by Lilly Lewin
As I write I am looking out the window of the St. Columba Hotel out towards the Isle of Mull. The sun is coming up and the first ferry of the day has just made it’s crossing and is heading back across the grey blue water from Iona to Mull. I was attempting to write this post outside at a picnic table but the midges started biting and I had to retreat. Midges are like No Seeums …small gnats that bite. My friend Anne from Glasgow, who is on pilgrimage with me, said there is a tea towel with the saying ” God made the world, then he made Scotland, and he said, no it’s too good, and sent the midges” or something like that!
I am doing a dream I have had for twenty years, to take people on pilgrimage. A small group of us are on the first “Finding Your Thinplace Pilgrimage” which started in Oban and continues this week on Iona.
I’m going to write more, but I wanted you to know that it’s never too late to do the dreams that God has placed on your heart. To follow the ancient the pathways of God’s love and rediscovery the wonder God’s great love for you!
“Go stand a the crossroad and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, The tried-and -true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for you souls.
Jeremiah 6: 16 THE MESSAGE
Thus says the Lord, “ Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; then walk in it. And you will find REST for your souls Jeremiah 6: 16- AMP
When you consider the ancient paths, what do you think about?
What things would be Paths or practices that would give you REST?
Why do you think it’s so easy for us to just reject these paths? Especially paths of REST?
Where have you felt God’s love and presence?
Consider the ancient paths and rocks of remembrance in your own life.
What GOOD things, places, people do you want to, need to remember that God has done in your life? Things in the past and things in recent weeks.
TAKE A WALK TODAY…notice the rocks, notice the road, the path. Talk to Jesus about the roads you’ve been walking. And the path you’d like to take as a new month begins, as a new season begins.
Ask Jesus what will help you find REST. and make a plan to REST in September.
iona abbey sept 1
Closing Prayer prayed together:
Explorer God,
You have put within us
A spirit of adventure move beyond the immediate,
And to see
In the ordinary things
You extraordinary presence of love.
Propelled by your Spirit,
May each day become an adventure
Of people, tasks, places and responsibilities.
And when we feel grey and lifeless
May you remind us
That each day holds
It’s own gifts:
New truths,
Restored vision,
Inner healing, and the possibility
To forgive even our enemies. AMEN
Peter Millar (Iona Prayer Book)
In the Name of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN