Encounters with God – in a gesture

In a Gesture

“How was it that you experienced this?” he prompted softly, watching her gesture while she spoke.

She reshaped her hands as if to cradle a tiny object.

Looked again.

Moved her cupped hands one over the other, cradling.

Was still. . . .

Gasped slightly as the stillness caught her

with the gentleness of a blowing whisper that took her breath away.

We watched the simplicity of the movement – and we too gasped at the beauty of God touching another’s soul.

His touch coming to birth again  – in our presence.

Encounters with God – in the Kitchen!

Clearing the Blockages

The waste disposal unit hadn’t worked effectively and so the sink wouldn’t drain, and then the washing machine fouled up. The kitchen ceased to function.

I tried the no-effort magic drain solvents. But 2 bottles and twice eight hours later there was no improvement. It obviously wasn’t reaching the right place. No quick solutions.

Further investigation and dismantling a convenient outside elbow in the waste pipe solved the sink drainage! Easy!!

But the washing machine? A clear waste-pipe, yet the machine still would not drain. The pump just would not work. The ‘dis-ease’ in the system was more serious. Indeed the backed-up waste was in the machine with the washing!

I knelt to release the filter, and only when on my hands and knees was I able to see a tangle of broken flower stems behind the filter. It was painstaking to release the tangle, easing each small piece out one by one, the light of a torch needed to see the way.

Waste not dealt with properly. Many hours labour to clear it. Humility to kneel and bend low and to shine the light for the cleansing task.

Many thoughts provoked within me about how Jesus deals with my messes. . . . And my responses to His dealings.

The Kingdom of God is like a householder who found the waste pipe was blocked. . . .

A modern parable?