This may not be what one would instantly think of as rhythm – but to me, living by the sea, the rhythm of the tides is a constant rhythm.    Whether the sea is calm or rough, whether it`s sunny or raining, whether it`s night or day,  there is the constant ebb and flow of the tides twice a day.

To me that says a lot.    Our lives are like that sea, sometimes we`re riding on the crest of the wave with the good things that happen to us, at others we can be right down in the trough at the bottom when things aren`t good – Yet – throughout it all, the love and care of God is constant and is with us.

“I will be with you always, to the end of the age”
Matthew 28:20

God is here
God is there
God is with me everywhere.

I share with you today a picture of my favourite Christmas present from this year.  It was the first one I opened on Christmas morning, and what a delight.  It`s a small plate, about 3inches across, with a wonderful Celtic Cross.  It was a gift from a penfriend I`ve never met, but who works on one of the Outer Hebridian Islands (and not a church person either).  

I always find such inspiration in Celtic prayers and worship, and especially in the books by David Adams.  There is something so simple yet deep which really touches me, and just looking at that cross will always remind me of God`s love always surrounding me.

“Another year is dawning
Dear Master, let it be
In working or in waiting,
Another year for Thee”

A New Year, a new diary, a new start - yet, in reality just a new day.  Every day is a new day, a new start, whether the date changes from day, month or year each day is a gift from God, a “blank page” just waiting for us to use in the best way we can for Him.

One of the crafts I`ve recently had a go at is soap making – this is a picture of some of them.

It reminds me that we should thank God for all the different skills and crafts which we have.  And for our senses to enjoy the sight of beautiful colours all around us,  the perfumes we can smell and the feel of different textures as we touch them.

See how great a flame aspires,
Kindled by a spark of grace!
Jesu`s love the nations fires,
Sets the kingdoms on a blaze.
To bring fire on earth he came,
Kindled in some hearts it is:
O that all might catch the flame,
All partake the glorious bliss!

Charles Wesley

Instead of using, what to me was the obvious Bible passage – of the day of Pentecost when the tongues of fire came on the disciples, when I read the assignment for today, and having taken this photo of a flame on my gas fire, the words of the verse of the above hymn came to my mind.

In the way that the pilot-light lit the whole of the gas fire, giving warmth and light, it set me thinking – without that first pilot light nothing would have happened to the coal.  If we are the pilot-lights lit by God that sets us a challenge to spread that flame of his love.

As a child I remember learning from a tv programme how to make these birds from a flat sheet of paper, and although I tried doing other origami for a time, nothing stuck in my mind except for making these birds.   I think, as a youngster I was fascinated on how something flat could be made into something 3D.

And, isn`t that what God can do with us if we let him?   Mould us from what we are into what he wants us to be.

Thinking about soap and water, led me to this passage -  

^3-6Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”

 ⁷Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

 ⁸Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

   Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

 ⁹“Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

 ^10-12Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

 ^12-17Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

St. John 13: 5-15  (from The Message)

I admit that I didn`t take this photo today – but I just like the way the red and green compliment and contrast each other.

It reminds me of one of my favourite passages in the Bible

“Look how the wild flowers grow:  they don`t work or make clothes for themselves.  But I tell you not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.  It is God who clothes the wild grass – grass that is here today and gone tomorrow……. won`t he all the more be sure to clothe you?

I find that a very reassuring passage of how God even cares for insignificant me.

Looking for a stack of books for todays challenge, I remembered this assortment on a shelf.   Some old, some new, some thick, others thin, some wide and some narrow, some with plain white pages, others gold edged,and some browned with age and wear.
All books, but all different, and all with a story to tell.

Isn`t that a bit like us? – we may all look different, and our lives are all different but we all have stories and experiences to tell, and we are all important to God.

This rabbit (yes it is a rabbit, but its ears flop over and so don`t show up here) was a free gift when we purchased a washing machine some years ago.  It is very soft.   But, how can one find a bible link to that??!

I think all I can say, is that in the way that this was a free gift, so God`s love for us is a free gift to everyone,  the difference being that we don`t have to buy or do anything to earn it.