Heartsong by Zoe

A dear friend recently challenged me to describe the 'joyful noises' I hear around me. Shanyn - here is my reply.....

Heartsong

Breeze sighing through golden wheat, 
The paddock shimmering in the heat;
A horse's steady clop and the saddle's creak,
These are joyful whispers that I seek. 

The sand's gentle squeak on my local shore, 
The comforting tumble of the ocean's roar;
Laughter of my children as they splash and play, 
These are joyful chants that warm my day.

The soothing tones of piano keys, 
Caressing Celtic melodies;
Pure, clear voices in harmony,
All these, too, sing joy to me.

Magpie song, kookaburra's glee, 
The call of the parrots in my gum tree;
The calming thrum of rain above,
Yet more of the joyful sounds I love.

My cat's purring warmth on my feet, 
My husband's steady heart beat, 
my sleepy children's goodnight calls, 
These give me joy as each night falls. 

But through each of these, in every note, 
I hear the joy my Saviour wrote, 
And deep within, I pause to sing
Reverent praise in awe to Him.


My dear friend, Zoe, responded to the Joyful Noise challenge with this wonderful poem.  The wonderful images and sounds resonate from her home down under to our ranch in the heart of Canada.  Bright blessings Zoe, and thanks so much for sharing this wonderful poem!

Heartsong © 2010 Zoe Beringer

Blog Challenge: Joyful Noise

Psalm 98:4 "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise."


I have really been thinking about this verse, there is so much 'noise' in the world that does not make us think of joy, of rejoicing or of singing praise.  There is physical noise, there is emotional noise and there is spiritual noise.  There are distractions, noise if you will, that keeps us from really being able to enjoy the joyful noises around us.


Does the noise of the world around you keep distracting you from making and enjoying the joyful noises?  Does the to do list stop you from enjoying the laughter of your child?  Does the busy noise of being a good hostess keep you from enjoying the noise of fellowship?


When we are going to stop and listen to the joyful noises around us?  If we are going to make joyful noises we need to be able to hear them!  When you praise God are you making joyful noises?  I think Creation sings His praises all the time, and sadly we don't often take the time to hear them.

What are some joyful noises?

• Birdsong at 5 am
• Frogs singing at dusk
• Dogs barking for joy
• Purring of kittens
• Nicker of horses
• Humming wings of a hummingbird
• Laughter of a child
• Laughter with a child
• Splashes in mud puddles
• Boiling kettle

All of these sounds are, to me, full of comfort and joy. They, like the whisper of a lilac's last scent in the evening, remind me of the good and precious in the small things every day.  God blesses us the same ways He clothes the lilies and breathes air under the wings of sparrows - fully, completely and with total joy.

God holds nothing back in His love for us and the expressions of His Joy in His Creation are multitude.  

Sadly, so many miss the beauty of a butterfly racing to catch a dollar.  They miss the love in a crayon drawing looking for the perfection of a spreadsheet.  Not that spreadsheets and dollars don't have value - they can and they do. But they can also be distracting noise that keeps us from making and hearing joyful noises.

Psalm 98:4 "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise."

What shall we do to encourage each other then, to seek and share the joyful noises?  How then shall we create in our world a place  to make joyful noises?

This blog began as a challenge to write about the verse, and now I continue the challenge to you...where do you hear joyful noises?  Where are you going to make joyful noises?  I'll be sharing in the weeks to come photos and stories about some joyful noises in our world that bring us to praise Him with our own joyful noises!

My sisters in Christ are blogging this challenge with me, come and read more and join us at: "Sisters In Spirit" on CafeMom.com

Finding Treasure

Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

What is your treasure?  Or rather, where is your heart?  That really is my question today - where is your heart?  

We know where God's heart is - God's heart is seeking the 'pearl of great price', His people.  God spends His heart time with His treasure - us.  His people.  His treasure.

How humbling.  How amazing.

The very hand which created the universe, the very eye that knows each feathered wing in creation, the very heart which saved us all considers us His treasure!  God's heart is with us!

