All posts by Gwenyth

I live on the outskirts of Whangarei, the northernmost city in New Zealand. I enjoy many things, ( writing amongst them), have been married to Keith for sixty-one years, have three married daughters, nine grandchildren and seventeen great- grandchildren who are scattered in various countries. No cats and no dogs as they would cramp our life-style.. We are obviously retired, but were farming further north before moving to the town over thirty-five years ago. We attend one of the local churches across the same side of town that we live.
Morning Musings

A New Life!

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      A new life is such a precious thing! For both parents and baby, there is a whole new way of life opening up. For the parents, there is consideration to be learned for each other and also for the new life that has been given to them. Especially if the newborn has some disability which comes to light a bit further down the track….there will be broken nights  and maybe medical bills which haven’t been reckoned on. For the little one, there is so much to be learned….everything in fact! How to focus on things, people and objects. How to hold one’s head up, and then how to reach and take hold of something. So many fascinating sights, sounds and smells to learn, to say nothing of new routines to be formed.

    Wise parents will learn to train this little one in ways to save the least disturbance in the household’s routines. So many babies seem to learn to cry for the slightest bit of attention, and they find very quickly if this works!       Once it has been established that baby is not uncomfortable in any way, and is full and dry, then it doesn’t hurt to give them a little space for crying until the child realises that it isn’t going to bring the immediate attention that it is looking for. It is sad indeed to hear of parents who have not been able to have an unbroken night’s sleep for nine months or more.

    A child who knows that it is loved and cared for, will become a joy to its parents, and a satisfied little being, happy in itself. There is much instruction given in God’s Word about how to bring up a child in God’s way….after all, God is our Maker and it behoves us to read the Maker’s instructions on how to train a child in His ways!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Celebrations!

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       We’ve been invited to a Golden Wedding celebration, so we are looking forwards to that with great anticipation. We talked a couple of weeks ago about being made in God’s image, and have we ever thought that God loves celebrations too? Celebrations are a great time of fellowship with each other and God loves to fellowship with His people….that is another way He has made us in His image!

    We read of the Lord Jesus Christ going to a family wedding which no doubt was a time of celebration as we read of the guests running out of wine (John 2:1-10). His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He tells you to do, do it!” Then we read of how He told the servants to fill the water pots with water, and then to take it to the MC of the feast. As they did what He said, the water was miraculously turned into wine….not just any old wine either, but it was the best the guests had tasted!!

    We must always think of how God loves to fellowship with His  people. In some of the Old Testament writings we read of when His people of Israel had wandered away from Him into idol worship, how it hurt His loving heart to see this happen. We must never think we cannot turn to Him in times of loneliness and disappointments….He is always ready and waiting for us to call out to Him at these times!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Truth?

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There  are so many rumours and stories flying around the place, by word of mouth, by social media, and worse still what we are being fed by the news people, that we really don’t know what to believe at all!! When we do find someone we feel we can believe what they say, and then we see that it was all just a made up story after all, we really feel let down. Once we hear the same things being pumped into our ears day after day, we have every right to begin to doubt what we hear.

  Things that we want to hear then turn out to be false, and we don’t know which way to turn! People we once trusted then changing their minds and turning against the very things they were once saying! Just who DO we believe? 

    We hear our leaders and those in places of authority saying that the truth is what you want it to be, and that the truth that is for you, may not be the truth for another person! There seems to be a multiplicity of  truths, and we don’t know which one is right!

    When we get to this stage, there is only one thing to do and that is to turn to the One Who is the truth. We may not like this, but where else is there to turn? Who else can we trust? Jesus Christ says in the Bible , “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life! No one comes to the Father but through Me!” (John 14:6) This is the word of truth that resonates all through the Bible…. “Your word is truth” says the Psalmist (Psalm 119:160), and then he could say, “Teach me Your way, O Lord, I will walk in Your truth”  (Psalm 86:11)

    The Roman governor, when faced with this One with the piercing eyes waiting at the judgement seat said after hearing all the accusations that were being hurled at Him, “What is truth?” and this is what we feel like saying  at times…..  “Well, WHAT is the truth?” Jesus didn’t answer Pilate at this question, and Pilate had to go out to those who were accusing Him to say, “I don’t find any fault in Him at all!”  Yet they still wanted to get rid of Him.

