Not much of a TV fan to be honest……

I’m not much of a TV fan to be honest, most of my free time is spent reading, doing stuff online or doing something creative.    I posted a few months ago about my favourite place in the house being my conservatory, that’s where I spend a lot of time and it has been declared a TV free zone, by order of the management ( well by me, that is!).    However in the UK there has been a programme on over the last few weeks that has tempted me to sit in front of the box (although I suppose they are not really boxes any more …. but let’s not get technical).

You may wonder what could have enticed me to do such a thing?   The good ol’ Beeb  (BBC)  decided to bring sewing out of mothballs and created a competition type programme called ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’.   All I can say is that I am thankful I recorded it and am looking forward to watching it again in a marathon 4 hour long viewing session, accompanied by copious amounts of tea and biscuits and maybe the odd cucumber sandwich.

What a breath of fresh air, a competition that was marked out from the rest by the grace and kindness of not only the participants  but also the judges were kind, encouraging and well mannered.   I may be biased because of my great love of sewing in any shape or form BUT it is one of the best shows I have seen in years!   The contestants all produced brilliant work and when the winner was announced no-one was left sitting with their jaw hanging open wondering if the judges had been watching a different show.   The finalists all created work of a superbly high quality but one person’s work was of a consistently high standard throughout the series and she won……. how refreshing!

However, there is another side to this, I am a keen sewer and have many and varied projects on the go at any given time.   I have many PhD’s   (projects half done)  and there are frequent sightings of UFO’s    (un-finished objects) in my workroom (aka: the conservatory) but I don’t mind a  bit.      I’m a fabric ‘collector’ ….. my husband tries valiantly to distract me  when we pass fabric shops, it rarely works, I can sniff one out a mile away ….. but then he’s a bit of a wood collector so I think that makes us even, and my fabric takes up less space!

But this programme enthused me, and this from someone who is already over-the-top enthusiastic about sewing.   So  last week I had an overwhelming urge to start a new project ….. which I am delighted to say I also finished in a couple of days.  I made a handbag out of some beautiful Harris Tweed, which I bought when we holidayed on Harris a couple of years ago, and I am thrilled with the result.   And I’m sure I was not the only one in the country who was inspired to pick up a needle as a result of this programme either.

There is something so deeply satisfying about creating things with your own hands, whether it is with fabric, paint, or any other  medium ….. it does our souls’ good and for me it can be a very spiritual experience, I can get lost for hours working on a project, deep in thought, enjoying the freedom of not having to focus on mundane need,  but revelling in the joy of creating something beautiful.     I believe creativity is innate in all of us, we may not all be Monet or Da Vinci but we each have the ability to create something beautiful if we will allow ourselves the time and space to explore our potential …… when was the last time you followed your heart to create something new?  Carve yourself a bit of ‘me time’ and experiment , and as well as doing yourself some good, you might really surprise yourself with your own abilities.

I’M CHANGING MY NAME!

Names are really interesting; I wonder why you were given your particular name?  I was given the name Linda,  I quite like it now but there were times, especially in my youth, that I wanted to change it for something a bit more  trendy like Samantha, I guess that probably gives away my age a bit!   I think my parents gave me my name because they liked it, I never thought to ask and it’s too late now.  But my hubby and I gave our children their names because we liked them and for most of us, we choose a name because we like the sound or the association it has, or perhaps to honour one of our family or friends.

In some cultures, particularly in biblical times names had great significance and said something about the child or person who was given the name. For example when the ageing Sarah gave birth to a son he was given the name Isaac, which means ‘laughter’, because Sarah laughed when God said she would conceive.  At other times God changed a person’s name to correspond with a dramatic life change as when Saul, chief persecutor of Christians, became Paul disciple of Jesus.

At our homegroup recently we were asked to share a gospel story that we identified with in some way.  I chose to share the passage about Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary (Luke 10: 38-42).  My honest response to this story was that I was firmly on Martha’s side!  Often when we have guests I feel like I’m the one rushing around organising food, tidying up, washing dishes etc while everyone else sits and chats with our guests (to be fair the family do help, but I always feel very responsible for the preparations).   I do this in my life generally even when we don’t have guests, I buzz around making myself busier and busier until I am dizzy with activity and then I complain that I’m so busy I can’t find time and space to spend with God because of all the other things I have to do.

