Devotions

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This Sunday, September 20, marks Peace Sunday — observed each year on the Sunday closest to the United Nations International Day of Peace. Some churches across the world will pause to reflect on what it means to follow the Prince of Peace in a world that so often speaks a different language: one of division, suspicion, and conflict. The theme this year is simple but searching: a heart for peace. It's worth sitting with the question honestly. What makes or breaks your heart for peace? Is it the news cycle? A strained relationship? Weariness with how loud and combative the world has become?  Peace isn't just the absence of conflict out there — it starts as a condition of the heart in here. Scripture doesn't ask us to manufacture peace on our own strength. Jesus called himself the Prince of Peace, and He said,  " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God " (Matthew 5:9).  Peacemaking is active — it's a heart that has been s...

A wildflower doesn't apply for permission to bloom. It doesn't calculate whether the ground is fertile enough to be worth the effort, or whether anyone's walking by to see it. It just grows — toward light, toward water, toward whatever small mercy the season offers — and that's the whole of its work. Jesus points to this in Matthew 6:28, and it's a strange thing to hold up as instruction. Not a parable with a moral to extract, not a lesson to file away — just an invitation to actually look at something that exists without justifying itself. Most days don't leave much room for that kind of looking. There's a logic to how attention gets spent: on what needs doing, what needs answering, what needs fixing. It's not a wrong way to move through a day. But it does tend to flatten the world into a checklist, and things that can't be checked off — a colour, a shape, a bit of unplanned beauty — get filed under "later" and quietly forgotten. Here'...

 

 

 

 

Recently I started a course called Wellbeing with Horses at Drum RDA in Edinburgh. I'm already a big part of the way through. The end result should be a healthier lifestyle and also just sheer joy at getting to work with animals. So far so good. Here are some snapshots of that journey so far:  Starting out: Learning to lead the horse and mindful grooming: Practiced getting a pretend horse 🐎 ready then doing it for real and leading them out the barn for a trot. Setting up a handy pony course and leading the horse around....

There's an old idea, one that St. Francis of Assisi made famous in his Canticle of the Sun, that the sun and moon aren't just distant objects lighting our days and nights — they're kin. Brother Sun. Sister Moon. Family, in a sense, part of the same created order we belong to. It's a small shift in language, but it changes something. When the sun is just "the sun," it's background noise — something we barely register on our way to the car. When it's Brother Sun, it becomes a presence. Something worth noticing. Something worth thanking God for. Ask the Animals Job 12:7 puts it simply: ask the animals, and they will teach you. It's a strange invitation on the surface — what could a bird or a beast possibly have to teach a person? But Scripture keeps returning to this idea that creation itself is a kind of instructor, quietly demonstrating things about dependence, trust, and design that we're often too busy to notice on our own. That raises a few h...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post is written in Easy English. Easy English uses short sentences and simple words. It is easier to read and understand. It can help people who find reading hard. It can help people who are learning English. It can help anyone who wants a quick, clear read. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome, Autumn Dear Friends, Autumn is here. The leaves are turning gold and brown. Something in me feels calm when this happens. Autumn is my favourite season. I think this is partly because I am autistic. Autumn is slow. The light is soft. The world feels quiet. Autumn does not ask me to be loud or busy. It lets me just notice things. I like the smell of wet leaves. I like the crunch of leaves under my feet. I can stand and listen to that sound for a long time. I do not need to rush. The Bible says this: "There is a time for everything... a time to plant, and a time to pull up what was planted." (Ecclesiastes 3:1–2, Easy English Bible) Autumn is a time of letting go. The trees do n...

Listen here Be Still — Episode 4 [COLD OPEN] The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork. Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge. (Psalm 19:1–2) [THE NARRATIVE] Last time, the first lie entered the world, and with it, shame and hiding. But even then, the LORD clothed his children and promised a rescue still to come. This week, we watch the darkness grow. Adam knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain. Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. In the process of time, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD respected Abel and his offering, but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." While they were in...