       As we are approaching the Easter season which is the time of the year that His death and resurrection are celebrated by church people, let us try to evaluate what the truth really is, and to follow the One who is the Truth  sincerely. After all, there is nothing else solid to base our beliefs on.

Morning Musings

In God’s Image!

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There’s a statement in Genesis chapter one, verses twenty-six to thirty-one that tells us how and where man came to be and why. There is no need to go any further, not to scientists or explorers, philanthropists or other wise men of the world. God has told us all we need to know, and as one old friend of ours once said, “God says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” Here is the Biblical account…..

Genesis 1:26 ….Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have  dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over  every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29       And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth,  and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food .30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

    I pondered this passage and thought about it a lot….in what way was I created to be like God?  In the first place we are all three part beings with a body, soul and spirit. God Himself is a three part Being, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 Then God desires fellowship with man….a freely given, reciprocal friendship. We too, want fellowship with other people in general, and  another person in particular. We have the capacity to fellowship with God, our Creator, and always feel that something is missing until we have it. Without this connection we only have a two dimensional outlook on life, like a flat picture….with it,  we see things in a 3D effect, being a part of what is around. We can appreciate the creation of God and look at things with different eyes, marvelling at His creativity and giving Him thanks for what He has made.

    There is another way we are made in His image….we can think and reason, we can create things. Think of the craftsman who makes a beautiful piece of furniture, the artist who can paint a lovely picture, the inventor who thinks up these amazing things that we take for granted every day!

    We are told that at the end of the creation period, God looked at all He had made and saw that it was “very good”. As each thing was created, He could see that it was good, but when He created man to top it all off, He felt that it was VERY good! Think of the satisfaction we have of doing a good job well! The satisfaction of seeing a perfect cake come out of the oven, a garment that has been lovingly made fitting to perfection, the shining car performing as it should….another proof that we are made in God’s image!

  We can see too, that man has the capacity to utilise all that God has created….all these things were created for man’s use and enjoyment. Let us acknowledge this and give Him the thanks and praise for it all, and be careful to not abuse the trust that He has given us!

Grandma's Stories

The Green Sheep!

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   Bobby was jumping up and down with excitement. Uncle Jeff had just pulled into their driveway, and he always had some story to tell. Uncle Jeff was a train driver, and if that were not exciting enough, he always saw the funny side of things that happened on the side of the railway line as he went by. It didn’t take as much concentration as driving on the road, so there was plenty of time to look around as the train chugged along the line.

After Uncle Jeff got settled down with a cup of tea in his hand, Bobby snuggled up to him and said, “How did your train driving go last week, Uncle Jeff?”

“Well”, said Uncle Jeff, “We had quite an eventful week last week. We saw lots of animals near the line in different places”.

“Oh”, said Bobby, “Do tell us about them! What were they? ”

“One day we went past this farm where there was a pond for drinking water at the bottom of the hill. The sheep were all in a mob up near the railway line, so I gave a loud toot on the train whistle as we went past. You know, those silly sheep took fright and went galloping down towards the pond. When they got to it, they split in half and some went one way around it while the others went the other way. But would you believe it, there was one sheep sillier than the rest because it kept going straight ahead and flipped straight into the water! It was so funny to watch”, and Uncle Jeff chuckled as he remembered it all over again.

“Can sheep swim?” Bobby asked.

“Well, we asked ourselves the same question”, Uncle Jeff said, “But you know they can!”

“How do you know?” Bobby asked.

“Well, when we came back, we saw the same mob up near the line again”, Uncle Jeff said, “And this time there was one wet green sheep with them! He hadn’t only gone into the pond, but it was full of green slime and weeds, and the sheep got covered in it all. So he came out a green sheep. Ha,ha”, and Uncle Jeff laughed again at the memory of it all.

