing other parts of creation through pollinating plants.

Is it too self-centred to think that God could be encouraging myself to throw myself into my work with joy?

It’s not that I don’t enjoy my work. It’s just that I feel guilty at times for enjoying the ‘perks’ that come in my line of work. Travel (including this trip which was primarily for meetings the following week), time with special people, pursuing my interests of languages and cultures – these are just a few of the lovely parts of my ‘job’.

I’m reminded of ‘The Philosopher’ of old, who comes across as a grumpy old fellow but penned these wise words:

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing. better for a person under the sun that than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15 NIV

What about bad weather days?

It’s all very well for bees to enjoy buzzing about the garden on a beautiful day, but what about bad weather days? And what about when winter comes and the flowers have finished? What then?

Though I LOVE my job (if one could even call it ‘a job’), it’s not all pleasure. I enjoy travelling, but dietary limitations these days make travel stressful at times, and my digestive woes often flare up. The first two weeks away are usually nice but after that I long for the familiarity of home. (I’m usually away for a month or so each time.) I envy friends with careers which bring financial security, though don’t regret for a moment my own career choices. I hugely appreciate the kind people who support me financially. ‘Living by faith’ is a grand old adventure … most of the time.

What, if anything, would the Lord say to me about that?

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12 NIV

Right. Good point.

Pushing through

During a delightful wander in what is known as ‘Rosalind’s Forest’ in the afternoon of day four of the retreat (named for a cross-cultural worker who loved that forest), I spent time admiring two mushrooms. Fungi are soft and easily broken. Yet one had already pushed through the leaf litter and moss on the forest floor, without force but with persistence. The other was still working its way up.

I identify with these fungi in some ways. I don’t feel big or strong or forceful, but I can still be useful in God’s kingdom work.

I think of the Bible’s metaphor of the community of God’s people as a body, with the head being Christ (1 Corinthians 12). Some parts look more impressive, while others appear weaker, yet all belong to the body and each brings its own unique contribution. Similarly with a forest – there are trees and there are mushrooms, amongst other things. In contemplating this pair of mushrooms, I am reminded of the value of persistence in the roles that God has entrusted to me.

Fun times or not, just keep pushing on.

Joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.

Up, up and away

I wasn’t looking forward to the meetings that I was travelling to right after this retreat. In fact, I felt quite out of my depth, and that was just through the pre-reading we were asked to do. It was a ‘leaders’ consultation’ for the agency through which I work, and I kept telling anyone who would listen that I didn’t really belong there. I was only attending because my team leader couldn’t – I would be representing her.

Everything in that paragraph is true, but as I watched this bird take off, I felt God’s nudge to do likewise. The retreat had been lovely, but this wasn’t where I belonged. Not for long, anyhow.

As our retreat leader had explained at the beginning of our week together, one retreats in order to re-group, re-strategise, then from that position, to re-advance. If we stay in our retreat positions, then that is not ‘retreat’ – it is ‘surrender’.

As the retreat drew to a close, it was time to pack my bags. God had work for me to do, and the following week, that work would be to represent our team and speak into relevant matters at the leaders’ consultation.

It had been a delightful week of practising ‘visio divina’ each day in the company of fellow travellers. I was very thankful to have had such a special week away.

And so, re-visioned, re-focused, re-energised, I said goodbye and thank you.

It was time to re-engage.