Category Archives: joy

Resurrection Sunday

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It is the day

for earthquakes that

remove stones that

contained the dead

 

It is the day

to hear the words

Why look for the living

among the dead?

 

The day when angels speak

and mortals quake in silence

shedding their mortality

unlocked and free

 

It is the day to hear your name

on the lips

of the

Resurrected Saviour

 

A day to be embraced

but not to cling

clinging is for the ones

who have something to lose

 

Today is the day

when what is poured out can no longer

be contained:

to time

to location

to a people group

to a gender

to an age

 

Today good news for all people breaks in and announces:

HE IS RISEN

rose stained glass

* May your Easter Sunday be filled with joy that cannot be contained, life that knows no limits, the embrace of the One who died to set you free. Miriam x

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Friday Seven: For Joy

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It sounds so simple joy, three little letters. Like some sweet old lady who knits booties and hums  about Saints Marching In. Like air bubbles wiggling their way to the top as a plastic bottle is submerged at children’s bath time. Like some sweet, fleeting thing – a kite let go that escapes with a gust of wind, but I think it’s more.

Joy is the thing that holds us fast when we are anything but happy. Joy can still sing a song to our hearts when sorrows are heavy in our lap. Joy sustains.

Today I want to bless you with joy.

For Joy:

May you have joy that remains in the midst of difficulty,

and your heart be continually served a feast of joy.

May you know a joy that sustains and strengthens you all the days of your life,

and when your heart is heavy may you have friends to help you find the source of supernatural joy once more.

friday seven joy

Joy for you today, and always dear hearts.

xxx

Reward

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These words are playing on repeat in my heart today – a promise to Abram. (That’s right good ‘ol father Abraham, before he was even Abraham).

“Fear not, I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.” (Gen 15v1)

I am all filled up – into the corners, and the cracks, and to the top of all the dusty shelves of my life, with the joy that is Jehovah – my reward.

reward

As dusk inevitably comes and the Hope of Christmas bears down like a woman in labour I am wrapped in a promise where God is my reward.

All I want for Christmas.

All I want for life.

My reward.

A reward that cannot be bought. A reward that cannot be stolen. A reward that is never sold out, broken, or disappointing.

This Presence, this promise today – this is what is at the top of my heart, my Christmas list and this is what gives ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow’.

Praying this knowledge, this promise, this Hope for you today dear beloved heart.

Merry, merry Christmas Eve to you. xxx

So, I Wrote A Book

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Since I’ve had babies I’ve wanted to build traditions around Christmas. I’ve dreamed about the sense of holy wonder in our home as we contemplate together the rough stable, those young parents, the scrappy shepherds, the choirs of angels.

I’ve wanted a Christmas build up that has felt like Christ-mas. God with us.

It seems that little kids are offered all sorts of tinsly, glowing, baubly bits but there hasn’t been much for wondering on. So I wrote a book for families with children who are aged 3-7 years old.

A book where each day is based on a word like – chosen, generous, myrrh and each day includes a Bible verse and a very simple activity and a reflection and a prayer.

A book where the information is sound and meaningful.

A book where the activities are actually achievable.

A book that works when you miss some days because the grandparents came to stay and the cat vomited on the carpet and we all had a meltdown.

adventing

I wrote this book for every family that’s wanted something more than tinsel and jingle bells.

I wrote it for busy parents who want to do something well but don’t have time to do all the thinking.

I wrote it for children, my children, and for so many little ones who are very dear to me and to whom I want to give the gift of wonder, delight, depth and meaning.

This book is currently free as a kindle e-book, just for a few days. Then it will be about the price of a good hot chocolate.

When I pray for this book I pray it will bless you. I pray it will encourage you and I pray that you will find it practical, Biblical and tradition building.

If you want your own copy you can find the link on the right. Here’s the official description:

24 opportunities to reflect on an element of the arrival of Jesus
• Simple and inspiring activities and reflections
• Assistance to build a Biblical understanding for children aged 3-7 about the arrival of Jesus
• Create a wonder-filled and worshipful attitude in your home as you lead up to Christmas

Written by teacher, speaker and communicator Miriam Fisher. Motivated by a desire to provide theologically sound, simple, and meaningful ways to celebrate and anticipate Christmas together.

Meaningful, Achievable, Biblical, Joyful

This is my Christmas gift to you. Wrapped in my love for the honour and glory of Jesus.

x Miriam x

Fixing on the Smallest Things

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When the world feels like a never-ending stream of bad news, of fearful threats, of actual violence on small and large scales it can feel like a crushing weight.

When children come home with distorted views of news you haven’t even talked about together, and the internet rages with right responses and rumours of revolutions. It can feel like very second person has a differing opinion on what’s the ‘right’ way to oppose injustice.

On and on, round and round until it just feels like a hurricane of disagreement shouted louder and louder over the bodies of the broken.

I start to feel like there is no reason for joy anymore.

Like it’s inappropriate to feel anything other than hopelessness and despair.

Like weeping will last and last and last.

So today I am looking through the disabling, overwhelming bad news, through the rhetoric and the rubbish, over the piles of grief.

Today I am stopping to honour the beauty of Jacaranda trees in full bloom.

jacarandas

 

I am listening to the sound of little people I love laughing.

I am joining my children in the swimming pools and chasing them until we are breathless and delighted.

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I am going to the door of a rundown stable and peaking over the heads of those gathered, hushed in wonder. I am gazing silent at the Son of heaven whose love has never walked away from brokenness.

Of the One who came to give us joy and life in all its fullness.

Of, Good News incarnate.

I am filling up on the smallest things, the beauty of creation, the song found in laughter, the warmth given in a small hand holding mine.

I am not hiding from the news of sadness – my heart is sighing wordless prayers for all the world. But, I am choosing today in the midst of strife to honour and be grateful for the beauty I have been given today to appreciate.

There is beauty to behold and today I am choosing with all my heart to see it.

Let us not dishonour the gift we have by placing on our shoulders the worry of what might be, and miss the joy of what is today.

Wherever you are today, however deep the challenges of your own news, may there be a moment to delight in. May a ray of light stream through the cracked places of your heart today.

Always, always may you know the love of being worth a King’s ransom.

xxx