“Oh, that WAS funny!” Bobby said, “ What are the other stories?”

“They will have to wait for another time”, Uncle Jeff said as he got up and took his mug out to the kitchen and began to talk to the grown-ups there.

   There’s a moral to this story…..the Bible says we are all like sheep that have gone astray, we have all gone our own way and it’s only the Lord Jesus that can get us out of the mess we find ourselves in. Out of all those sheep that went running down the hill, most of them turned and kept out of trouble. All except for the one that went straight into the pond! That one is just like us when we follow the mob that is running into danger. We have to make sure that we use our head before we lose it, and be careful to keep away from friends who take us to wrong places.

Life Lessons

Stand Off!

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     The protest in our capital city shows no sign of abating, with both sides determined not to give in. The protestors are being very vocal, determined to make their presence noticed, while the other side is equally determined to not allow their adversaries the satisfaction of seeing them face to face. The general  media did its best to keep out of the fray, reporting only the bare minimum, but this did not stop the protestors the full use of social media online, and comments were flying up on this non stop.

     More and more people were making their way to support the hecklers, and still other groups were forming in smaller centres around the country, all determined to make their voices and feelings heard and seen. Both sides wanted the freedom to make their own choices regarding the way to tackle the current pandemic.

      It seemed obvious that if this were the case, then free choice brings responsibility for the consequences of this. It brought to mind, that the inevitability of choice is consequences. If we choose to drive on the wrong side of the road, there will be a car crash sooner or later. If we jump off the top of a cliff, there will be broken bones, or worse still, a dead body at the bottom! Any foolish action incurs the risk of a dangerous end. Yet, even in knowing this, people want to be free to make these choices for themselves.

    We might not realise this, but this desire for freedom is a God-given thing. Choice is something we all have had given to us, right from the time we were born. We can choose to do the right thing, what we are told to do, and be safe, or we can choose to disobey, and suffer the consequences!

     This is just as plain in spiritual things as it is in physical things. The only difference is that spiritual things go on for eternity, while physical things come to an end in this life. The problem that most people don’t seem to realise, is that whether we like to face it or not, we ALL have a spiritual side to our life, a dimension that goes on for eternity. This is where the biggest choice we have to make comes in….do we want to face this or not??? We cannot sit on the fence in this matter, we have to make the choice between light and darkness, between life and death. Let’s be brave and face up to this choice now!

Life Lessons, Uncategorized

How Do we Take the Heat?

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      As we go forward into the year of 2022, we are finding that things are not really improving at all. The restrictions that we suffered from the previous year are still there, and in fact in some cases are even more onerous than last year. The hopes that we had, that things would improve and that we would get more freedoms, have already gone down the drain. Yes, some of the rules have relaxed with promises of others to follow, but it is the small things that people are finding so trying.

    As this is being written, there is a group of protestors sitting on the front lawn of the Parliament Buildings in our capital city, chanting and making a nuisance of themselves simply to get the government’s attention. People are getting exasperated with all the small details of the rules that seem to them to be unnecessary. On top of all that, the weather is typical February weather of hot steamy temperatures which is trying enough in itself without any other annoyances.

    But let us stop and think about all these things for a minute. How are we allowing these fires and trials affect us? We can allow them to either make us better or to make us bitter! Remember the boiling water in the pot will make the potato soft while it makes an egg go hard….which are we going to allow ourselves to be? The choice is ours. Our outward circumstances may be the same, but the inward results can be very different depending on  how we respond.

     If we read and take notice of what God says, we will have the strength  to stand firm in spite of these annoyances….the Bible says, “ Your Word I have hidden in my heart so I will not sin against You!”     (Psalm 119:11). If we do this, we will have a message to pass on to others from our own experiences, and this will carry far  more weight than merely telling other people what they should do!!

Grandma's Stories

Why Bread and Wine?

