psalmthing to chew on: psalm 1

my good buddy rob lloyd just got me a new bible because my old one was literally falling apart and i like the idea of starting again in a sense – rediscovering old favourite passages, underlining new ones, breaking the bible in so to speak…

and as i sat and thought where to begin i decided to start with the psalms, and i don’t know that i will necessarily read one per day but i am going to start today and see how it goes and i thought it might be nice to bring other people with me, or maybe you were looking for a new place to read and want to read along with me – i am going to read a psalm and write a comment or a thought or reflection and would love it if you wanted to write yours in the comments below so together we can learn from what God is saying to us as we take this journey…

so today, starting with psalm 1, what jumps out at you? what don’t you understand? what has God whispered as you read it? what is one idea you just really enjoyed? i would love to hear what you got out of it…

this is a great psalm – first thing that jumped out at me was line 1 ‘blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked’ – and to be honest i think i always read that as ‘council’ as in meeting-place or gathering, instead of counsel which surely means ‘being advised/counselled by’ which changes it completely… complete tie-in to one of my favourite proverbs ‘wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses’ [27.6] or ‘they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear’ [2 Timothy 4.3] and a reminder that even though it might look strongly appealing to have yes-people around us, it will be a blessing and better life choice to not live life being advised/counselled by these people but rather people who will speak truth in love.

and then verse 3 which talks about being ‘planted by streams of water’ – the result being that whatever you do will prosper – echoes of being firmly rooted like in the story of the house built on the rock [Matthew 7.24] or the need to be in constant connection to the vine which is God [John 15] and how as a result the fruit will naturally happen – not so much by work or effort but by inviting God to work it through you as you stay holding on to Him.

so that’s a good start to this journey – the reminder that as a Christ follower my number one focus must be on being nourished by my Father in heaven and that i should look to surround myself with people [at least in terms of those who advise/bring counsel to me] who actively follow Christ and will unashamedly speak truth in love to me [even if sometimes that might be hard for me to receive]

[To continue to Psalm 2, click here]

[To return to the start of this series on Psalms as well as some other Bible things, click here]

How to Save a Marriage… before you need to. [part x]

i have purposefully tried to get different voices as i ask friends of mine who are married well for their opinions on what can help to make a marriage strong and while a lot of my friends have only been married for under ten years, it is clearly an advantage to hear from those who have walked longer and gone through much more, and so it is a privilege for me to share some words from a good friend who has been married for 31 years [longer than my wife has been alive!] so pay careful attention:

So one word of advice – oh my gosh after 30 years that is quite a question. I think my word of advice would be for those who marry someone younger than them e.g. ME MYSELF AND I!!!! If i had to go back and start again I would show my husband a lot more respect, having been independent for so long i was used to getting the job done so if it was his job and he didn’t get it done – i did it – and that’s not good. Let them do it – don’t mother them – it takes a long time to rebuild something when you don’t do it right at the beginning.

Always be a united front in front of the children – especially if there are more girls in the family and only one Dad – it’s very easy to ‘gang’ up against Dad without even realising it.

Lastly make sure when you go into marriage that if you have no clue how to budget that you get someone who is good at it to teach you and try not to start off in debt – it’s a bugger to get out of. Make sure your wife has pocket money – that she can spend how she likes – no matter how small the amount is. Like wise for the husband.

Brett hope these will be of some use – and hope we are staying nameless wherever you may or may not use this!!

[heading for 31 years]

for more thoughts on growing a strong marriage, click here…