Pauseforamoment

• The clocks went back (forward? I can never remember which it is) so we’ve gained an extra hour this morning. It has made for the most delightfully long Sunday. We got up at 7 (which is 8, really), ate breakfast, chatted for a while, then went outside for over an hour’s gardening. Being such a long, dry summer the garden has been shamefully neglected, and yesterday I bought a few plants to replace the water-starved ones which I planted this morning. A new pot of pink and red geraniums is blooming cheerfully outside our bedroom window, now, and some purply grasses and small shrubs have been planted in the beds. As always, the plants which seemed so many in the shop have dwindled to a tiny dot in a bare expanse of soil. Another trip to the nursery may be in order.
• Hubs is doing music practise right now. He is playing for a friend’s wedding next weekend, and he is the only guitarist, so it has to sound good. I’m looking forward to the wedding being over, as it has been rather time-consuming.
• Work is going well. It is only two weeks until the holidays; this term has flown by. The kids continue to delight and frustrate me. Last week, the bell for the end of the day rang, and one boy said, “Are you going to work now?” I asked him what he meant, and it turns out he thought I’d go to another job after school. As if a day’s teaching doesn’t suck the marrow out of you isn’t enough to kill you  is not fulfilling enough. One can but laugh (in a maniacal kind of way).
• We went up to the hills for lunch last weekend, to check out the place where my brother and his girlfriend are getting married. They are the artistic, bohemian type members of the family, and the place suits them down to the ground.

 The food is good; home-made, hearty fare, and they are planning a kind of ‘gourmet bbq’ with tables dotted around the grounds, lots of fairy lights and a forties band. I think it will suit them.

•  My ‘other job’ at the church office is going well, too. We are about to launch our child sponsorship in Cambodia programme, which I am pretty much in charge of. I am learning about micro-finance, education programmes, which animals are good to buy and raise, as well as how to plan and launch a fairly large-scale event at church. It is something my heart revels in, being the hands and feet of Jesus in this way. This project is definately flowing from the heart of our church. I love being a part of it.
• Lastly, my lovely husband bought us tickets to see Ben Lee, for Valentine’s Day. This concert took place in Kings Park near the city a couple of weeks ago, and featured the state symphony orchestra, too. We took wine, cheese, and other delicious tidbits and enjoyed a truly delightful evening under the stars.

 this guy is no relation; just wanted to show the general backdrop. 

I just got a phone call from my dad. He and my mother are still fighting a gross flu bug, and they are not feeling up to going to the opera tonight. This means hubs and I just scored two free tickets to see Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

 Noice!

“She is a woman, and therefore to be wooed; she is a woman, and therefore to be loved,” or something like that, the Bard said, long ago. I was pondering the other day how my heart is something that is to be won, not just once, but all the time. When we enter into marriage, we make that heart-covenant, and we are won once and for all, but as a woman, love is more than that. Love on a daily basis means that I like to be wooed, chased after, sought after, not in the same way, but in different ways. I like my husband to search for my heart, run after it, win it to his in a fresh way. I am worthy of this. I like to be pursued. If we are romanced every day in the same way, it is ok, but it can become rote-love. We women were not made that way. We like the fresh manna!

I was seeking the Lord one day, and I had the strong sense that His heart is just like mine. He is a romantic; He likes to be sought after, courted, won over in different ways. So often we approach our relationship with the Father like a textbook (did you ever hear the old ACTS synonym? Adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication?). Doesn’t He get bored with that? I believe the Father’s heart is like mine. I don’t want to be taken for granted. I love my husband, and being loved in any way is great, but there is something in me that says, “Come on honey! Find me! Find my heart! What am I desiring today? Unwrap my heart and woo me to yourself.” The Father is the same.

I began to chase after Him. Did He desire me to worship Him? Pour out a heart of love or just wait before Him in silent adoration? Sing songs with no words but pouring out my heart-song to Him? It was like following a rabbit trail: where are you today, my Beloved? How can I love you? How can I bless you this day? There was such a sense of romance, in the chase. His heart is worthy, and it belongs to me, but He desires me to chase after it, see it as a golden prize that is hidden, but able to be found.

My desire is to know what it is to romance the Father, love Him in a way that He desires. He made us to worship Him. He is worthy to be pursued, wooed and romanced.

My husband helps to write computer programmes that control the production of billion dollar iron ore mines, and yet last night I had to show him how to get the pump top on the new bodywash to pop up so he could use it in the shower. I guess it was the little arrow and the word ‘turn’ that threw him.

 Love you, honey!