Angels and Bells

Greetings and Peace

In my car, bless it's little 240,000 miles, I have hanging from the heater nobs an angel and a bell. The angel I got from a Greater gifts store. It's about 2 inches made of capiz shell and on the other nob is the bell. The bell is one that was a 'favor' at Molly and Johnny's wedding.
Depending on where the temperature is set the bell often rings with every little movement of the car. Not a loud ring but a little tinkling. It is a call to prayer. I've always first thought of my family wherever they are near-by around the world. The people that are on my prayer list, the people whose concerns are raised through news stories, the whole of the creation.
And the gentle tinkling is for me a prayer raised with all those thoughts whenever it rings. It makes me smile...and sometimes cry but it is a prayer lifted to God.
And again the good thing is that I don't have to fill in all the words of the prayers. It's a good thing that God's presence in our lives is God's giving. It is a good thing that we can just rest back in the sure and certain knowledge of God's love for us.
Can you? I sure hope you can.
If you need a reminder to do so find a little bell or a little angel or whatever you want to use that will help you remember to pray.
As the great Christian mystic wrote: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice. Meister Eckhart"

Find that reminder and let it call you constantly to prayer.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

I haven't forgotten

if you thought
that I had forgotten you
You would be mistaken
because you are always on my mind

you are always the one that I hold in my heart-hand
you are always part of the we-of-ne
and when you know that
all is well

is this not the Good News
I in God and You and me... and we all have a party
because
that knowing
the true truth
cannot fear
because there is nothing without YOU
and you are always with us.
no not forgotten
forgetful we may be
but never forgotten by the One that counts every hair on our head.
and knows us through and through and loves us still
Whew

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Thinking outside the fence

Grace and peace. It is a beautiful albeit cool Monday morning.
Driving
over I saw the great blue heron again. But what really caught my
attention was a field with cows feeding. They had a big bail of hay and
plenty of it. Most of them were black but a grey one was at the
fence...s t r e a c h i n g--u p to get a bit of some green laves off a
tree on the other side of the fence. Not only was it on the other side
but the branches were high, (I know that perhaps he'd already nibbled
off the lower ones).
He had food right there with the others. He didn't have to work for it at all. It was right where it had been most all the time. But this cow saw something that looked better.
Something Outside the Fence.

In business and culture a common saying now is that we have to think
"outside the box". In fact that statement has gotten almost so trite that to say it is not really 'out of the box' at all. To think that way is not always doing what we've done all the time but rather doing things that stretch us in energy and spirit. We believe that the church itself in its form and function also changes.
Not conforming mind you but reforming to be the church where it is
planted.
This we learned when we first went to India and againwhen we traveled with the group of ministers from Oklahoma to Bali and Java. The Christian faith is strong and vital and also focused on sharing the good news in word and deed. It is something perhaps we here need to re-learn.
Not to do it like we always have but to do it like we are led to do by God.
And that may be trickier than you think. Because we have to learn to listen
to the guiding hand of God. This cannot always be done on a schedule we go get um folks want to follow.
Be well and know that when you put yourself in a place to listen...you may well be led to places you never thought of going... and that can be a very good thing.

God abide with you
Hey what's that right over there?......

Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Rev. Dr. Bobbie G. McGarey

Forever Young

On a grey stormy day driving to work my IPod played..... Forever Young sung by Rod Stewart. I'd listened to several other songs before that but this one caught me. I looked to the field on the right and there was a very young colt by it's mother. The colt would take one or two steps away, look back and then walk a little farther, run back. I stopped to watch it while the song played.
What a blessing these lyrics are. What a blessing we all seek and want and can have. But look at the whole of it. I can still see the video from many years back. He was riding in a truck with a little boy.
May this be a blessing to you as well as you read these lyrics.
May the good Lord be with you down every road you roam/and may sunshine and
happiness surround you/when you're far from home.
And may you grow to be proud/dignified and true/and do onto others as you'd
have done to you. /Be courageous and be brave/and in my heart you'll
always stay forever young forever young.

May good fortune be with you/may your guiding light be strong.
build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond.
An may you never love in vain an in my heart you will remain
forever young forever young forever young forever youn

And when you finally fly away I'l be hoping that I've served you well
for all the wisdom of a lifetime no one can ever tell.
But whatever road you choose I'm right behind you win or lose
forever young

I think it should be signed...love God

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Sogwriters: Cregan, Jim, Dylan, Bob, Savigar, Kevin, Stewart, Rod

BlueBonnets

The Texas Bluebonnets were coming out as we drove to Austin. Really beautiful flowers. We enjoyed them and had planned to stop and take a picture on the way home but we were singing and laughing and missed stopping.
The meeting we attended in Austin was well run and we know more than we did.
I got to have breakfast with my niece Julia and that was great what a wonderful young woman.

When we first moved to Texas in 83 it was amazing to see all the wildflowers. We took pictures of the kids standing in them and hoped they didn't pick one because it was against the law. They didn't. T

There are bluebonnets inbetween the roads on the way from Duncan, OK to Marlow, OK and they are wise enough let them go to seed...to spread their beauty increasing each year.

What love are you spreading in the world that might increase the wholeness of this world we are in? You are sharing something each encounter you have with another person. Whether it is that person you let come in line in front of you at the grocery store --you have a basket you have a cart-full or a car that you signal to merge....or
What love are you spreading with your words? Your action, your letters, your emails, your smile?
Go for it.
Let's increase the love in the world over ad over this week. I'll try to write sooner.
God abides
Whooow that's Good News.

Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Rev. Dr. Bobbie G. McGarey