However, over the past few weeks this passage has kept rolling around in my head, and if I’m being really truthful, I felt a little disappointed that Jesus seemed to rebuke Martha and favour Mary.   I would love to sit at Jesus feet but who would do all the ‘stuff’ that needs to be done?   Finally it bugged me enough to go and have another look!   Isn’t it strange that you can read a passage over and over and over again and suddenly one day something just jumps off the page at you!   I had one of those moments that Archimedes may have described as a ‘eureka’ moment ….. but I think for me it was more of a Holy Spirit moment!

 ‘But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.  She came and said to Jesus,   “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.   Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.”’      Luke 10: 40-42

It struck me that our lifestyles today are incredibly busy and we are often busy doing things that are good ….. helping others, supporting good causes, serving in the church, looking after our families, following favourite leisure pursuits….   but it reminded me that Jesus said that what Mary had chosen to do was the better thing, she had chosen to  sit at her Lord’s feet and listen.   It’s good to remember that we can be so much more productive when we take  time to listen to Jesus’ plans for our lives instead of frantically trying to make up our own.

I love the painting above;  I want to be like Mary, sitting at the feet of  Jesus, gazing intently into His face, listening to what He has to say, so……. I’m changing my name I want to be a Mary not a Martha…… I want to choose the better thing.

Would you describe yourself as Martha or Mary?

 

I’m still here…….

Oh my!   It’s been quite some time since I posted anything  here on my blog.   My last post was when I just discovered that I had pneumonia way back in November.   It took me quite a few weeks to recover from that and then there was the busy few weeks over the Christmas period.    Then came the long dark days of January and, quite unusually for me,  I think if I’m honest I felt a little depressed,  but I’m happy to say that I am now fully recovered.  

We have even seen the sun here in Scotland in the last couple of days, a little!   And despite it being cold, sunshine always has the effect of lifting the spirits.   There is a definite feeling that Spring may be just around the corner after all,  I have a sudden urge to de-clutter and do some long needed cleaning around the house. 

  

This, I have decided, is going to be the year of new beginnings …..  New beginning number one …  after some conversations over the last couple of months which centred around us deciding that our home decor was in need of a bit ‘freshing up’  dear hubby has already started the task of  painting. 

I have been assigned the job of stripping some very old wallpaper off the living room walls.  I can’t say I’m looking forward to it as I’m not sure what I will find, there may be holes or decay or even dampness  in the plaster beneath that really needs to be fixed but we won’t know until we strip away the accumulated coats of paint.  We have lived in this house for almost 10 years, the paper was on the walls when we arrived and we have painted it at least twice in that time,  I don’t know how often it may have been painted before.

That set me thinking, our spiritual lives can be a bit like that too.   The decay of bad attitudes or long held grudges can get buried under a protective coating too and it’s often easy to keep a veneer in place so that others don’t see what is really going on in our hearts.  

Spring is a good time to de-clutter to get rid of all the baggage, material and emotional, that is hindering us from moving forward and living life to the full.  So whether you need to sort out your physical space so that you can use your home more fruitfully …… who wants to invite friends round when you have to clear a seat from them to sit in!    Or whether you need to de-clutter your inner life so that you can live the life God intended for you.  Give it a bit of thought. 

What will the coming promise of Spring inspire you to do?

If you need some help to get started here are a couple of suggestions:              Physical clutter … click the link to Flylady’s website she has great ideas for organising your home    
http://www.flylady.net/

Spiritual clutter … try reading Joyce Meyer’s book   ’100 Ways to Simplify Your Life’

Thankful heart

It’s true to say that you don’t miss something until it’s not there.  I am someone who has enjoyed robust good health all of my life.   Having never suffered a major illness or accident I count myself blessed.  So it was with great surprise and dismay that I found myself feeling very unwell a few days ago,  so unwell that I felt a trip to the doctors was necessary.    It was no comfort to know that I was indeed, unwell, in fact I had managed to contract pneumonia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this week I have been confined to the house, except for two trips to the doctors surgery and one to the local hospital for a chest Xray.    This has given me time and space to think, to ponder and to be thankful.

