Hear Courage

This is part of a wee mini-series I am doing on the Five Senses on Hope, Forgiveness, Courage, Grace,

This week we are looking at – what does courage sound like?

For me it sounds like a bell!

Courage for me means that I am having to be brave about something, it means taking a big gulp and doing that something which naturally doesn’t come easy for me and so courage may at first sound like the little tinkle of a bell.

I may have to face a difficult day, I may have to apologise to someone I don’t find easy, I may have to face a medical issue or I may need to step out in faith and do something God is asking for me. However little or however big the thing is I need to garrison my courage.

And then when I have garrisoned the courage, taken a deep breath and start out on the pathway of the difficult task, I hear that little tinkle of courage, but as I progress along that pathway the tinkle gets louder, as my courage grows so does the sound of that bell, it is no longer a tinkle of courage swamped by fear, but a boldness comes and with it the sound of courage changes to a much more resounding gong.

So often in the bible God tells us to ‘Be of good courage’ to be ‘courageous’. He knows our fears you see and when He calls us to do something which goes against our natural instincts He is asking us to step out and trust Him, that He will bring it to pass, that He will step in where we are weak and make us strong.

What does courage sound like for you? Let me know in the comments section.

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Taste Forgiveness

This is part of a wee mini-series I am doing on the Five Senses on Hope, Forgiveness, Courage, Kindness and Grace,

This week we are asking – What does forgiveness taste like?

For me it tastes like honey – sweet and soothing.

If we are living in unforgiveness, not having accepted that Jesus died for us, died for our sins; that our sins are removed from us, along with the guilt and shame of those sins, then we don’t know that sweetness of forgiveness. We are not experiencing the soothing forgiveness of Jesus washing away our sins.

If we have unforgiveness in our heart towards others it taste like bile in our mouths, it is bitter and it comes out like poison. Honey sweetens that. Honey smoothly slips down and on its way it touches everything around transforming them to sweet.

Honey heals, honey soothes, honey sweetens.

Forgiveness heals, forgiveness soothes, forgiveness sweetens a sinner heart.

We are told to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’

Tasting, partaking of the Lord’s forgiveness is seeing He is good, tasting of His forgiveness, His compassion is like tasting honey.

If we have a sore throat and drink a little hot water with a spoon on honey it soothes.

If we have a wound and rub a little honey on it, it heals.

If we are sore with our sin, drinking in of the Lord’s forgiveness soothes our sorry souls,

If we are wounded, broken, shamed, rejected then finding the Lord’s forgiveness and applying that to our wounds heals our sad, broken souls.

Honey, honey on the comb, sweet, healing

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”

What does forgiveness taste like to you? Let me know in the comments!

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Smell Hope

A while ago was listening to a Podcasts by Emily P Freeman, #The Next Right thing where she was talking about the senses and posed the question what does Hope smell like? I found the question interesting and began to ponder what our senses communicate to us about Hope, Forgiveness, Courage, Kindness and Grace and so for the next five weeks we will look at these very things.

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So today we start with the sense of smell – one of the most evocative of all the senses they say, bringing us back to childhood memories and can conjur up situations both good and bad. Yet strangely enough my own dad was born without a sense of smell and I remember trying to describe a smell to him, but in my bad effort it was only comparing it with other smells!

Anyway, what does Hope smell like?

For me, it smells sharp, citrus like Lemon. It is something which awakes the senses when you have been dull, when you have been in a fog and then you smell something citrus it freshens your other senses, heightens them even and you begin to wake up, you begin to pay attention and as that smell increases, gets stronger you become fully alert

That for me is what hope is. You get a glimmer, maybe just faintly at first, but a glimmer and with that glimmer, you sit up, you pay attention, you are on the lookout for further signs. Then as you see further signs, maybe something you had missed in your dismay, too wrapped up in your despair to see, hope stirs within you and awakens you.

Why are you cast down O my Soul

Hope in God, my Help and my strength

What does hope smell like to you? You can let me know in the comments section, I’d love to know!

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Equinox, Shifts & Blessings

It is less than two weeks since the Autumn Equinox a time which I normally love as we begin that change from Summer into Autumn. But this year we have been plunged straight into Autumn, infact it has felt almost like winter. There has been a sudden and large drop in temperature along with the usual gales and unsettled spell of weather.

The Equinox has been pivotal changing Summer to Autumn/Winter and sometimes life is like that too, there is a pivotal shift in our circumstances or even just within ourselves, a shift in our thinking which changes the direction we were going in. Sometimes we can pinpoint when that shift took place, sometimes it is more subtle and almost sneaks up on us.

Last year we celebrated our 25th Wedding anniversary during Lockdown, but as I meditated on this milestone I realised that a shift had taken place within our marriage from a place of brokenness God brought healing, from desperation to blessing. A definite shift.

Indeed God gave two promises last year that He would “restore the years that the locusts had eaten” and that ‘the latter glory would be greater than the former “. As we approach this year’s anniversary I see the fulfilment of God’s promise to us and the blessings we have had this past year and the huge, huge blessing of gifts friends and family have given to us in the form of dinners out, hotels to stay in, times away.

So it is with thanksgiving in our hearts that we approach another anniversary and celebrate God’s deliverance and blessing on our lives. We will praise the Name of the Lord who has dealt wondrously with us, who has brought about that restoration, that shift within us.