How then shall we determine what our own treasure is?  Is your treasure a pirate's dream of wonderful, rare, expensive and glittery things?  Is your treasure always being measured against another's?  "Theirs is better, bigger, shinier, newer than mine."

Where is your heart looking?  Does your heart seek the ultimate treasure seeker?

I have a favorite saying that I've painted on the wall above my stove, "Bread for the body, flowers for the soul."  My treasure is currently watching a movie with his Daddy, who is considering something fun for us to do as a family.  My gold is the flowers in my yard, my emeralds are the  grassy pastures for my horses and cattle, my treasure lives and breathes around me.

Each time I look at something which makes my heart sing I am praising and thanking the Holy Hand which created it.  His hand crafted the flowers, His hand spun the clouds, His hand formed the two sets of brown eyed boys - husband and son - that I adore.  His hand blessed our lives with so many things that are not just things.

It's on the bottom of most of my emails, The most important things in life are not things.  Think about that for a minute...

What is your treasure?  Where is your heart?  Is it home with your family?  Is it in a show room envious of a newer, faster, more eco friendly car?  Is it on a golf course?  Is it in a garden? Is it in the word of God?  Is it living in the word of God, living and loving in His creation?

The treasure we seek should lead our hearts to the Creator, God.  When I see flowers I am thinking of God.  His hand created all of this wonder around us, this treasure which should lead us to the Treasure Keeper.  After all, isn't the greatest treasure our salvation?  Isn't the most wonderful gift that of grace?  Isn't the loving creation of God worth seeking the Creator for?

God's treasures are not those made by man.  God's treasures do not wish to ensnare or tangle our hearts.  God's treasures do not create in us envy and hate.  God's treasures have no safety deposit box or insurance.  God's treasures are those which seek to draw our hearts closer to Him.  He wishes us to seek His treasure, God wishes us to seek the Treasure Keeper.

Thank you God for the gold and gems of my day, the flowers and birds, the laughter and love of my husband and son.  Thank you God for the treasures which draw our hearts closer to you.  Thank you God for being the Treasure Keeper of our souls, the healer of our spirits.

Walking In Love

Luke has a new thing he likes to say, when we are out walking around.  He comes up to me, takes my hand and leans over and says, "Mama, we are walking in love."

Walking in love.

Think about that.  We are walking together, side by side, hand holding.  Feeling around us the love that surrounds us, in those peaceful moments together.  We are really 'walking in love'.

Mother and son, Mama and Best Pal, Shanyn and Luke.  Two people, walking together in a wonderful place called love.  Whether we are walking to check cows, walking to toss stones in 'Quack's Pond' or just walking because it is what we feel like doing - it is those times that we just feel love.

1 Corintians 13:13 "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."

We talk about God, about His love, and how it is around us all the time.  How God loves us and creates wonderful things for us, how He gave us the greatest gifts of all.  How God is walking with us, He is also walking in love.

Jesus walked every step in love, He had the greatest love.  He came here to save us, to walk with us, in love, to feel our steps.  Noble steps, faltering steps, brave steps, fearful steps...every single step of the way He was there, in love, walking with us.

Psalms 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

God's word is the light for our path, it is the guide for our way.  It is the ultimate gift for those walking in love.

Faith in our path, that the steps we do not see are there, prepared for us.

Hope that through our journey, our walk in that precious love, is the one which will lead us through to Him.

Love, the light, the way, the path, the steps before and after us.  Love is how we show our fellowship, love is the expression of our faith, love is the words of our testimony, love in a sincere rebuke.  Love is the way we need to walk.

It is Mother's Day.  For me every day with Luke is Mother's Day because he is such a joy and a blessing.  He was my surprise and is my shining light.  I love walking in love with him, and every night as I tuck him in I take the time to pray.  I pray for him, I pray my thanks for having him in my life.  I check on him before I go to sleep, and say my final prayer for the night, "Thank you God!"

