Having just returned from Sunday church, or as some might say from worship, I began musing just what that means.
I have noticed over the years, that the meaning of the word worship has become quite limited. Most of us would probably say it is a gathering of Christians engaged in corporate worship in a church building. I’ve also heard others associating worship with the music part of the service that most churches engage in.
I think worship is a response to our knowledge of who God is.
I believe it can include our entire lives living daily in truth, and in an awareness of His Presence.
Realizing God as my loving Heavenly Father who watches over and cares for me, I often feel a response to reach out to Him in love and gratefulness. Perhaps that is worship.
We worship God with our words. Through singing, we “offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of our lips that openly confess His name.” (Hebrews 13:15).
This now-generation has introduced their own mode of worship, and rightly so. A new song genre so completely different than what we oldies developed our faith on. We have had to be accepting and to learn that church worship is never about us anyway!
I think we’ve had to lay down our preferences, concentrate on having an evangelistic heart as we consider and pray for this generation that is worshipping and finding God in their own way.
Music has been called “the language of the soul.” Someone has called the contemporary, spiritual songs prominent today, as a subjective worship of God, conveying hope, love, gratitude and praise.
Many of today’s praise songs are beautiful and uplifting, containing scriptural truths. I still appreciate the timeless hymns that contain objective truths about God — doctrinal in content, focused on the cross, resurrection, salvation, the Second Coming, etc.
Many of the truths in these old hymns have been filtered through our minds and settled in our hearts.
Once learned as a child or young person, who will ever forget them? I believe we also worship God with our works.
Hebrews 13:16 says, "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
I don’t think I can emulate Jesus if I’m not a giver. So, we worship God in our giving… "as it is a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:18)
Worshipping God then, is the natural outflow of my heart, deepening and enriching my intimacy with God. I have found worship of God can take place anytime, anywhere, because buildings aren’t needed.
Nor are rituals or forms or liturgy. It can just happen anywhere and at any moment, as praise overflows from the deep places of our hearts!
That I believe is true worship. How could it not be, as I considered, — “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey …the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” (Deuteronomy 2:7).
On a lighter note… Fall is here and flu shots are being offered once again. My children will probably be relieved to hear their aging mom finally decided to go with the flow and offer my arm, after a hiatus of 11 years.
Could it be I’m getting wiser or finally accepting my age? The flu shot is no doubt the thing to do at any age.
My calendar is already marked with my schedule to help man the Salvation Army kettles for this upcoming Christmas Season.
Where did our year go? I hear snow is preparing to bless us here in the Okanagan later this week.
For now, beautiful, coloured leaves continue to fall. My lawn is a complete blanket of yellow!
My delightful, regular trek around the exterior of Glenmeadows, causes me to be in continual awe of the many shapes, sizes and multi-colours drifting down under my feet. Indeed, God’s beautiful handiwork!
— beulah
“Of all the special blessings heaven sends, the greatest is being married to your best friend.”
— Unknown
That truth became a bitter sweet memory once again, as this Thanksgiving season marked 10 long years without my Nels. Fifteen family members gathered around my table this year, all still very much aware of that empty chair.
The game Karen led us in, helped each of us remember in a jovial way, some of Nels' interesting traits.
Cherished memories and a poignant reminder of a special love that has filtered through the lives of those he has left behind.
Among the different ventures Nels was involved with over the years, one was as an employee of Sears Canada, mostly serving in management.
Recently, we are hearing that this Canadian company, which, at one time, was successful and popular, is now falling from grace.
I’m sure Nels would be saddened by the thought, as Sears helped put “bread and butter” on our table for 20 long years.
Nels was a long-term, dedicated employee of a then upright company, serving its clients well and with honesty.
At one time, Nels was manager of appliances in their Burnaby store. I still remember the special care he showered on his customers, as he personally delivered the warranty for their newly-bought appliance. He wanted to make sure they were completely satisfied with their major purchase.
