Tag: faith

Enjoy the Ride

On By Charis PsalloIn Fields, Man made, Mountains, Photography, Water4 Comments
Spinny
Spinny

If I let them my anxious thoughts will spin out of control so fast they become a blur like a ride at the West Edmonton Mall. So many conflicting what-ifs cry out for attention it’s like standing at that point of ultimate cacophony where the music of multiple amusements collide -and then a roller coaster thunders overhead. Some people enjoy that kind of atmosphere. I guess I’ve become a country girl.

I need to remind myself, when anxious thoughts begin to multiply, that I can stop and choose to think differently.

I tell myself, “Self? Self! Don’t be hard-hearted, remember and give thanks for all the grace that has brought us safe this far.”

And there has been so much grace! That’s why I chose Charis as a pen name. It is Greek for grace.

The great thing about impossible situations is that we know that we have no way to wriggle out of the problem ourselves, so when the Lord answers with power and provision and peace beyond anything we could muster, we cannot take credit. To God alone be glory.

God is creative and not reactive and none of the things that grab us and try to shake the peace out of us cause him the least concern. He IS  peace. And he promises his peace to those who will take refuge in him.

And since that peace comes in the middle of crazy circumstances and not necessarily in relief from them, we may even learn to enjoy the ride.

flood watersThe voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.

 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
 The Lord gives strength to his people;
    the Lord blesses his people with peace.

 (Psalm 29:3,4,10,11)
The way of the rainbow
The way of the rainbow

What? Me worry?

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Photography3 Comments

IMG_1820

“And why do you worry about clothes?

See how the flowers of the field grow.

They do not labor or spin.  

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  

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?  

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.  

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

-Jesus (Matthew 6)

IMG_1821

Don’t Look to the Right or to the Left

On By Charis PsalloIn Music6 Comments

In the dream I was walking through a parting of the earth like the parting of the sea. It looked like the Hollywood telling of the story of the crossing of the sea, with Charlton Heston presenting a younger and more confident Moses than the hesitant, speech-impaired fellow the Bible describes. In my dream the walls on either side of the path were not made of water but of flying rocks and dirt blown about by some amazing force.

I heard, “Don’t look around. Keep you eyes on the path. Keep going.”

“What’s happening?” I asked.

I heard, “I’m moving heaven and earth for you.”

These past few months have felt like we are walking a narrow path with crises flinging boulders and sandstorms all around our heads. It’s so easy to be distracted by circumstances that could make us panic. I have found that God usually does not answer “why” -especially as that question often comes with a whine that demands He explain Himself. He does answer “what” though, as in “What do you want me to see? What are you trying to show me about Yourself that I haven’t known before?”

He is showing me levels of love and faithfulness deeper than I had imagined.

So today as we walk through another crisis in our family and see aerial photos of our son and daughter-in-love and grandchildrens’ home and workplace and school and entire community under water, and we are cut off from each other because of broken infrastructure in this part of the world, we praise the God who is faithful, who walks through every trial with us, the loving Father who is moving heaven and earth to get His church to the place where he wants us to be. We are learning to trust  Him no matter what, to walk by faith and not by sight, and to rest in his love whether waiting for waters to go down or shovelling mud –because he is still good.

This song by Jenn Johnson has meant so much to me lately. It reminds me not to look to the left or to the right, but to keep my eyes and ears focused on my Saviour, my good Shepherd who says, “This is the way.”

Keep your eyes on the path. This is going to be good.

More Powerful Than the The Thunder of Mighty Rivers

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Sky, Water4 Comments

STORM CLOUDS black rock tos creek

The waters have risen, O Eternal One;
    the sound of pounding waves is deafening.
    The waters have roared with power.
More powerful than the thunder of mighty rivers,
    more powerful than the mighty waves in the ocean
    is the Eternal on high!

 Your teachings are true;
    Your decrees sure.
    Sacredness adorns Your house, O Eternal One, forevermore.

(Psalm 93:3-5 The Voice)

Swept Away

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Water20 Comments

When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.

(Isaiah 43:2)

The Jordan River
The Jordan River

The day started yesterday with a call for help from a friend with a flooded basement. It ended with a call from my son who let me know he and his family had escaped  from High River, Alberta, which is now under water, and finally making contact with my brother who is trapped in his home near the edge of the raging Cougar Creek in Canmore, Alberta. His wife and our elderly father are on the other side of the washed out TransCanada Highway.

Our daughter also called. She and her family are caught on the other side of washed-out roads and are not sure how to get home.

I am in Alberta visiting another son and family, watching news reports of submerged towns and washed-out highways, and realizing my husband is on the other side of the Continental divide -and a lot of missing asphalt. I have no idea how or when I can get home.

We live in a land-locked place at high elevation, one of the least-likely places in the world to flood, or so you would think.

But the rains came down.

We are thankful that so far we know of no loss of life, although one person is missing from my son’s neighbourhood and we pray for her. The loss of property and damage is tremendous though. Some of that property, like the property in Canmore, was very expensive. My brother was musing about a property’s value if that property has been mostly swept away, as some of the lots on his street have been.

Can we ever really say we own anything?

That’s the thought I am left with this morning. How much of our time and energy and focus is spent on things which can be swept away?

Sometimes I think that God, in His mercy, shakes us up so we will not settle on foundations that can be swept away. In the light of eternity how trivial wood and plaster and paint on a patch of grass seem.

The message I hear in my heart today is: Don’t settle. There is a much firmer foundation available to you.

