“There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house” …Author unknown

Last night I did not get too much sleep, this nursery rhyme wouldn’t leave my head. This morning I was lead to read Isaiah 40. It wasn’t until I reached verse 4 that I found the connection with the Rhyme .

“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”   Isaiah 40 verse 4

The origin of the Nursery rhyme “There was a crooked man” stems from British history around the time of King Charles 1. (1600’s)The crooked man was said to be Scottish General Sir Alexander Leslie. He signed a Covenant securing religious and political freedom for Scotland. “The Crooked Stile” was the border between England and Scotland.” They all lived together in a little crooked house” refers to the fact that the English and Scots had at last come to an agreement. The words reflect the times when there was great animosity between them.

It makes me stop and think of times when I have been angry or been in disagreement with someone , be it a neighbour, a friend, a relative or someone I don’t know personally. Its easy to take crooked turns and damage relationships. WE need to mend what is crooked in our lives and not go through life with a crooked heart. It is so easy to cool off, take the time to think about what has happened and make what is crooked straight.

Straighten out our failures and forgive ; come to an agreement as did The English and the Scots and rid ourselves of animosity amongst ourselves.

In Memory of my father.

Today would have been his 83rd birthday. His garden still thrives, his garden gnomes still guard the little creatures who visit.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

1 Corinthians 2:9

God continues to surprise me everyday, I took this photo a week a go whilst holidaying in The Snowy Mountains. We stayed on a 600 acre property in a quaint little village called Adaminaby….Each morning I was up for sunrise and each morning I took a different photo and each day I was just as much surprised with each sunrise .

There are  many stories of God’s surprises written, and he continues to surprise us each day with little hints of what heaven will be like.

When we move from this life to the next, we will receive the biggest surprise of all.

Often we say “yes” to a request to pray for someone and more than often we will. However, I must admit that there are times when I just completely forget to include the request in my prayers for the day…

When my children were little I found it a battle at times for them to clean up their rooms, do their homework, bath etc., many times I would have to give them a nudge; sometimes a soft nudge others a firmer one. I would help them to get started and they would happily ( mostly) continue along until something distracted them, like a toy they had not seen for sometime, or it was time for a special tv show or they were hungry anything to sidetrack them from finishing my request. In our house it was homework, cleanup and bath before TV. Many times my nudges didn’t work with them and it ended up with tears and promises and punishments.

Just as it was with my children through out the day I can feel God as my father, nudging me, reminding me to stop and do it right now..and pray, pray especially for special requests. ” Just don’t say you will pray, do it” Stop what you are doing now and feel God nudging you.

Help us to forgive those who have hurt us, let go of any unpleasantness

with Gods help we can remove roots of sin to make room for joyfulness

” Create a clean heart in me, O God,and renew a faithful spirit within me” (ps51:10)