Beautiful sunroom of hope!♥

The Lord placed this message on my heart today…and I would like to share it with you, may it encourage you to stand strong! Remember how very special you are!

Today is colder than usual…especially for this time of year! November in South Africa is known for its sunny days, and children that relax in the swimming pool after a hard day of writing exams. If you can smell a barbeque…hear children’s laughter…see the beauty of green grass…feel the sun on your face, oh then you know it’s Summer! Summer here has a way of wrapping itself all around your senses!

Today is a different picture outside…the smell of cold weather, the feeling of a freezing wind blowing, and the sound of quiet neighborhoods. People lock themselves inside their houses to escape this cold “monster”! Looking outside you see only a pale picture wrapped in the color of gray! Not very appealing to the senses!

This strange weather, can have such a negative influence on the way you start to see life, soon you forget about the laughter and sun. In your heart, you remember more and more other “cold experiences” in your life, and it start to melt the summer feeling of your heart. You feel sick, cold, longing for yesterday, and stuck in the past!

The mind can play a very nasty trick on you! It only needs a key to trap you in this dark cold prison without any sun! All it needs…is for you to give in to the cold, the storms in your life, and the failures of your past! I dare you today…do not give in! Choose to get rid of these keys…and to replace the prison with a sunroom!

You might not feel like it…but cherish happy thoughts, your dreams, your passions and everything that makes you happy in this sunroom of your heart! Let’s call it a sunroom of hope! Oh and so gracefully this sunroom will fill your soul with peace, happiness and love that drives all fear and coldness away!

Oh yes…and remember! No matter what type of weather you are facing, the sun is sure to shine again! That my dear friend is a promise!

You are in my prayers!

Blessings to all of you! Matilda♥

Preparing a feast for robbers of time!

“Time flies” is not something that I am going to use in this post, because that is a fact that everyone already knows! There is just something about the fast pace of yesterday that let the feeling of today sometimes feel so rushed.  So, for now “time flies” is in the past, while “the robbers of time” takes center stage!

This morning we had the privilege of serving breakfast to the preachers of the town.  This was a great occasion with 8 of this small town’s preachers coming together, talking and eating over breakfast. A great deal of time was spent to plan the perfect breakfast…but it did not stay there! Although the breakfast plan was ready yesterday afternoon, the house was not! Preparation needed to be done to ensure that everything is clean. Glasses and cutlery was even polished until I could see my reflection in them! You see, it had to be perfect! Carefully, we thought of all the places and rooms they might walk in to, and we spend hours making sure it was clean, neat and that everything was in its place.  The one hour breakfast…had the 100 hour preparation!  Till almost midnight last night, preparation and cleaning was in the order of the day. 

This morning, when the gentlemen came, they enjoyed breakfast, and left after eating, without even noticing the extra hard work and cleaning that was done in the rest of the house! They talked, and enjoyed some precious moments together, but were not interested in how and what went into the breakfast preparation, they just enjoyed the moment! Then I realized…it is not a waste that the house is clean now…but the enjoyable moment of preparing a feast…became moments of panic and fear for not being prepared enough, and I missed it! Hard work and unnecessary stress went into the preparation, and the perfect moment of taking all the excitement in…was gone in an instant!

This is how it is with life, we sometimes allow these “robbers of time” to steal our feasts of memories… Instead of taking the moment in, enjoying the memory or appreciating it…we let robbers of worry, anxiety, stress and confusion steal it all! The sad thing is…we will never be able to get the moment back! It is gone for good! 

So my lesson for this morning was valuable, and I know now that getting carried away can sometimes spoil a perfect moment and the peacefulness…that lie in ”just as it is”!

May you experience many opportunities to prepare feasts in life, without the robbers of time stealing the precious moment!

Love the moment for the moment!

These last few days I was caught up in the hectic whirlwind of this busy life that we live in. Hours went by and the more work that I did, the more work I had to do! I prayed the last few days and asked God to help me listen and see what He wants me to see. The truth of the matter is that I was so caught up with today’s work, tomorrow’s work and more and more work, that I totally missed the little gifts in life that God gave me. Yesterday afternoon I walked outside on my way to another whirlwind working task, when I looked up and saw the clouds slipping out of view…

 Suddenly I realized, had I not been so busy with a whirlwind of useless tasks, I would have received the treat of a beautiful sunset…but instead I let the moment slip by. I realized the importance of living in the moment…the perfect moment that God wants me to see for what He made it for!  Not hectic and busy but in splendor and beauty, walking in His perfect will! I can’t wait for the next sunset!

The perfect gift of a beautiful sunset! So glad I could view this one...taken from my own backyard!!!

Flying towards the summer sky!!

Autumn is here in its entire splendor. The trees are starting to show there autumn leaves, and the Kosmos flowers in its pretty colors is visible where ever you look. The flowers remind me of Spring…but they always make their appearance just in time for Autumn, giving a clear contrast to the dry Winter season that lies ahead.

Temperatures are slowly starting to get colder as the days go by, and reminded me very fast to take out my warm winter clothing. The sadness of the warm African sun leaving us with the cold months is visible on everyone’s faces. In this mood of coldness and Winter, I walked in the garden to appreciate the last summer touches before they fade away. As I looked at the flowers, something caught my attention…the sparrows. These beautiful birds where all getting ready to leave for some place much warmer.

Their departure is the final sign that winter is here, and as they flew away…I suddenly realized the important lesson I can learn from them all. They never stay in a cold place; they make sure that they make their home where it is warm and where the sun is shining.

So often, we just except all the cold and winter that comes into our lives…without realizing that we have wings! We can fly away from it all and choose to live where the sun always shines! Summer and all the warmth of it can always be part of us…we only need to choose it!

May you experience Summer where you are, and a warmth in your heart…that no Winter can ever take away!!!

The growing of a heart

A little while back, I went on holiday to a beautiful mountain resort near Bela-Bela. There is just something about a mountain that  feeds my spirit with soul! The calmness and beauty of the bush-veld reminds me of psalm 23 and you could easily picture David being in such a landscape when writing that psalm! After a few days of relaxing, and enjoying the fresh air, I noticed something on one of the older trees, in front of our tent.  Something on the surface of the tree did not look normal.  Out of curiosity I went closer…and could not believe my eyes! There, in the bark of the tree was a perfectly formed heart!

At first I thought that someone carved the heart into the bark of the tree, but after closely inspecting it, I realized that this heart was part of the identity of the tree, there were no human hands involved here…it was all in the tree!

This tree, learned me a powerful lesson. If I would have visited the tree a few years back, I would probably not have seen the heart, because the form of the heart would still not be big enough to view with the eye.  As the tree grew, the heart grew with it. Many years of waiting, without seeing any heart…did not stop the tree from growing, it kept on growing, through the rains, winds and storms.  Now years later, after growing through all of this, the perfect heart, embedded in the very character of the tree, is visible for the world to see!

So many times in life we give up on our dreams, because we do not see any part of it taking form or developing. 

My friend, keep on growing your dreams, although the world my not see it, or understand it…just keep on growing it!  With time, your dreams will grow into your character, and when you least expect it, your dream will meet reality and be visible, real and a great part of your existence and future! Keep growing what is in your heart! Do not mind the storms, the fact that it doesn’t make sense now, or that nobody can see it! Just keep growing it…very soon the perfect beauty of your heart will be visible to the world, and you will be able to live your dream…and your heart!♥