Happy Mother's Day for mothers, those who mother and for all of those who love the mothers in their lives.

Baking Love

Matthew 25:40  ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Grandma, beloved Grandma, needs to drive far to take her Mother (Kok) to see the doctor. He knows he cannot go with her, and he knows it is a long trip.  What does Grandma need? Snacks!  Food for the body, love for the soul and prayers for the spirit.

What we do for the least of these...do we encourage little hands to messily bake?  Imperfectly shape the breakfast corn cakes?  Spill the flour a little bit (I'm so sorry Mama, it's all my fault."  I reply with a hug, "It is okay, just a bit of flour.").  Crack the eggs, watch me pick out the bits of shell.  Mix with a serious face and unsteady not quite five year old coordination.

What we do for the least of these...let him make something chaotic and tasty?  Or scold and keep the order of the kitchen.  

My own Grandma would never understand, she was the wonderful homemaker, baker, cook, house keeper and hostess.  She washed dishes always in separate water, dried with separate towels (some for glass, some for plates, some for cutlery, some for other dishes and always rags for the pots and pans).  

My own Mom may not understand, she never really got into the scratch baking, the shoebox filling, food as a gift.  She has always been busy, Dad always particular and set in his preferences.

My Grandma taught me how to bake, the love of the dough, the heart of the kitchen is the gift of the food.  I have learned a different lesson though, much different.  

Hearts don't beat in tidy neat spaces, they beat in the mess of life.  Sometimes bloody, sometimes through tears, sometimes through slippery fingers covered in dough.

What we do for the least of these...let him pick the best ones for her trip?  The ones made by his own hand, some smaller and over cooked others bigger and softer?  Or make sure they are uniform and perfect from my own pans?  That she will see the perfection of our baking, or that she will see the love?  We chose the love!

What we do for the least of these...is to teach them to serve.  To teach them that by giving in small ways they can deliver blessings beyond measure or expectation.  We teach him that the gifts of his heart have value.  Not in their perfection, but in their love in during creation.

God is the same.  He does not want our perfection, He wants us to serve.  He, who made the sparrow and painted the thistle bloom, wants our love and our hearts.  Not our neatness and spiritless perfection.  He wants the little fingers forming dough, pressing out all their love in corn cakes for a long drive.  He wants dandelions tucked behind ears.  He wants joy in rain, play in puddles.

What we do for the least of these...and by whose measure is "least"?  Each hair of all our heas is counted, each of us is created by loving Holy Hands.  Where is there a "least of us" in Creation?  Only in our eyes, not in His.  

When we do for the least of these...we do for us.  We do for all of us.  I am humbled by his gifts for his family, that he puts his heart into his prayers and his energy into living.  For him there is no "least".  Shouldn't that be the same for us?

Dear Lord, please let me see past the measures of this world.  Let me get past neat and perfect into the messy, loving heart of life.   Dear Lord, let me give with a spirit only concerned with the love and the gift, not the value or perfection.  Dear Lord, I know you value us more than a sparrow, and that none fall out of Your care.  Remind me, Lord, of their value in Your heart.  Amen.

....so she comes...

Bath time is over, pajamas are on.  We've had our teeth brushing and Daddy hugging, it is time for bed.  He crawls under the covers, a big smile on his face, "Mama, it's time to talk to God!" and as I kneel down by his bed she comes.


Her eyes are old and wise, sometimes full of trouble but mostly love.  She comes on quiet feet when she hears those words.  She sits down beside me and rests her head on his bed and makes not one sound as he sings his prayers.


Now I lay me down to sleep...and we get to Amen.  She sits so still as he starts, "God bless Mama and Daddy...Thank you God for...I love you all the time."


Only then does she lay down to listen to the stories of the night - nature, fun, Biblical for little ones.  Matters not as long as she is there for the prayers, for that time with Him and him.  She and I touch, brushing against each other in our love for this little boy, growing into a big boy.  This child who sees God everywhere, and is joyful for each discovery and mystery.

