Amy Boucher Pye

Author: Amy Boucher Pye

  • Devotional of the week: Holiness (8 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Paul Writing His Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne – Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, TX, Public Domain

    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:1–23)

    I wonder what it was like for Paul on his missionary journeys. He must have felt the pain of separation with the huge gulfs of geography between the new churches springing up; he was unable to visit them all and he certainly didn’t have the immediate updates we enjoy from friends and family across the world with our video chats and social-media updates. But Paul knew the secret weapon for true change in his new charges – Christ dwelling in them.

    Paul strongly urges the church at Rome to live out of the new self; that which is inhabited by the Holy Spirit. He longs, as he says in verse 1, that they would not harbor the secret desire to sin because they hold to God’s assurances of forgiveness (St Augustine’s, “Lord, grant me chastity, but not yet”). Nor should they be slaves to sin – ruled by what they crave. But rather he desires that they would offer themselves – their souls and our bodies – to God as instruments of grace. Living lives transformed.

    Paul uses the word for fruit in verse 22 (above). When we die to sin and don the clothes of Christ, we reap the fruit of holiness, which leads to eternal life. Holiness, our robes washed pure and clean. Holiness, desiring God’s will and living in his ways. Holiness, ushering in the life of the kingdom of God.

    We all have our own domains that we can either submit to the Lord or keep tightly within our grasp. When we relinquish our rights, whether in the big questions such as where we’ll live, or in the smaller but daily issues such as will we bless or will we curse, we bear the fruit that the Lord grows in us. May this life be seen in us today.

    For reflection: “Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise” (Frances Ridley Havergal).

  • Watercolor Wednesday: A seaside scene

    By Leo Boucher. All rights reserved.

    As it’s the Easter holidays (at least in the UK), and many people are away enjoying a break (such as those hearing the cawing of the sea gulls at Spring Harvest), I thought it a good time to share this lovely seaside scene by my dad, Leo Boucher.

    Take a moment to look at it, and perhaps place yourself at the scene. What do you see and hear? Maybe some fishermen are unloading the catch of mussels just to the left of the frame. Artists set up their easels to capture the beauty of the moment. Children ask their parents for an ice cream.

    May you experience some moments of peace and refreshment this day.

  • Devotional of the week: Life by the Spirit (7 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    Photo: Tyler Neyens, Fruit of the Spirit Fire Tree, Creative Commons

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–26)

    In contrast to the false teachers who wanted to place the Galatians under rules and regulations, Paul wants them to live in step with the Spirit. As they depend on the indwelling Spirit, he produces lasting fruit.

    Continuing in the list of the fruit of the Spirit (from last week), God is faithful, and helps us by setting this virtue within us. When we keep on loving those whom we find difficult; when we pray earnestly for the persecuted church; when we give abundantly from our stores of time, talent and money, we are faithful. When I think of faithfulness, a few women in their seventies and eighties come to mind. They no longer can engage in travel and ministry as they once did, but they pray daily not only for their locality but for international situations. I imagine that God, when they get to heaven, will lovingly reveal what their prayers have wrought.

    Paul in this list probably means gentleness to be more the self-emptying love between people than the sense of a teachable spirit. When the Lord was in the first stages of removing my heart of stone (along the lines of Ezekiel 36:26), I felt a jolt of joy when someone described me as gentle – not a word I used for myself!

    Self-control is another virtue that seems out of fashion these days, but Paul was probably emphasizing it by placing it last on the list. Although these fruit come from the Spirit’s work in us, we too have a role to exercise. As we depend on the Lord, looking to him when we seek to curb our appetites, he will give us the strength to desist from speaking that painful word or overindulging in a self-soothing behavior such as sex, shopping or eating.

    May Jesus living within us bring forth these fruit.

    Prayer: Lord Jesus, may we abide in you to produce that lasts. Fruit that the world would see and know we are your children. Amen.

  • Christ is risen!

    The chorus of voices joins together with joy to say, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

    On this Easter day, may you know the love of the Father, who willingly gave his Son to become a man who died and rose again.

    May you know the gift of the Son, the Risen Christ, who lives within those who love him.

    May you know the joy of the Spirit, who comforts and brings peace.

    Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

  • Holy Saturday: A day of waiting

    The alleluias are still buried, and Christ isn’t yet risen. We wait. We stand with others who are living in a dark tunnel of pain and questions, all the while hoping, praying, and loving.

    We wait.

    Come, Lord Jesus.

  • Five Minute Friday: Not settling for less

    Today’s Five-minute Friday prompt is settle. As in, “She really settled,” said the snide friend about another. Or, “Settle down!” said the mom to her rambunctious child.