So as the children’s song says,”So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down.”

Goodness Gracious

On By Charis PsalloIn Fields, Mountains, Photography, Trees and forestsLeave a comment
Reservoire On the Cowboy Trail
Reservoir On the Cowboy Trail

Your overflowing goodness
    You have kept for those who live in awe of You,
And You share Your goodness with those who make You their sanctuary.
 You hide them, You shelter them in Your presence…

(Psalm 31:19, 20 The Voice)

For Freedom

On By Charis PsalloIn Man made, Photography3 Comments

So stand strong for our freedom! The Anointed One freed us so we wouldn’t spend one more day under the yoke of slavery, trapped under the law…

Dead Sea Fence
Dead Sea Fence

 We, on the other hand, continue to live through the Spirit’s power and wait confidently in the hope that things will be put right through faith.  Here’s the thing: in Jesus the Anointed whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference. What makes a difference is faith energized by love. (Galatians 5: 1, 5,6 The Voice)

Close Enough: The Benefits of Imperfection

On By Charis PsalloIn Just folks, Photography12 Comments
Stars and Bucks
Stars and Bucks

Perhaps the reason we see so few essays on the benefits of close enough is that those writers who understand that the wide-spread application of excellence burns entirely too many calories and occupies more than it’s fair share of active brain space have already moved on to more interesting topics -because they can.

Some things need perfection: open-heart surgery, bridgework (both dental and municipal) pouring foundations, keeping books, inspecting nuclear power plants, maintaining aircraft. Some things don’t: tossing out ideas, telling stories, breaking traditions, playing T-ball, making beds, smoothing ruffled feathers and serving pretty good American-style coffee in the Middle East.

Teachers sometimes struggle with resisting the temptation to hang one more suggestion on a student’s performance or project. Of course, everything can be improved, but sometimes close enough is good enough for now. We all need to extend ourselves enough grace to simply enjoy what we have accomplished so far. Not everything needs the albatross of potential hanging around its neck.

Sign it. Stick it on the fridge and let’s go for coffee.

Charis

The Power of Gentleness

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Music, Photography13 Comments

IMG_1785 rosebuds 3 ch

You have given me the shield of your salvation,     

and your right hand supported me,     

and your gentleness made me great.

(Psalm 18:35)

He could have blasted us right out of our seats if he wanted to. Instead he sang with the most exquisitely sensitive pianissimo. He made us want to lean forward and be willing to strain to hear every note. I was privileged to hear a recital given in our small local theatre by one of the world’s greatest tenors. These guys have  powerful voices that can easily carry over a large orchestra with significant brass sections. I have heard that the easiest way to obtain tickets to hear him in Bayreuth in Europe is to inherit them, but he often does concerts in the type of small remote Canadian town he grew up in, in town halls with less than perfect acoustics and accompanied by pianos usually banged upon by reluctant nine-year old recitalists. God bless Ben Heppner for honouring his roots. Every once in a while that voice would totally fill the room and ring with the power and beauty that made him famous, but it was the still small perfectly controlled sound that impressed me. Such musicality. Power under control. Gentleness.

Somehow gentleness becomes greatness only when it is connected to power.

I once watched a young singer walk away from a music competition looking very discouraged. I knew he didn’t understand the reason for the judge’s harsh critique so I spoke to him, hoping to encourage his pursuit of developing a considerable talent. (Alas, I have witnessed far too many judges who seem to feel their role is to cut down the field to the very best of the very best, rather than encourage all young musicians to enjoy music and to aspire to be the best they can be.) The baritone had a powerful voice that could shake the rafters, and like many young singers who discover they have a range and a power that is the envy of the less endowed, he was tempted to sing “blastissimo” to show it off, even though the song he sang was about wooing a young maiden.

After chatting and telling him I admired his voice he asked me what I thought of his performance. I told him I was indeed impressed with his obvious strength and then winked and said, “A woman may be very impressed by your muscles, but you will win her  heart more thoroughly with gentleness and self-control than with your fists. ”

I guess I spoke his language, because he then went on to give me entirely too much information about his love life, which essentially can be boiled down to, “My girlfriend admires my body-builder physique and that I can protect her from any guy in the bar, but she says it is my gentleness in bed that pleases her most.”

He understood the advice instantly -and went home to work on his dynamic range. A comment about the spirit of gentleness on an earlier blog reminded me of this conversation (and set me to blushing again) but there is a strong connection between power and gentleness.

Power is task oriented and gentleness is relationship oriented. Power gets the job done, but gentleness demonstrates love and uses no more power or strength or authority than is necessary. Gentleness includes consideration of another person’s sensitivities and weaknesses as well as their strengths. A good daddy applies a different level of gentleness when cuddling his baby boy than he does play-wrestling with his four-year old or teaching his adolescent self-defence skills, but all of them require a restraint of the kind of power that would show up should an evil person threaten his child.

We all long to be protected, but we also need to know we are safe. Gentleness is not wimpiness. The juxtaposition of the symbolic language of violence in Psalm 18 gives all the more strength to the phrase, “Your gentleness has made me great.” The Creator of the universe could blast us right out of our seats with a whisper, but he knows that we are as frail as a woodland rosebud. He cradles us, provokes us, and trains us with no more power than is essential to help us develop every talent he has given us to be the people he intended us to be. He sets the example for how leaders in the church are to teach, encourage and correct, with a spirit of gentleness based on relationship -and backed by authority and power in Christ Jesus.

His gentleness makes us great.