Now among the many disappointments resulting from the company’s closure, there will be no more warranties granted. Wow! Now, my fairly new Sears Kenmore appliances gracing my kitchen are on their own. (So please don’t break down any time soon.)
With 65 years of being a household name across Canada, 12,000 long-term, dedicated employees of the once-great Sears are now left with an undesirable future.
Who, as kids, didn’t wait with bated breath for that Christmas WishBook to arrive in the mail?
It's just another reminder, that in life, nothing remains the same. But as life goes on, so must we, keep our resolve to be positive in spite of being barraged with mostly negativism in our daily news.
Someone correctly said, “We are living in a day of tangled thinking.” Never before have we seen such a casting aside of moral restraint, every day hearing of another prominent personality accused of sexual harassment.
Things that a generation ago were considered shocking are now accepted as commonplace occurrences.
The principal topic of conversation seems to be sex.
We could be called old-fashioned or puritanical if we speak against it. Also, the spirit of lawlessness prevails and revolutions have become, as one put it, “the spirit of the age.”
It seems every person wants to do what is right in his or her own eyes, beginning in the home where often there is very little discipline.
Without a voice of authority in the home, how can we expect our children to obey the voice of government and the laws of the land?
Lawlessness comes from hearts that are really rebelling against God, who is Love and Truth. The hope for it all, is the Man the world continues to reject — that God-man Jesus.
As we uphold Him, may we leave it to Him!
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34)
— beulah
Once again, early October is ushering in the Thanksgiving season. I always look forward to it with great anticipation. It is a time when we reunite once again as a family.
My family has purposed to carry on this tradition, it becoming especially meaningful since Nels' passing.
It was during Thanksgiving week, 10 years ago, that Nels left us. Meeting together in this way has helped strengthen our family ties and has kept his memory alive.
Family was important to Nels so we know he would be pleased with our on-going efforts to gather together.
His legacy of love still pulses throughout his family’s veins.
We always pause for a time of reflection and a fun time of remembering.
Their stories lovingly reveal the special place their Dad, Grandpa, or Father-in-law had within their lives.
Some serious, yet mostly humorous incidents are regaled, and embellished, revealing many of Nels' interesting personality traits: his spontaneity, sense of humour, his at times impulsivity, his integrity, his competitiveness, his innovative solutions which kept things working, his love for people, his humble and forgiving heart and Nels' strong determination to not give up when things got tough.
I have experienced many days of aloneness during these past long, 10 years. I believe God created us for togetherness and that is why He designed marriage.
But, I also believe marriage was never intended to be the ultimate remedy for loneliness. Single or married, young or old, man or woman — everyone experiences loneliness at different times in their lives. No one is exempt.
Perhaps we were created with a capacity for loneliness so that we would realize our need for completeness in our Creator.
As I continued deepening my relationship with Jesus — my best friend — and was blessed with wonderful support from my family, it kept me from being really lonely.
But, because of my earlier active life with Nels, surrounded by people and our shared on-going activities, I now felt a huge void where feelings of aloneness sometimes crept in.
There are still days "it" raises its head and I can feel very much alone again. I know loneliness or aloneness will be fully eradicated only when we get to heaven.
Recently, discovering Psalm 131, with its mere three verses, I found it to be a prayer of humility, contentment and hope.
It reads, “My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me… put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore."
So, just as a young child of four or five, walks trustingly beside his mother, so must I let go of what I don’t understand, and find that calm and quiet, as if I were a child again in my mother’s arms.
For Jesus did say, "…unless you become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3).
I regularly thank my Heavenly Father for accepting me into His family as His spiritual child.
So, I am really “never alone!"
— beulah
Having just returned from Sunday church, or as some might say from worship, I began musing just what that means. 
My delightful, regular trek around the exterior of Glenmeadows, causes me to be in continual awe of the many shapes, sizes and multi-colours drifting down under my feet. Indeed, God’s beautiful handiwork!
