Devotionals
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What is Your Worth?
Early morning on the 4th of September, 16 years ago, my mother entered her heavenly home. Mum was the letter-writer in our family. And I mean actual handwritten letters. So neatly and beautifully scripted – a letter came faithfully every week, almost until the month before she entered the Lord’s presence in 2008. I would wait for those letters. She would fill page upon page (front and back) on her letterhead stationery with news, advice, encouragement, bible verses and prayers. I was rearranging my cupboard recently and among all the girls’ treasures that I had saved, I found the box in which I had saved many of mum’s letters. The…
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Good Stewardship
It was early 2005 when I was told that I had to undergo a sinus surgery, in Dubai. Thankfully, at that point in my life, I had rarely used Google and so went into the surgery knowing very little of what it entailed – except for what the surgeon said. “Pain? Well… I wouldn’t really call it pain… I’d just use the word, ‘uncomfortable’!!” And looking back, all I can say is, he obviously needs a class on the definition of ‘pain’!! When I came to after the surgery, all I remember is pain. The first evening and night passed in a haze of pain. And as it continued into…
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The Rock of Ages
Autumn is my all-time favourite season. To me, it represents so much diversity…trees of flaming colours, gorgeous sunsets, bountiful harvests, and misty mornings. But this year, Fall came bringing with it nothing but storm after storm. I think in the past year I’ve heard phrases I’ve never heard before to describe our weather conditions. “Arctic freeze”, “heat dome”, “weather bomb”, and right now, our province, is experiencing something called “atmospheric river” caused by the “pineapple express”. These are storms, the likes of which no one has seen in over a hundred years. And it has wreaked havoc on our province – mudslides, flooding, evacuations, collapse of highways etc. The first…
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The Cost of Love
Last week, Becca, our oldest daughter, and I were discussing life’s hard faith questions. And you know, as much as we discussed it, and quoted Scripture, there really were no answers to some questions. As Becca rightly said, “If we know everything about God, He wouldn’t really be God, would He? Some things we just accept in faith.” So, as I was contemplating these questions a few mornings ago, I realized that though there are many things about God that are a mystery and will be a mystery until we enter our heavenly home, there are some things He allows us to at least get a glimpse of – things…
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“Our” Father’s Heart
So, we as a family, have just been through a difficult time… when clinging to the Lord in tears, was all I was able to do. For someone who always likes to be in control, calling these past few weeks ‘hard’ is an understatement! Two weeks ago, I was sitting with my Bible, early one morning, but my mind was not on the text. It was with my child who had been admitted to the hospital the previous evening – after months of being unwell and in pain. It was hard not being there with her. And harder still that I could do nothing. My mind wandered to the time…
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Lessons from the ocean
Both the iPhone and Facebook reminded me yesterday that we took a family vacation Mexico, five summers ago. And, as I remember it, the best part of that week was the opportunity to do my daily devotionals on the beach [being of Indian origin, in the shade, of course 🙂 ]. It truly was a blessed time of reflection and rest… and a good reminder to me that God is the same… yesterday, today, and forever! Here are some lessons I learned from the ocean. Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands, or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger? Who has put all the earth’s…
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Praying Aright
I was visiting with our daughter Debbie, a couple of weeks ago, when her husband Tony walked in after a day of work, holding a small bag that caused the little boys great excitement. It contained a beautifully wrapped box, full of macarons, in a multitude of colors. And as the boys took their time choosing which one they wanted for a quick treat before supper, I heard Tony say, “Are you guys taking a bite out of each one?” I realized that was exactly what little Jax and Levi were doing – they were taking a little bite out of each macaron! 🙂 “Well,” said Debbie, “They’ve got to…
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Exchanges
Our 2nd daughter Debbie has always been petite, and when her younger sister was born, she was 6 years old and pint-sized. Now Debbie was very unhappy with the newcomer and made her displeasure known very loudly by slamming doors when the baby was sleeping, and generally being a brat. So to appease this child of mine, when Abi received a gift of baby stuff that was tucked into a humongous baby bottle that was also a ‘piggy’ bank, I took out all the baby stuff, put a few silver dirhams (UAE currency) in, and gave it to her – a gift from the baby. Without exaggeration, the bottle and…
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The Saturday of Waiting
After a whole year of waiting, I was finally able to spend some time with all our grandkids, last week. And the funny thing is that all three of the older ones remember promises I made over a year ago. “You promised to take us to see all the jeeps, Gaga. We’re waiting.” “You promised the four of us a sleepover. We’re waiting.” And waiting seems to be the word of the season! All of us are waiting for the pandemic to be over; waiting for the vaccine; waiting to be able to move around freely; waiting for life to get back to some semblance of normalcy. But, pandemic or…
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Raising ‘Stars’!
I have coordinated a prayer ministry for almost 20 years now, and I find that a majority of prayer requests I receive (for personal prayer and to add to the prayer chain list) are for our children. And when I hear a parent’s heart as they struggle for their child or grandchild, I can empathize, sympathize, and pray with a burden for that need because I’ve been through (and am going through) many of those struggles too. I was at a bookstore the other day, and noticed that there were books galore on raising kids. It was second only to “How to get rich quick” books!! 🙂 As parents (and…
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Just be…
As I walked into our backyard a week ago, I was very upset to find the remnants of ‘my’ bird’s nest scattered all over the lawn. It had fallen from our evergreen tree during the winds and rains we had during the night, and for some reason, that scene left a restlessness deep within me. The birds were long gone, but the empty nest always remained. That nest, or the frame at least, has lasted a few years now. And every year, early in the month of March, I would watch for a little mama bird to bring in tiny wisps of straw, leaves and twigs, and make her nest…
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Driving on empty
I know nothing about the mechanics of cars, but I love to go on long drives. That’s when my mind is quiet and I’m able to let go of the things that happened prior to my closing the car door – and block out things that I’ll have to think about or do, once the car door opens again. In the car, it’s just me and my thoughts. Believe me, I have quite a few annoyed friends who claim I looked right at them and totally ignored their frantic waves, as they drove past me! 🙂 But it was about 5 years ago, on my drive home from work, when…
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Weeds
I thought my second devotional post should be something that goes hand in hand with gardens and fruit, and the first word that popped into my head was… weeds. A part of every garden, however well-maintained, and such a headache for gardeners I’m sure! Now, I grew up on Enid Blyton books and fairies… those Tinkerbell-like, mythical creatures that lived in Buttercups and floated on wisps of dandelions. Buttercups! As an impressionable 7 year old, the very name was impressive and in my mind’s eye I saw a big, fat, buttery yellow cup-like flower (something like a big tulip), and it stayed that way until we moved to Canada. After…
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Fruit
Amongst all the trees in our backyard garden, we have three fruit trees. Maybe because of all the books I read in my childhood, I love busy gardens, and I’ve always felt that no garden is complete without at least one fruit tree. Now, I’m a hopeless gardener and have been known to kill plants by just touching them, but I’m very grateful to have a husband who loves gardening and doesn’t mind the hard work! 🙂 So to get to the story of our fruit trees… Firstly, we have a crab apple tree. During the first few years, though it received a lot of love and care, it was…