Goodness

This word goodness has been floating around in my head over the last few weeks... I've been thinking that I want some... that we all need it to come to us... that we all need it to go from us to others. Isn't this often a missing commodity?

Some people radiate with goodness and kindness... I wouldn't class myself with this group but I know where to go to get a helping. You go to the one who is Good and when you are with Him... it can't be helped... He rubs off on you and something begins to germinate.


We are created by God for GOOD works (show goodness) Ephesians 3

How great is Your GOODNESS Psalm 31

be eager to do what is GOOD Titus 2

the fruit of the Spirit is.... GOODNESS Galations 5


From the pen of one wiser than I... "to live with joy is to see God's goodness"

This morning while driving, Rebecca opened her children's bible and announced that she would be reading to me from chapter 8 'The goodness of God' - coincidence, I think not.

Creamy Salad Dressing

I've been sloshing this stuff over everything. It's simple and tasty, and no oil!

Creamy Salad Dressing

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup (fat-free) milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
2 teaspoons dried chives
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/3 teaspoon salt
good grinding of pepper

Whisk all together and store in a container in the fridge.



I double up this recipe when I make it. Enjoy.

Beautiful Morning

"Up in the morning early

tis Nature's gayest hour!

There's pearls of dew

upon the grass

and fragrance

on the flower"

by Sarah J Hale

A bowl of melon

We, like most Capetonians at this time of the year, are wilting from the heat and are living on mostly fruit.



Happiness is a large bowl of chilled melon and grapes.

What the heart knows

I started memorising in earnest when Rebecca was about two years old and it has been become such an anchor. I read these words by a pastor ''What the heart knows by heart, is what the heart really knows" ...true... so one of my pursuits this year will be memorising scripture. I know that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks... my mouth still indicates that my heart needs tilling.

My current verse is
Blessed is the (wo)man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But (her) his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law (she) he meditates day and night. (She) He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever (she) he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1. 1-3

It's actually 2011

As I ponder this year I read blogs from ladies across the sea, sitting by fireplaces and listening to the gentle rhythm of falling snow. It seems right to plan a year where it is cooler and the brain can process serious matters. Here it is a blister of a day... the rains that fell on the first of January seem like a faint reverie. It's plain difficult to write a coherent line let alone write up a whole vision for the year.

I turn to the source of comfort and direction...

"You crown the year with Your goodness and Your paths drip with abundance" Psalm 65.11

"live a life worthy of the Lord" Col 1.9

Begin I must, early in the morning... just before sunrise, when the mind is clear and the coffee is strong. It sounds noble to have life purpose or write up a vision, but without the pursuit of it... and a daily plan with a dosage of His grace and strength LIFE will drag you along with its dominant unrelenting current of work, food, clothes, television etc. While this is in itself not bad, it must not consume us. We won't wake up godly women one day just by wishing. Oh baby, if only.

This plan, whatever it may mean for you, whether its more quiet time, bible reading, having supper together as a family... it won't be perfect. Mercy! But it can be built upon bit by bit. Let's resolve to do something different this year... maybe swim a bit against the current and enjoy it to boot! It will build strong muscles and these muscles could help us carry others... one of the first scriptures I read this year was "whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst again. But the water that I give him will become in him a fountain of water" John 4.13

May you have a definite spring in your step this year, A fresh wind under your wings.

What a welcome

I awoke in the early hours to the sound of thunder. Welcome 2011.

Wonderful.

Rain falling... a cleansing work at the dawn of a new year.

Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.

Opportunity.

"Indeed man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible"
Saint Augustine

Pause.

Smell the blooms.

Live.

May 2011 be a year of much joy, abundant grace and excessive love.

Let it rain.