by Elizabeth 🌸
Nice meeting this morning. I was late, and 2 others arrived after me, but it was nice to have a couple more people around. And it's lovely to meet in Catherine's garden on such a gloriously sunny day 🌞
Stephen talked about 2 different kinds of zest for life, one that races ahead taking everything it can, like kayaking down a river, but then the other more like canoeing across a lake; taking it slow and taking everything in. Catherine added that being present in this one moment is what makes both things true.
Stephen then read a commentary contrasting the story of Nicodemus in John Ch 3 with the story of the woman at the well in Ch 4. Characters named and unnamed, of no prefered gender, high social standing or 'low', town or country, whatever the circumstances, whether initiated by Jesus or initiated by us, in both stories -- in all the stories -- Jesus talks about the Spirit, and the way She brings life. In ordinary language -- birth, water. For everyone. And the risk to reputation that comes with that.
I shared that when you make a cheesecake, for example, you can add lemon or lime or whatever and you have flavour. But that the zest, the peel is very often thrown away. And yet if you take the trouble to grate the zest and add it to the cheesecake, the cheesecake gets significantly elevated. So in life we need to find the scraps, the bits that would otherwise go to waste or thrown away, and turn them into the things that elevate the rest of everything.
Andy (Catherine's ex-husband, visiting the kids for the weekend) affirmed my point about the zest elevating the dish and added that applies to chilli, too, before commenting how much he has always liked food that has a lot of piquancy.
He has recently been training in Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) and the long-term impact they have on us, and shared how you can pray and ask God to show you if you have these and how they have affected you, and you can ask Him to exchange them for Aces as from a deck of cards. In that case you can move past being ensnared by the various traumas, to live a life where you also do not miss out on anything.
Various bible verses were shared, including John 6v63*, John 10v10**, and Andy closed by reading Paul's prayer to the Ephesians***.
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*The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
** I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
*** For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21