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    Bobby and Sarah were riding home from church with Uncle Jeff one Sunday after the morning church service,  as he was coming to their place for lunch.  Both of the young people were more silent than usual, and in the end Uncle Jeff said, “Is something bothering you Bobby?”

“Well, not exactly,” Bobby said, “But I’d like to know a few things”.

“Like what?” Uncle Jeff asked.

“Well,” said Bobby slowly, “What I’d like to know is about this bread and wine stuff they have during the service”.

“What do you know about it Sarah?” Uncle Jeff asked.

“Well, I know it comes from the Bible, it’s not just a thing that people have made up to look good”, she replied.

“I guess it must mean something,” Bobby said, “But I’ve never heard anyone really explain it”.

“Perhaps you weren’t really listening”, Uncle Jeff said, “Haven’t you noticed what sort of prayers are said just before the bread is given out? What about you Sarah?”

“It’s usually a thank-you prayer”, she said, “Thanking the Lord Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins.”

“That’s right,” said Uncle Jeff, “But there is a lot more to it all than just that. How do you think the bread is made?”

“It’s made out of flour”, Bobby said.

“And how does flour get to be made?” Uncle Jeff asked.

“Well, it gets ground up out of the grains of wheat or whatever other grain is used”, Sarah said.

“If the wheat grains had feelings, do you think it would have been hurt in the grinding process?” Uncle Jeff went on to say.

“Oh,” said Sarah slowly, “So you are saying that the bread is like the Lord Jesus being hurt so badly when He died on the cross”.

“That’s right, Sarah, ” said Uncle Jeff, “What is the next process in making bread?”

“It gets mixed up with other things and then it’s baked in the oven,” Bobby said, “I DO like new bread!”

“What do you think the meaning of that is as far as the Lord Jesus was concerned?” Uncle Jeff asked getting back to the point.

“Being in the oven is very hot”, Sarah said, “I guess it was like that for Him when God turned away from Him when he took our sins on Himself.”

“Yes, that is quite true,” Uncle Jeff continued, ” and what’s more what is the bread like when it comes out of the oven?”

“Yum, yum,” said Bobby, “I LIKE new bread!”

“Did you know that the Lord Jesus could say that He was the bread of life? That was all because He died to save us from our sins! ”

“So that is what it is all about?” Sarah said, “Thanks so much for explaining that. What about the wine then? Is that something the same? ”

“Yes, the picture is the same”, Uncle Jeff said, “ The grapes have to be crushed first to get the juice out of them, and then there is a further process the juice goes through before it will keep. How do you think this is a picture of the Lord Jesus?”

“He lost a lot of His blood while He was on the cross”, Sarah said thoughtfully, “Almost as though it was crushed out of Him!”

“Yes, and some people drink wine to make them feel happy, and when they have something to celebrate; another thing about wine is that it is a healer if you put it on sores, and it stops you feeling thirsty,” Uncle Jeff said, “And what’s more it lasts without going rotten.

“Does all this make sense to you Bobby?”

“Ye-e-es, I guess so”, Bobby said. “So it’s all a picture of what  Jesus has done for us. It won’t seem so boring now in church, now that I know what it all means. But why is it only big young people who take it and grown ups? Why can’t I do it?”

Uncle Jeff had been expecting this question, and he said, “I know that a lot of young children have given their hearts to Jesus, and they would love to do this, but you know people do change their minds as time goes by. Remember the time when you thought you would like to milk cows when you grew up?”

“Yes”, said Sarah nudging Bobby, “And remember how you used to say you were going to marry Jenny when you grew up?”

“Yuk!”, said Bobby, “I’ve changed my mind, that’s all!”

“Well, you see we have to make sure that you are grown up enough to understand what it is all about and you want to do it to please the Lord Jesus Himself, not just because Jack in the next seat takes it!”

“Oh!” said Bobby, “Well, I don’t think I’m going to change my mind about this, but I only  want to do it to please God and because it says so in the Bible!”

“That’s great!” said Uncle Jeff as he turned in to their driveway, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling hungry. Let’s go inside and see what Mum has ready for us for lunch!”