Thankful that in my little corner of the world here in Scotland we are blessed with free health care, well we pay for it in our taxes but  its free at the point of use.   So no matter how minor or serious my illness, or how little money I have,  I can access medical care and treatment at any time of the day or night if necessary.    In Scotland we don’t even pay for prescription medicines.   So two trips to the doc, an xray and antibiotics…. that’ll be ….. oooh let’s see! ….  No charge!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever the failings of our National Health Service   (and we know there are some)  it still means that whatever your circumstances you have access to health care whenever you need it.    What a blessing, especially when I think of the children we sponsor who live in countries where health care is not available unless you can pay, and illness often means a choice between medication or food.

Compassion provides health care for the children in the sponsorship programme can you imagine what a relief that must be to impoverished families to know that they will be cared for and treated if they are sick?    I cannot imagine how it must feel to see your child sick and not be able to afford treatment for them, it must be heartbreaking.

Compassion provides holistic care for the children they work with, here’s an excerpt from their website:  

“Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Programme is the heart of their ministry to children living in poverty. It aims to disciple, equip and enable children to develop into fulfilled and responsible adults.

The Child Sponsorship Programme is operated through a Child Development Centre which is run in partnership with a local church in the child’s community. Child sponsorship is a one-to-one relationship between a sponsor and a needy child living in desperate poverty in the developing world.

The faithful financial support of the individual sponsor equips the child for the future by providing for their core needs – spiritually, economically, physically, socially and emotionally.

Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Programme offers: educational opportunities, including literacy and life skills training; health care and health education; and, if required, supplemental nutrition. Children are also given opportunities to hear and respond to the gospel.

The unique structure of the one-to-one sponsorship model allows sponsors and sponsored children to have input into each other’s lives by writing letters, and through prayer. Many Compassion sponsors also take the opportunity to visit their sponsored child.”

There are so many children of all ages and in 26 countries around the world waiting for  sponsors today and for just 70p a day you can change the story for a child living in desperate poverty.   Click here to meet them.

Procrastination….

We’ve been doing a series of studies in James over the past few weeks,  I would say I have enjoyed it but actually I’m not sure if enjoy is the right word!  I’ve been challenged,  felt a bit uncomfortable  and occasionally downright awkward…. but I’m not too worried because as our Pastor pointed out, there’s something in James to offend everyone!    But it’s good to be made to think, to be taken out of our comfort zone every once in a while.

One of the things that has stuck in my mind is that life is short!  Maybe that’s because I’m getting older and had a ‘significant’ birthday this year or maybe its that I still feel there are so many things I would like to achieve and I’m not sure how I’m going to fit them all in.   I remember reading a proverb somewhere ….. ‘Don’t leave until tomorrow what you can do today!’  I also know the ‘counter version’ of that proverb …… ‘Never put off until tomorrow what you can possibly do the day after!!’

The second of these has always seemed most appealing to me,  but as I rack up the years I am beginning to wonder if the first one has more sense to it.     I could appreciate the message of it as I stumbled downstairs this morning, bleary eyed in search of coffee only to be met by last nights dishes still sitting in the sink waiting to be washed.   Not a pleasant task to face first thing in the morning but I tackled it as I waited for the coffee machine to bubble  and bloop into action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is something to be said for tackling jobs at the right time,  if I’d washed the dishes last night I wouldn’t have been faced with a pot whose contents seemed to have turned into super-glue overnight and required about 5 minutes of scrubbing instead  of a quick 30 second  wash when it was newly empty.

However, menial tasks give you time to think, and I had a  good few minutes to think things over in the early morning light.  I wondered how many other aspects of our lives are the same?    When we don’t deal with a fall out or an argument right away, does the hurt and upset become ‘crusted on’ bitterness that is much harder to shift?    When we say something hurtful in haste or in the heat of the moment it is much easier dealt with quickly but so often we try to gloss over it and pretend it hasn’t happened, its so much harder to revisit it later and scrape off the dried in mess we’ve left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandfather apparently liked to quote well known phrases and proverbs,  one of his favourites was “Procrastination is the thief of time”   I don’t think I really understood it before but I can see the sense of it now.    I don’t know how many years God has appointed for me on this earth, none of us do, but my thought for today is to use the time we do have wisely and not waste it…… better get off this computer then and get the dishes done!!