Only she is not an attentive aunt, or sister, or even a Grandma.  She is an 11 year old Border Collie named Sparkie.  Her old eyes shine when she hears him say those special words.  I do not know much about where our dogs come from or their previous lives.  As rescue dogs we are thankful to have them here with us alive and safe.

We can learn from them though, they will tell us things about their lives.  I know one of her and her brother's owners passed away and the other left during a day, and never returned that night.  We learned this because they are calm when we return in daylight, and go from worried to excited when we return after dark.  They had love and prayers in their home.  They know the name of God and even as animals, His creatures, honour it.


There are over 100 animals named in the Bible, some more often than others. Some only a singular time.  Some had special interactions with God's people. From the animals in the Garden of Eden to the donkey who stopped Balaam in his tracks because only she saw the angel, to the whale who obligingly took Jonah on his journey.  The lions who calmly accepted the commands of the Holy Spirit to leave Daniel alone, to the animals who stood in awe and humble wonder at Christ's birth in their stable.  There are others, but these ones always told me one important lesson.  All of God's creatures matter to Him, each one knows Him and His spirit and touch.


So Sparkie comes to my son's room every night to hear him pray because she knows the special touch of her Creator's Hand.  And I am humbled, I am stunned, and I am calmed...if she a small old dog can sense the peace of God during a small boy's prayers, then I can rest in that place also.  I can trust the donkey stopping on the road, I can trust the calmly resting lions, I can lay down with the wolf amongst the lambs.  I can rest in Him who gives me the blessings of the day, and takes my worries and cares away.


Which of us is the least of us?  A wise old dog? A faithful child?  A prayerful but all too human Mama?

Photo note: One of our favorite things is to make hearts with our hands and then 'frame' a person, and tell them "I'm holding you in my heart."  I think of God holding all of us in His heart when we do this game, it reminds us of the all encompassing love that is His, that is Holy!

Birth of Hope

I had a much different post in mind for today, but this is what we have instead...

I never thought about what the symbol really meant.  Not what it meant before the empty tomb. Before the stone rolled away.  I never thought about what it meant to the people on the streets.  What it meant to the people watching it rise up in the sky, hanging with a living body.  What it meant to the followers.

Then we, my husband and I, were reading our devotional, and I turned to the reading for the day.  In his Live Bible there was a 'pop out' that spoke about the cross and crucifixions.  What it meant to Romans, to Hebrews, to conquered people.  It meant death, it meant oppression, it meant the heavy hand of the sword wielding Roman machine.  It reminded us that it took centuries for the horror of the cross to grow into a symbol of hope - the empty cross.  The empty tomb, the empty cross - our salvation paid, our redemption secured.

The cross, empty or filled, tells us many things...it tells us about prices paid, it tells us about burdens born, it tells us about lives tied together in love, blood and tears.  The full cross is the weight He bore to redeem us, the full weight of the sins of humankind.    The empty cross, the redeemed and cleaned.  The empty cross pointing towards an empty tomb. The faith of the women on the road, the touching of fingers to cruel nail holes, the absolute grace of being saved for the sole reason of love.

In the centuries before the cross was a symbol to be worn, Christians would draw an arc on the ground, a fellow believer would then draw the opposite arc. This completed the simple fish that symbolized the followers of Christ, the 'Fishers of Men'.  This secret symbol became a tattoo, a small mark indicating sanctuary.  I love the symbol of the fish, those two lines, the Ichthys, meaning so much.

On this Easter Saturday, between the Crucifixion and the resurrection I'm not thinking just of crosses, I'm thinking of fish.  Jesus, in his last moments, was weaving nets of love to catch us all to Him.  The birth of hope, into love.  The birth of grace, into love.  The catching of us, in our fall, and raising us up to grace.

Jesus went fishing again, after the resurrection, in John 21:1-17 He reminds them of his first fishing trip with them in Mark 1:17.  He wants them to set their nets to love, cast far and wide in the world.

On this Easter Saturday I'm going to be studying and praying about crosses and fishes...