Quote - Pam Farrell

When you live your life accidently, just meandering along, don’t be surprised if your life becomes an accident.

Pam Farrell from: ‘The 10 Best Decisions a Woman Can Make’

Song Review - Steer

Watch the youtube.com film clip here


Read the Lyrics....


Steer
Feel it falling off like clothing

taste it rolling off your tongue

see the lights above you glowing

Oh and breathe them deep into your lungs

It was always simple, not hidden hard

You’ve been pulling at the strings playing puppeteer for kings

And you’ve had enough

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you know finally that you control where you go

You can steer

So hold this feeling like a new born

Of freedom surging through your veins

You have opened up a new door

So bring on the wind, fire and rain

It was always simple, not hidden hard

You’ve been played at a game called remembering your name

And you’ve stuffed it up

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you finally know that you control where you go

You can steer

‘Cos you’ve been listening for answers

But the city screams and all your dreams go unheard

But the search ends here

Where the night is totally clear

And your heart is fierce

So you finally know that you control where you go

You can steer

Yeah get out of the box and step into the clear

‘Cos now you finally know that you can steer

Why I love it?

At the beginning of the youtube clip (link above), Missy briefly explains why she wrote this song.  But, I believe that one story can mean different things to lots of different people, so this reflection is what I have learnt from this song....

Firstly, only an Aussie would use the phrase, ‘Stuff it up’ in a song and where thongs.  I love that about Aussie music.

This song came out in 2007 when my extended family was going through a bit of crisis. It wasn’t an easy time and both my husband and I were feeling that we had some choices to make about our future and our little family. So this song was really inspiring.

Although the gyst of the song may seem a bit humanistic, in that it outlines that we can ‘steer’ our own path, I can see that this is how God works with me. Over the years, there have been many times when BF#1 and I, have been faced with a major decision like; which car to buy, how long to stay overseas and where to live.  These are big questions in our human lives, but when BF#1 and I have prayed about them, the answer we have been given time and time again is, “You decide.” We really believe that God has blessed us with intelligence and that we are in the zone of his favour and that these decisions are not going to change that.

There have also been times when God has specifically laid on our hearts the specifics of what we are meant to do - and these are times when we don’t have to decide on things, we are steered by God. But, this too is a choice, as we all have choice about everything. Unfortunately, there have been times when we have ignored this steering from God and have tried to forge our own path, only to come across the same forks in the road over and over.

Moral of the story: If we align ourselves with God - He will steer us in the direction he knows is best for us. Thank goodness that he has a plan for us, because most of the time, I have no idea where I am going and threaten to 'stuff it up' if I work on my own.


This also comes back to a notion that faith is linked with a weakness. I am learning more and more that to have faith is not actually the easy option, it is a day to day choice and an aligning of thoughts to a force way beyond comprehension. By letting go of the steering wheel and letting God do the driving seems so brave and adventurous. Giving away some of our control and our desire to 'steer' can actually open up a world of new possibilities for us.  Something to ponder.

Sunday Mornings 2

I am not very good at church. I mean, I am quite well behaved when I am there, I am just not good at the whole getting ready and then being ready to listen thing...  I am hoping I am not alone or I am going to look like a right numpty.  If you really want to know what I am like on Sunday mornings click here.

At cell group the other night - by the by, I do love calling our group ‘cell’ group - it has a rough gangster type feel about it - like we all had cells on H block and can share stories of communal showering - but I digress. I shared a bit about how I just can’t seem to get us all ready on time on Sundays and how stressed I was feeling about it. I have gotten to the point where I am thinking of abandoning church to eliminate some stress from my life. 


Then I decided I should probably pray about and not just make decisions like that willy-nilly.  So I did, and I thought God would find it preferable to have me spend the hours of 9am-11am on a Sunday in quiet reflection on the back deck sipping tea and talking to my children about why Samaritans were seen as bad. But no, I found myself feeling really sad about the way I have been treating Sunday mornings. They have not been a time of preparation to hear from God or to spend time with his peeps. I had turned Sunday morning into a stress filled, frustrating and sometimes teary time of a parent behaving badly. So a new solution came to me.

Now, you must understand, I don’t want to come across as some nutter who claims to ‘hear’ from God about which type of bread to buy or which shoes will help me to fulfil God’s purposes for me. But, I have been in churches and around God enough to know that the still quiet voice that pushes us into a new line of thinking, is God. 

So, this new solution. Instead of me trying to get as much sleep as humanly possible on Sunday mornings and staying in bed as long as I can get away with, the solution is, to get up earlier. Can you believe it? That had to be from God, there is no way I would think of that on my own. So, this week I tried it. I set my alarm for 6am. I was going to give it a burl. And, God being a God who knows my inner workings, had me awake 10 minutes before the alarm. So I got up. 

I had a great morning. I made a lovely date slice for morning tea, I did some dishes and I got my heart ready for the morning rush. I was able to allow my brain to wander around the ridges for a while instead of harnessing it and trying to get it to go faster than it wanted to. My eldest daughter got up and we had the loveliest time together, we hugged a lot, giggled a lot, she kept me company while I shaved me legs (lucky little thing) and we chatted. At a reasonable hour we made coffee for daddy and laid out the breakfast things. Daddy, who was able to sleep in, was woken by freshly brewed coffee and a calm wife and bubbly five year old.

We were all in the car nice and early and, here I would love to say we had ‘No Tantrums’, but alas, we have a two year old princess diva, who did not like something or other and ruined our near perfect record. We arrived at church all in a calm and orderly fashion. It was a great success and this will be repeated. I am hoping that I can go for a walk to my favourite mountain top vantage point (want to say ‘look out’ but that sounds a bit seedy) and spend some time praying love over the valleys.

Thanks God for not giving up on me, 

thanks for always waiting for me,

thanks for the reminders that seem hard but are actually easy,

thanks for my beautiful family who I spent time with this morning,

thanks for the good things you pile into my life.  

Amen.