    A bit of an odd prompt for this Good Friday, I thought, but then I did a quick internet search and came up with the second definition:

    To pay in full.

    To settle the debt.

    It’s all settled.

    And that’s a good way to look at Good Friday. Jesus died to settle our debt with the Father, that we might enjoy life in the kingdom, from the moment we ask him into our lives.

    We certainly don’t settle for less. Rather, we embrace life in all of its fullness.

    May you know the loving glance of the Father, who sent his only Son to die that we might live.

    May you know the refreshing embrace of the Savior, who loves us so much that he bled for us.

    May you experience the comforting refreshment of the Spirit, whose gentle breeze brings peace.

    And may you remember that you’re not settling for less when Jesus settled your debt.

    This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. You can find today’s prompt here.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Looking to the Cross

    By Leo Boucher. All rights reserved.

    As we ponder the cross this Holy Week, may we understand more deeply the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice.

  • Devotional of the week: Bearing fruit (6 in Fruit of the Spirit series)

    By Leo Boucher. All rights reserved.

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22–26

    We’re looking at the fruit of the Spirit again this week (and next). Again, remember that these all spring forth from love.

    When Paul wrote, joy was also a proper name, as it is today. This is our daughter’s middle name, and when she was little she would delight when it was spoken in her presence: “Joy! That’s my middle name!” But joy isn’t just a happy feeling; it’s a deep sense of well-being even when the circumstances aren’t pleasant.

    Peace is also known by the Hebrew word, shalom. This peace isn’t just an absence of conflict, but a sense of completeness; of wholeness within relationships. God’s gift of the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes from above, for instance when we feel strife with another or anxiety from within.

    Forbearance is a word we don’t seem to prize in our often frenetic lives. But patience and steadfastness come to us when we rely on God, especially in times of trial. I think of several friends with whom I’ve prayed through tough and testing times. The forbearance they exhibit takes my breath away. We wouldn’t wish for these excruciating circumstances – a painful divorce; an injured child – but God redeems them in ways we can’t imagine.

    Some people are just more naturally kind than others; I think they are wired that way. For many of us (I count myself in this category), we need God to take us outside of our self-absorbed bubbles and give us the kindness to show to others. My husband can vouch for this area of my life…

    Goodness is similar to kindness; in the New Testament, it only appears in Paul’s letters. It’s a state of being made righteous by God, which defines our actions.

    What strikes you from this list of the fruit of the Spirit?

    Prayer: Lord, I yearn for joy, peace, patience and kindness. Form them in my heart and actions. Amen.

  • Five Minute Friday: Anything but Routine

    Photo: Sacha Chua, flickr

    Routines make up the stuff of life.

    Whether from brushing our teeth to making the bed (or not) to checking our social-media feeds, we fill our lives with actions that we do again and again. Some of the routines can be life-giving, and some can suck the energy from us.

    Some of my best routines? One is going to the gym regularly. I’m off to body combat soon, which makes me happy and feel alive. I have some lovely friends at the gym, and when I don’t feel like going, I know that I will be letting them down if I don’t. Sometimes we let each other off the hook, but so many times after our sweat sessions, we’ve remarked how glad we are that we went, and how we wouldn’t have if we hadn’t texted our friend beforehand.

    Another is my weekly writing video call with two writer friends. Some weeks I can’t attend, but I try to make it a priority (even missing out on other gym classes – see above) because of the life that it brings to me and my friends. We cry together, get real, encourage each other, and share our writing. As we remarked yesterday, we are each other’s people. The way our writing calls are structured, we actually get some writing done too – I got a devotional drafted yesterday that I certainly would not have done had I been left to my own devices.

    Those two routines involve other people, but one I do on my own definitely feeds my soul – my Bible reading and prayer times. I can’t claim to have a “proper” time every day, but when I do, I feel more centered in God and ready to face the day. Lately I’ve been taking a chunk of the gospels and putting it into poetic verse. This is a way for me to slow down and digest the words of Jesus, to get them rolling through my head and my heart.

    What routines do you embrace? Why, or why not?

    This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. You can find today’s prompt here.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: Sailing at Sunset

    By Leo Boucher. Used with permission; all rights reserved.

    Sailboats on the water… so many of you appreciated the sailboat painting by my dad, Leo Boucher, that I posted a few weeks ago that I thought I’d share this watercolor with you today. What’s the story behind it, do you think? Maybe it’s coming up to dusk, those moments of stillness and change in the sky’s colors that can strike in us a sense of wonder and gratitude.

    What do you see?