A week in the life …..

Wow!  Where does the time go?  Life has been busy over the past couple of weeks for a lot of reasons, at home,  at work and at church.    I’m involved in a few ministry areas  in church,  including the teaching team and this morning I was preaching at our morning service.     It’s a big responsibility and not one that I take lightly.    I’ve spent the last few weeks studying and preparing for this message which  is part of a series on James.   My text was James 4: 13-17 , the title ‘Boasting about the Future’, the message in a nutshell ….. don’t focus your life on making money….. life is short, use it wisely ….. hold all things lightly and be prepared for God to change your plans.      I have to admit that I  enjoy the preparation and study for preaching and teaching assignments and I like crafting the words together into something that I hope and pray will bless and challenge others.

Tomorrow is busy too…. I will be at work  during the day ( I work Monday – Thursday)  and tomorrow I will be running a lunch and social club for older people.   In the evening I swap hats and become a  Compassion Advocate and head into Edinburgh to be part of the team ‘manning’ the stand at the Tony Campolo & Graham Kendrick event.   I have to admit to being really excited about that, I love being an Advocate for Compassion especially at events and from the feedback I’ve heard from other dates on this tour,  tomorrow  promises to be a great night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday is catch up day at the office, it’s the only day in the week that I don’t run groups so I use it to catch up on paperwork, meet potential volunteers and do planning and development.    Then in the evening I am teaching a bible study at ‘Inspiring Women’  one of our church women’s groups.

 

 

After that the week quietens down a bit and I can catch up on housework : (   and get some crafting done  : )       In between I need to meet up with friends to discuss what costumes we need for this years’ Dickens, Christmas Carol evening (22nd December)  and our Victorian Craft Fair (8th December)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suddenly it doesn’t seem too long until Christmas….. that must mean I’d better get my Christmas mailings for my sponsored kids in the post pretty quickly.     Better add that to this week’s ‘to do’ list!!!

Momma said there’d be days like this……

This has not been a good week.   Sometimes no matter how hard you try you just can’t get on top of things, some days you just feel like you are buried at the bottom of the pile.  That said, there have been good things happen this week too, things that have lifted my spirit and encouraged me.  But this week I’ve lived under a cloud of  having to deal with stuff that is outside my comfort zone, make decisions about BIG stuff that I feel ill qualified to do, but I’ve had to do it anyway and pray that it will be ok.    It  has made me feel tired and anxious.

You see my Mum passed away a little over a year ago and I miss her, nothing really prepares you for losing a parent, you think they are immortal, but sadly they are not.   And there is still ‘stuff’ to sort out, legal stuff, house stuff, the sort of stuff that needs ‘someone who really knows what they are doing’ kind of  stuff!!

Mum was the last of that generation of parents, aunts and uncles so now my generation of brothers, sisters, cousins are the ‘older generation’,   the elders in the family.     How did that happen?  I’m not ready to take on the role of one of the older responsible ones, not yet, it’s too soon, I need more time…. but time marches on relentless, it makes you take stock.

I started to write this post last night and when I woke  this morning the first light of dawn was stretching its pink fingers across the sky.   I am blessed because our bedroom is in the attic with east facing windows and I can lie in my bed and watch the sun rise.    As I watched the clouds gradually change from grey to  pink, orange,  purple, gold …..  and become alive, light with colour and beauty it took my breath away.    Suddenly in the silence I was aware of hearing God speak, not an audible voice, but that still small inner voice that you just know is His.

As I sat, awestruck at the beauty of the sunrise He spoke to me of the clouds.    Without the clouds there would be no beautiful sunrise, it is the clouds that reflect the sun’s light, create the stunning colour and patterns that amaze us.    I pondered over this thought…… last night I was worn down by the ‘cloud’  hanging over me.  Today I know this cloud will pass but maybe, just maybe I can use it to reflect the Son’s light….